Oscar Wilde - Classic Literature Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde is undoubtedly one of the most famous writers Ireland has ever produced. He was a successful playwright, poet and novelist. However, he is as much remembered for his colourful life and flouting of Victorian conventions as he is for his writing.
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16th, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. His was one of six, his siblings being William, Isola, Henry, Emily and Mary. His mother, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde, was a poet and journalist, and his father, Sir William Wilde, was an eye and ear specialist and also a writer.
Wilde’s upbringing was anything but conventional. Henry, Emily and Mary were all fathered by William before he was married, yet he treated them as he did his legitimate children. However, Emily died of a fever in 1867, which affected young Oscar so profoundly that he bore the scar for years.
Wilde’s education was in keeping with his upper class status. He was educated at home until he was nine and then attended Portora Royal School until 1871. He studied the classics and excelled there, winning numerous prizes for his academic ability, including a scholarship to Trinity College in Dublin.
There, Wilde’s academic success continued. In 1872, he won the highest honour available to an undergraduate, a Foundation Scholarship, and won further honours in 1874, including the Demyship scholarship. This then allowed him to attend Magdalene College at Oxford University.
Following his graduation, Wilde moved to London and, in 1881, published his first collection of poetry. Poems was greeted with a mixed reception, but it effectively began Wilde’s literary career. He had already begun to move in the artistic social circles London had to offer and thus his fame began to grow.
Wilde made his international reputation in 1882 when he toured the United States. His lecture tour on aesthetics was so successful that he extended his stay from four months to almost a year and gave 140 lectures. As a result, Vera, one of his early plays, was staged in New York the following year.
Upon his return to Britain, Wilde continued his tour. His continued success during the mid-1880s left him inundated with work. He wrote for the Pall Mall Gazette and edited The Woman’s World. However, it was the plays, stories and the novel he wrote during this period that earned him notoriety.
On May 29th, 1884, Wilde married Constance Lloyd, the daughter of a wealthy QC. She was four years younger than him and was very intelligent and outspoken. The Wildes had two sons within two years of their marriage, Cyril being born in 1885 and Vyvyan in 1886.
With his life seemingly complete, Wilde’s creativity flourished. His fairy tales, The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) and The House of Pomegranates (1892), were well received but his one and only novel was not. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) was heavily criticised for its homoerotic content, which played a part in his downfall a few years later, and branded immoral.
It was in the world of theatre that Wilde really established a reputation as a great writer. Wilde’s plays all satirised the upper classes and examined issues relevant to the Victorian era. However, despite this, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were all huge critical successes.
In the last few years of his life, Wilde’s personal life was gossiped about as much as, if not more, than his work. He had become lovers with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas by the end of 1891, effectively putting an end to Wilde’s marriage. When accused of homosexuality by Bosie’s father in 1895, Wilde sued him for libel, thus bringing about his own downfall when it backfired.
On May 25th, 1895 Wilde was convicted of gross indecency. He was sent to Wandsworth prison initially and then on to Reading prison to serve two years hard labour. At first he was not permitted to write, but then wrote De Profundis, a letter to Douglas which was published in 1904. He was released in 1897.
The last three years of Wilde’s life were spent in Europe, travelling from place to place under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmoth. His health had severely deteriorated owing to his time in prison. Although he did publish the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which was based on his experiences in prison, he wrote little during this period having lost his creativity.
Oscar Wilde died of meningitis in a Paris hotel on November 30th, 1900. He was aged 46.
