MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

De Profundis: Into the Depths of Oscar Wilde´s thoughts

Bachelor thesis

Brno 2019

Supervisor: Author:

Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D. Jana Feigerlová

Declaration

I hereby declare that I wrote this bachelor thesis on my own, using only the sources listed in the bibliography.

……...…………..……….

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D. for her guidance, advice, and kind encouragement that she provided throughout my work on this thesis. Furthermore, I would also like to thank my family and boyfriend for their endless patience and support.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ...... 6

2 Historical background ...... 7

2.1 Life with Lord Alfred Douglas ...... 8

2.2 Imprisonment ...... 9

3 The origin of De Profundis ...... 14

3.1 Publishing process ...... 15

3.2 Comparison of different versions ...... 17

3.3 Naming process ...... 19

3.4 Critics´ perception ...... 20

4 Into the Depths of Wilde´s broken heart ...... 21

4.1 Letter to Bosie ...... 21

5 De Profundis ...... 28

5.1 The aestheticism of sorrow ...... 29

5.2 Wilde´s perception of Christ through De Profundis ...... 31

5.3 The Path to Individual Self-Realization ...... 35

6 Life after the Imprisonment ...... 40

Conclusion ...... 42

Works cited ...... 44

Figures ...... 46

I wrote when I did not know life; now that I do know the meaning of life, I have no more to write. Life cannot be written, life can only be lived, I have lived.

Oscar Wilde

1 Introduction

The thesis De Profundis: Into the depths of Oscar Wilde´s thoughts focuses on the changes in Wilde´s persona, captured in one of his last literary works De Profundis. This thesis aims to portray and discuss Wilde´s thoughts. Whether they were the painful contemplations of his feelings towards Lord Alfred Douglas, the shift from the aesthetic appeal of art and beauty to the aesthetics of sorrow, or the spiritual awakening, Wilde chose to cover these thoughts in the form of a letter during his imprisonment. For the purposes of this thesis, De Profundis will be regarded as a two-part letter. The first part observing the letter for Bosie, frequently omitted in many prints, and the second part concerning Wilde´s persona and his thought processes, related to the themes he found important during his imprisonment.

Even though the letter provides the public with an extraordinary introspective insight into Wilde´s life, the acknowledgement and recognition are not, in comparison to his other works, that widespread, especially in Czech awareness. Even if there is some acknowledgement of this letter, most of the time it contains some reoccurring misrepresentation of the work as well as problems of misinterpretations. Therefore, another purpose this thesis would like to achieve is to bring it more attention as well as awareness of it to a broader public.

Multiple versions of the epistle have been published in the twentieth century; thus, it is essential to establish the exact print analysed in this thesis. The selected version of De Profundis will be the version edited by Rupert Hart-Davis, found in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (2003). This version of the epistle firstly published in 1962 in The Letters of Oscar Wilde, was unlike the others, the first version containing all the parts of the letter without any errors or omissions.

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2 Historical background

Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 into a noble and honoured family in Dublin. Their name was appreciated not only in the artistic world but also in the public eye, which Wilde later on considered as disgraced by his imprisonment. His father was a well- known eye and ear surgeon, while his mother was an enthusiastic nationalistic writer. At ten years old, Wilde was sent together with his older brother to the boarding school - Portora Royal School. He was there for seven years and for the first time, experienced the pleasure of knowledge, through the exploration of classics and poetry writing. He was exceptionally talented in discussions regarding anything from God to politics. Therefore, it was no surprise he was accepted upon receiving a scholarship to Trinity College, seven years later. After another winning scholarship, Wilde got admitted to Magdalen College in Oxford and started his studies and life out of Ireland. At both schools he was regarded as one of the great classicists and with the indulgence in the movement of aestheticism, introduced to his teachers John Ruskin and Walter Pater, he became one of the most well-known aestheticists. After the end of his studies, he moved to London to pursue his career as a writer of poems, criticism and plays. In 1884 he got married to Constance Lloyd and together they had two sons. Furthermore, many of his literary works such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest or An Ideal Husband made him famous. Nevertheless, the additional recognition he received by the broader public was mostly given to his private life. During the most successful years of his career, he began the infamous affair with a young man, named Lord Alfred Douglas or Bosie as his friends and family nicknamed him. This affair and his future inclination towards sexual encounters with other men led him in strict Victorian England to prosecution and later on, even two-year imprisonment for committing crimes of gross indecency. He described the conditions of the fateful imprisonment in one of his last works – De Profundis in the form of a letter addressed to Douglas. Upon the return from the imprisonment, his health was irrefutably damaged. Therefore, even his writing processes were more or less left aside. The rest of his life was spent in exile, without his wife or children, who moved to Switzerland. Because of the physical and emotional drain, he underwent in prison, his health and mind suffered immensely and were the reason for his death in Paris on 30 November 1900. (Belford, 2003) (Hyde, 1976) (Pearce, 2004)

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2.1 Life with Lord Alfred Douglas

The fatal relationship of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas began in late June 1891. Wilde was then first introduced to his future lover, who was at that time completely engrossed in the copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The fondness and admiration towards each other began immediately. As Pearce (2004) comments on Wilde´s mind being mostly inclined towards everything beautiful, he has portrayed Douglas as “a vision of a statuesque Greek god, a reincarnation of ancient perfection” (p. 282). Around the same time next year, Wilde was enamoured of Douglas up to the point of writing a letter to his close friend Robert Ross, describing Douglas as “a narcissus – so white and gold […] Bosie is so tired: he lies like a hyacinth on the sofa, and I worship him.” (Hart-Davis, 1962, p. 314).1

Although the relationship he had with Lord Douglas was incredibly intense, the commitment to sexual fidelity was nowhere to be found. In fact, Douglas himself and his experiences with living a promiscuous life encouraged Wilde to form casual relationships with prostituting young men as well (Pearce, 2004, p. 284). Eventually, the “delightfully suggestive and stimulating” encounters with the younger, some of them not even sixteen-year-old men replaced sexual desires they shared with each other (Belford, 216). Wilde´s “feasting with the panthers” (Wilde, 2003, p. 1042), as he retrospectively referred to that period in De Profundis, became his way of entertainment and excitement. Not only, in the way “to indulge in illicit sexual practices” but also to “rub elbows with extortionists who drop their aitches”. In other words, it was Wilde´s form of excitement because of the challenge the blackmailing it offered to him (Senelick, 2003, p. 169).

Thus, his one-night stands and passionate relationships, established not only with Douglas, started. In one of the, supposedly2 held conversations with Frank Harris, Wilde mentions his opinion on the inclination towards other men:

“Suppose I like food that is poison to other people, and yet quickens me. How

dare they punish me for eating of it? "They would say," I replied, "that they only

1 This letter and its importance will be discussed again in chapter 4 2 The issue of Frank Harris´s biographies about Wilde, discussed in chapter 3.4. 8

punish you for inducing others to eat it." He broke in: "It is all ignorant

prejudice, Frank; the world is slowly growing more tolerant and one day men

will be ashamed of their barbarous treatment of me, as they are now ashamed of

the torturings of the Middle Ages. The current of opinion is making in our

favour and not against us” (Harris, 2005, p.499).

2.2 Imprisonment

After the completion of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1894, Douglas and Wilde travelled together to Algeria. It all happened in the middle of Queensberry´s threats and blackmailing, some months before the trial and final denouement of the whole case of sodomy. On their trip, they met up with French writer André Gibe, who later on shared one of the conversations he held with Wilde. According to Gibe´s testimony quoted in Hyde´s Oscar Wilde, one of their conversations concerning Wilde´s future was particularly important: “But if you go back, what will happen?” asked Gide about returning to London. “Do you know the risk you are running?”. “It is best never to know,” answered Wilde. “My friends are extraordinary; they beg me to be careful. Careful? But can I be careful? That would be a backward step. I must go on as far as possible. I cannot go much further. Something is bound to happen [...] something else” (Hyde, 1976, p. 195).

Throughout the time of their vacation, Douglas stayed with him all at Wilde´s expense. These costs and many others also contributed to Wilde´s inability to leave his hotel before the imprisonment and later on led him into bankruptcy.

When he returned from Algeria, everything took a more abrupt turn. After Queensberry´s unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest3, he made the final step that afterwards ended in Wilde obtaining a warrant for Queensberry´s arrest. It was at 4:30 on 18 February 1895 when Marquess left a note for

3 By coming to the James´s Theatre with a bunch of vegetables (The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde, 1983, p.133) 9

Wilde that said, “To Oscar Wilde, posing as a Somdomite” (Hart-Davis, 1962, p. 314). Such an accusation was in the Victorian England serious issue since sodomy was considered a crime that led, if proven, to imprisonment as well as exclusion from the society.

Upon receiving the letter, he wrote to Robert Ross on February 28, these following lines: “My dearest Robbie, Since I saw you something has happened. Bosie´s father has left a card at my club with hideous words on it. I don’t see anything now but a criminal prosecution” (Hart-Davis, 1962, p. 384). Even though Wilde at that time may have seemed determined to press the charges, it was still not entirely decided, which actions will he take.

In relation to Wilde´s decision whether to prosecute Lord Queensberry or not, many biographical works about Wilde mention Douglas being the force that compelled Wilde to pursue the libel. With regard to these accusations, Lord Alfred Douglas denies, for the most part, all the allegations. In his autobiography, he mentions not only this ongoing issue but also the feeling like Wilde was almost blaming him for his father´s behaviour. Therefore, Douglas reveals on one occasion, in which Wilde shared with him the distress he felt regarding the note, that with no upcoming apology from Lord Queensberry, he would be forced to initiate legal proceedings against him. To which Douglas provided this answer: “You are not in the least to get apologies from my father and, so far as I am concerned, you can prosecute and be blowed!” (Douglas, 1914, p. 95). Apart from this, Douglas refuses any other allegations of him making an extra effort to force Wilde into prosecuting Lord Queensberry.

Not many biographers share the same opinion on the case of pursuing the libel against Lord Queensberry as Douglas himself. For instance, Hyde (1976) comments on Lord Alfred’s intentions pushing the case against the Lord Queensberry to proceed, only out of his personal relations regarding his father. Further, he illustrates it as something that had Bosie “vigorously edged Wilde on” (Hyde, 1976, p.301). Moreover, Pearce (2004) states that Wilde was being prompted by “Douglas´s malevolent attitude” (p.326), which Wilde eventually listened, despite all of his friends advising him to drop the proceedings and not continue with the prosecution of Queensberry for criminal libel.

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Wilde´s arrest on April 6 followed many hearings, testifying and questioning on every little detail Wilde wrote either in his letters to friends, Lord Alfred Douglas or examining possible interpretations of his previously written literary works. After three long, draining trials, the jury finally reached the verdict, in which was Wilde charged with acts of gross indecency with many boys, known and unknown. During his last trial, the jury Mr Wills concluded, as stated in Hyde (1976):

“I shall, under such circumstances, be expected to pass the severest sentence that

the law allows. In my judgment it is totally inadequate for such a case as this.

The sentence of the Court is that each of you (note under, who was the other

man) be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for two years“ (p. 293).

Out of Wilde, while being startled by the harsh words of Mr Justice Wills, had only a few words come out. “And I? May I say nothing, my lord?” (Hyde, 1976, p. 293), to which made Wills no response. The whole case and trial are regarded as one of the most unforgettable trials ever. We can judge this on the narration of Seymour Hicks, an actor and Wilde´s friend who was present at the trial. ”I have seen many awful happenings at the Old Bailey,” he said and continued:

but to me no death sentence has ever seemed so terrible as the one which Mr

Justice Wills delivered when his duty called upon him to destroy and take from

the world the man who had given it so much (Hyde, 1976, p. 293).

Prison conditions

Although Wilde´s sentence started in May 1895 in the Pentonville prison, it was not the first time he found himself in such a place. In his younger years, his opinions were mostly formed to criticise other authors who were drawing attention to the inhuman system full of cruelties happening in prison (Pearce, 2004). Therefore, upon his first introduction to the conditions in prison in April 1882, his opinions continued. Even though he only witnessed the prison in Lincoln, Nebraska as a part of an excursion, it certainly left a deep, though inaccurate, impression on him. The evidence can be seen in one of the letters he wrote to his friend, Helena Sickert:

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Poor odd types of humanity in hideous striped dresses making bricks in the sun,

and all mean-looking, which consoled me, for I should hate to see a criminal

with a noble face. Little whitewashed cells, so tragically tidy, but with books in

them. In one I found a translation of Dante, and a Shelley. Strange and beautiful

it seemed to me that the sorrow of a single Florentine in exile should, hundreds

of years afterwards, lighten the sorrow of some common prisoner in a modern

gaol, and one murderer with melancholy eyes - to be hung they told me in three

week - spending that interval in reading novels, a bad preparation for facing

either God or Nothing (Hart-Davis, 1962, p. 115).

It is undoubtedly interesting and maybe even inviting to see some correlation between his visit in 1882, his opinions and the much longer stay during his imprisonment from 1895 to 1897. Owing to the time he spent in prison, his opinions on the Victorian prison system changed considerably, as he was one of the prisoners. As mentioned in De Profundis, Wilde´s realisation of the conditions differed from the naïve version he held before: “The prison style is absolutely and entirely wrong. I would give anything to be able to alter it when I go out. I intend to try” (Wilde, 2003, p.1038).

Since his sentence was a penal servitude, Wilde was imprisoned for “only” 2 years compared to more. The conditions of this type of sentence were immensely difficult, constructed in order to “break a man in body and spirit” (Hyde, 1976, p.295). As Robbins further adds to the facts about the prison conditions, “the regime of penal servitude was so extreme, that […] the monotony, silence and solitude were known to be prime causes of insanity among the prison population” (Robbins, 2011).

In the Pentonville prison, Wilde got his health checked, in order to prove that he is capable of fulfilling his sentence of hard labour. He passed and started the hardest several months of his imprisonment. Majority of the labour at that time at Victorian prison was spent on a treadmill. It served mainly as “a form of a monotonous and degrading exercise to grind the corn” (Roth, 2006, p. 272). The prison of Wandsworth he was moved to for other several months, was no different and in no way better. Even though he did not have much in Pentonville, “no pictures, no books, not even a toilet” 12

(Belford, 2000, p. 265) Wandsworth prison was according to him even worse. The food was much more disgusting, the time spent on the treadmill was longer, and overall his bad state of health was more prominent in the second prison. On November 20, 1895, he was moved to his third prison, the prison in Reading (Belford, 2000). Out of all these three prisons, the prison in Reading was the most significant one, even though the journey to it, was signifyingly disturbing for Wilde.

When being transported to the Reading prison, he recalls people hooting at him and one man even spitting in his face. He expresses the disappointment he felt on that day in a section of De Profundis, where he reveals the effect it had on him: “For a year after that was done to me I wept every day at the same hour and for the same space of time”. Furthermore, in The Last Testament (Ackroyd, 1983), the whole situation is explained in detail, as such:

At each station we were hooted at and, on one platform where we were forced to

alight, I was surrounded by a mob that recognised me; a man spat in my face. I

had not known what humans were like until I stood among them manacled: I

longed for confinement then (p. 153).

On the contrary for Wilde, Reading Gaol was said to be referenced by the prisoners as “Read, Read, Reading Gaol” owing to Chaplain´s determination to urge prisoners on reading passages from the Bible (Roth, 2006). This possibility for Wilde to read could also be one of the factors that contributed to the better perception of his imprisonment as well as his conversion to his spiritual awakening and better mental health. Consequently, from the time when he was allowed to write and read, his attitude towards his life and suffering he had to endure, followed a different pattern.

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3 The origin of De Profundis

This section deals with the analysis of the epistle De Profundis or “Epistola: In Carcere et Vinuclis” written during Oscar Wilde´s imprisonment. Unlike his other literary works, De Profundis offers an entirely new phase of Wilde´s life as an artist, since it differs in many aspects of Wilde´s previously published works. The distinct areas could be the harsh conditions when writing the work, the fact that it is a long autobiographical epistle in the form of confession or the only work that was published posthumously. Accordingly, the importance of its originality is immense, hence the topic of the thesis.

The letter as a whole has quite complicated publishing story, which resonates to the period and problematics, that followed Wilde into the prison as well as the possibility to publish this important piece of work. Therefore, it is essential to cover this whole process, which consequences may be the explanation of the confusion and some of the unresolved questions that have arisen. For that reason, in this section, the problematics, along with the uncertainty regarding the publication, naming process and printing, will be examined.

Oscar Wilde was not let many, or any4, options of writing or letting his mind wander in prison. According to the introduction to De Profundis and Other Writing (1986) written by Wilde´s son Vyvyan Holland:

Wilde was allowed one sheet of the paper at a time; when it was filled, it was

removed and replaced by another. As will be seen, he never revised the finished

document, and it is therefore remarkable that it should flow so smoothly; the

original manuscript contains scarcely any alterations (p. 91).

About the importance and meaning of writing De Profundis, Wilde informed one of his friends:

It is the most important letter of my life, as it will deal ultimately with my future

mental attitude towards life, with the way in which I desire to meet the world

4 He could not write in any of the prisons, except for Reading Gaol 14

again, with the development of my character: with what I have lost, what I have

learned, and what I hope to arrive at” (Hart-Davis, 1962, p. 419).

3.1 Publishing process

Even though Wilde died in 1900 after being in an exile for almost two years, his epistolary work was released posthumously, five years later. Owing to Robert Ross and his editing duty of Wilde´s literary executor, De Profundis was firstly published in 1905. This version managed by Ross was supposed to be mainly focused on cleansing Oscar Wilde´s name after the conviction and humiliation he went through. Thus, the first version edited by Robert Ross was composed only of some parts of the actual letter, avoiding anything that would be harmful to the people mentioned in the letter. Mainly they were names of Lord Alfred Douglas, Ross himself, or anything other, that could depict Wilde in wrong sense. Further details, regarding the problematics of Ross´s version, will be covered in this chapter.

The introductory letter to De Profundis, written for Ross in which Wilde affirms: “I do not defend my conduct. I explain it” (Wilde, 1986, p.91), contains all the instructions on how to and to whom should Ross send out the manuscript. These instructions were handed to Ross together with the epistle on the day of Wilde´s release in May 1897. It included everything that Wilde wished to have done by his literary executor, regarding its copies. Ross was supposed to make two copies of the letter, one for himself, one for Wilde and the original was to be sent to Douglas. Even though Ross made the copies, he did not send them as Wilde required. Ross claims sending out the letter to Alfred Douglas, but as many sources show, he sent just the copy of the manuscript. He could have done so possibly out of fear that Douglas would destroy it upon receiving. From this point, multiple versions differ from each other. Thus, there are only assumptions concerning the further development and “journey” of the letter.

Furthermore, Ross also claimed that Alfred Douglas received it, based on the receipt he got back (Kohl, 2011). Lord Alfred, as the recipient in this case, in his autobiography, recalls: “I had a recollection of having received a copy of some such letter. […] I gathered that it was ill-tempered letter and threw it into the fire” (Douglas, 15

1914, p.161). Furthermore, in the autobiography we discover that Bosie was not regarding the whole epistle, but just a letter from Robert Ross. Therefore, when he, later on, mentions suggestions made by people that he was supposed to have a copy of De Profundis, he declines it and claims that the copy he had received and then burned, was not the whole 50 000 words-long letter, but just a few pages written in Ross´s handwriting. (Douglas, 1914, p.161) And as mentioned he kept that statement: “Until the day he died; Lord Alfred Douglas maintained that he never received the letter” (Kohl, 2011, p. 276)

For a better understanding of the publishing process, Small (2003) provides a scheme (figure 1) of the textual history of the letter, while stressing the importance to observe the textual history of the letter as a series of separately published works and not in terms of versions of one literary work.

Figure 1. The publication processes. Adapted from “Love-Letter, Spiritual Autobiography, or Prison Writing? Identity and Value in De Profundis” by I. Small, 2003, In J. Bristow (Ed.) Wilde writings: Contextual conditions p. 97. Even though throughout the history, so many sources were compiled and acquired, it is still not sure if Bosie actually got his copy, as Wilde wished. Ross´s, 16

Wilde´s and Bosie´s stories differ in some parts; therefore, the actual occurrences are still uncertain. Each of the three men had various reasons for doing and claiming what they did. As we previously mentioned, Wilde was writing in the latter prison days and could not send any of those writings out. De Profundis consisting of more or so 50 000- 55 000 words, got completed and given to him on the day of his release and at this point, he had written both parts of the letter. The one intended mainly for Douglas, nevertheless knowing it is for wider audiences than just Bosie himself, and the second part of the so-called self-realisation of his thoughts. Regardless, after giving it to Ross, Wilde did not see it ever again, and Ross made all the choices about the epistle by himself.

To this day, most of the sources of De Profundis show only the edited version with many ellipses or omissions5 of names or personal information. Some versions incorporate the omissions in forms of stars or left out spots, where the reader can observe missing information. Albeit, the Hart-Davis´s edition came out more than fifty years ago, the omitted words are still missing from the majority of prints of De Profundis. Many of these editions were found when analysing the letter for this thesis. As a result, these versions can be difficult to comprehend by the reader, and it can lead to many confusions. In the chapter below, we will examine the omissions made by Ross´s editing in 1905 and the complete letter edited according to the actual representation of the original by Hart-Davis in 1962.

3.2 Comparison of different versions

In this section, the two, most important copies of De Profundis will be compared. The first copy is Ross´s copy, published in 1905. In this, an observable amount of ellipsis and omissions can be found. The second copy will be the copy of the first entire form of the epistle published in 1962 in The Letters of Oscar Wilde, found in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (2003).

5 Kohl (2011) mentions that Ross decided to leave out about 1000 words during his editing works on De Profundis (p. 278) 17

Figure 2. The copy of De Profundis published and edited by Robert Ross in 1905. Adapted from De Profundis in Archive.org, by O. Wilde, 1905, Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://archive.org/details/deprofundis01wildgoog/page/n24 As an above example, may illustrate, the form of ellipsis and omissions is mostly connected to the names Wilde has decided to include in his manuscript, and Ross has decided or was forced to remove. The difference is visible mainly in the parts of the letter containing names, focusing mostly on names related to Douglas´s family and Robbie. In the main text edited by Hart-Davis, these full names can be found on page 1011 (Wilde, 1986).

Furthermore, many parts in the edited version contain ellipsis, through which the inappropriate and unusable parts are left out. One of the most substantial ellipted parts was in the primary source starting on page 1011 with the line: “Where there is Sorrow there is holy ground” and ending on page 1016: “The poor are wiser […]” (Wilde, 2003). This whole part, containing four pages, was left out by Ross and illustrated only with an ellipsis.

Moreover, the largest and most important part, which was left out, is the already mentioned part concerning Wilde´s letter to Douglas. In this, around 30-pages long section (Wilde, 1986, pages 980-1009) of the whole letter not contained in the letter, since it is concerning Douglas. Therefore, even nowadays, mainly the editions

18 containing only the second part of the letter are seen as the actual epistle. Starting with: “… Suffering is one very long moment” (Wilde, 1986, p. 890).

3.3 Naming process

Wilde´s original name for the letter was Epistola: In carcere et Vinuclis6. This title is explicitly, when familiar with Latin, providing the reader with what they can expect. From the translation, it can be assumed that it is a letter, which is written during difficult circumstances of being imprisoned. Despite the specific designation, Wilde´s title is less known, mainly because it was retitled by Robert Ross to De Profundis. Albeit, Wilde chose to use in his naming process “epistle”, making a connection to the New Testament, Ross´s name made the connection even more explicit. Since De Profundis, is the Latin opening line of Psalm 130: “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice”. As Robbins (2011) reveals, Ross used the Vulgate Bible version, which has the Psalm De Profundis, indicated as Psalm 129.7 (p. 168). Other translations of the Bible have the Psalm De Profundis under the number 130, some of the translations appropriate for the epistle could also derive from other translations of the Bible. For instance, New International Reader's Version - Psalm 130:1 (NIRV) Lord, I cry out to you because I'm suffering so deeply, or in the English Standard Version: Psalm 130:1 (ESV) Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!, or the Good News Translation: Psalm 130:1 (GNT) From the depths of my despair I call to you, Lord. As Robbins (2011) also reveals, Ross´s choice of this name has not so apparent meaning. Further, he explains the choice of his name as such: “he was associating Wilde with Roman Catholicism” (p. 169). Moreover, he wanted to stress the importance of the letter being not only an autobiography but also a confession.

6 Latin: “Letter: In Prison and in Chains” 7 “Canticum graduum de profundis clamavi ad te Domine” (Psalm 129, The Latin Vulgate) 19

3.4 Critics´ perception

Since it is not explicitly stated what type of literary work can be De Profundis seen as, critics vary in their opinions and attitudes towards it. As Small (2003) comments, De Profundis differs in many critics´ description and perception, in which some may view it as a love letter, others as an autobiographical confession, memoir or theological work. One possibility of viewing De Profundis is as a love-letter, as Ellmann states (2013). In this case, aspects such as honesty, emotional delivering and Wilde´s transparency of his relationship with Bosie needs to be observed. On the contrary, the term semi-public letter can be a more appropriate label in the sense of Wilde writing it for Douglas, but as well knowing and intending it to be available for public8.

Buckler, on the other hand, states (1989), that many critics differ in the observation of De Profundis depending on the century, mainly from the position of Wilde´s authenticity or the lack of it, not mentioning or focusing on its artistic or stylistic aspects.

One of the authors associated with bibliographies about Oscar Wilde was his long-term friend Harris. He wrote two volumes of Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions, revealing Oscar´s life based on supposedly real conversations he had with Wilde. Albeit, Harris has brought many important aspects and details concerning the life of Oscar Wilde, he is perceived by many other biographers as a non-credible author. For instance, Evangelista (2009) refers to Frank Harris as “a notoriously unreliable source of anecdotes on a notoriously unreliable raconteur” (p. 125). Therefore, even though both volumes written by Harris will be included in this thesis, a cautious approach, regarding the information and discussions Harris wrote about Wilde, needs to be taken into consideration.

8 For example, by giving Robert Ross instruction on writing the manuscripts and producing copies and not regarding it as only one copy for Lord Alfred Douglas 20

4 Into the Depths of Wilde´s broken heart

As explained at the beginning, this letter can be divided into roughly two equally long sections based on the themes Wilde choose to contain. Regarding this, the thesis will follow this division, as well. The first section of the letter focuses on Lord Alfred Douglas introduced by Wilde´s thoughts about the companionship they had together. It is comprised as a long enumeration of Lord Alfred´s damaging personality traits and behaviours Wilde had to “put up with”, since knowing him. Additionally, it covers Lord Alfred´s reaction to Wilde´s accusations including his perspective on their relationship he eventually expressed in his autobiography, Oscar Wilde and myself.

Due to the letter that was written by Wilde to Robert Ross as an introduction to De Profundis as well as the salutation found at the beginning, it is undoubtedly, even for some discrepancies in past, addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas. As mentioned in many instances, the text is written in the epistolary autobiographical form; therefore, the vast amount of pain and feelings illustrated on Wilde´s contemplations is even more prominent.

While in prison, Wilde had time to reflect upon, according to the mentions in De Profundis, his unfortunate relationship he and Douglas have formed. Due to this, he decided to write the given letter, which will be introduced in the next chapter, as an exemplification of Wilde´s description of the aspects, why was that turn of events relating to their relationship as “intellectually and ethically degrading to him” (Wilde, 1986, p. 982).

4.1 Letter to Bosie

The letter Epistola: In Cancere et Vinculis officially begins with Wilde addressing Lord Alfred Douglas, as such:

DEAR BOSIE, After long and fruitless waiting I have determined to write to

you myself, as much for your sake as for mine, as I would not like to think that I

had passed through two long years of imprisonment without ever having

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received a single line from you, or any news or message even, except such as

gave me pain. (Wilde, 1986, p. 980)

The beginning of the letter could be regarded as an implication of Wilde´s disappointment of Lord Alfred´s ignorance and lack of interest in him. In addition, the introduction to epistle displays uncertainty concerning the occasions of unresolved emotions and questions. Wilde´s clearly expressed disappointment with Bosie, will only develop further. Moreover, it will be illustrated in many situations and Bosie´s choices, that left Wilde feeling horribly.

Even though it could have been observed that the first lines contained only an introduction of Wilde´s disappointment in Bosie, throughout the love letter Wilde´s increase in the accusatory tone, including feelings of dislike, mentioned mainly on Lord Alfred´s faults and his vanity is escalating into Wilde´s nearly anger. For the whole part connected to his life with Bosie, Wilde continues listing all the faults Bosie entered into his life. For instance, one of the reoccurring messages Wilde seems to deliver is the reminder, that “the supreme vice is shallowness” (Wilde, 2003, p. 981).

In contrast to all the blame put on Bosie, the only parts of self-recrimination discussed by Wilde, contain his regret of not being able to break up the companionship with Bosie earlier as the following passage illustrates:

I will begin by telling you that I blame myself terribly. As I sit here in this dark

cell in convict clothes, a disgraced and ruined man, I blame myself. In the

perturbed and fitful nights of anguish, in the long monotonous days of pain, it is

myself I blame. I blame myself for allowing an unintellectual friendship, a

friendship whose primary aim was not the creation and contemplation of

beautiful things, entirely to dominate my life (Wilde, 1986, p. 981).

Although we can see Wilde´s effort to recollect his previous life and decisions that led him to his imprisonment, he connects it mainly to his life spent with Alfred Douglas, in which case, he has a rather one-sided view. The attention and messages are focused on many examples going wrong in his life up to a point in prison, however

22 blaming himself only partially. He does not accept the full responsibility for anything that has happened, except for his weakness.

He is quite explicit in listing all the ways how Bosie made his life difficult and miserable. One of many instances he mentions is the time they spent together viewed as living in allusion. He accuses Douglas of being sinister of narrowed will-power, who played a part of Wilde´s life in “revolting and repellent” tragedy, which he previously thought would be a “brilliant comedy”. He was forced, owing to the relationship in which he continued, to be “deceived by the mask of joy and pleasure” (Wilde, 2003, p. 998).

Contradictory to everything that can be assumed about their relationship based on De Profundis, the autobiography called Oscar Wilde and myself (1914) written by Lord Alfred Douglas, presents justifiably9 different views. In one of many examples of Wilde´s accusations of Bosie, Wilde mentioned Bosie ruining his work ethic and productivity. From the very beginning of the letter, he states: “While you were with me you were the absolute ruin of my Art” (Wilde, 2003, p. 982). This is later dismissed in Douglas´s autobiography when he reacts to this statement by: “Wilde was too keen an artist to allow anything or anybody to come between him and what he would call a realisable mood” (Douglas, 1914, p. 173).

Apart from this, Oscar continues and recalls all the weeks when he was working on writing the play An Ideal Husband in 1893. In the meantime, he was under great stress since he was pressed to write this play for John Hare with whom he had a contract at that time. In connection with that, he reveals “merely one, out of many instances” as he emphasises. Through this, he depicts the annoyance he felt towards Douglas in the beginning passage of De Profundis as such: “The second week you returned and my work practically had to be given up” (Wilde, 2003, p. 981). Wilde in the same section of the letter continues revealing details on their days spent together. Referring back to Wilde trying to separate from Douglas on spending days at St James´s Place with the intention to be able to think and write by himself (Wilde, 2003, p. 981).

9 Lord Alfred Douglas wanted to cleanse his name from all the accusations he was faced to. 23

In contrast to Wilde´s passages about Douglas´s annoying behaviour illustrated on Wilde´s inability to work when Douglas was near him, Douglas himself reacts in his autobiography as so:

I have already referred to the falseness of Wilde´ s charge that I hampered his

work, and that when I was by he was sterile. I had to meet the charge, in

particular, that when he was pressed to deliver “The Ideal Husband” he had to

wait till I was away and then got on famously. When I returned, “all work had to

be abandoned.” This assertion is wantonly wrong. When Wilde was in working

mood he worked and I never attempted to take him away from it. The play was

read to me scene by scene and line by line, and so far from my having delayed

its completion I materially assisted it. […] (Douglas, 1914, p. 172).

We must take into consideration many factors to establish accuracy as well as inaccuracy of their own “truths”. Both works regarding the theme of their relationship are seen as autobiographies10. Therefore, the author´s view is more likely to be inclined to subjectivity and bias. Owing to this, many critics stress the importance of interpretations of their opinions together with the understanding of their background. Whereas Wilde, when writing De Profundis was held imprisoned in horrible conditions, Lord Alfred Douglas wrote his autobiography after people blamed him and accused him of many issues related to Wilde. From this reason, he wanted to deliver his truth, just like Wilde did.

Woodcock (1978) on the topic of the background, advises on taking Oscar Wilde´s views and opinions written during his imprisonment with discretion. He mentions that owing to Oscar Wilde´s ability to be a “mannered writer”, his style of writing does not have to correspond to the sincerity of the message. The second fact reader of De Profundis should take into consideration is the place where was Wilde writing – prison. Such a place can tend to exaggerate one´s feelings (p. 93)

10 De Profundis, in this case only partially, since many critics consider the conditions of prison to have an effect on Wilde´s perception of their relationship 24

Although Wilde does not accept any possibilities of Bosie´s effect on his writing process other than ruining his work, the reality of the amount of produced works speaks differently. Notwithstanding, all the accusation made on Bosie´s account, blaming him for being a distraction Wilde could not resist, are in this case wrong. As a matter of fact, during their companionship, Wilde´s most famous works were written11. Even though Wilde can deny Bosie being his muse, Belford (2000) comments on the fact, that Bosie was his muse, although she continues in describing him as “a greedy, selfish muse, he encouraged Wilde´s popular style by driving him to write for money, spent on pleasures (p. 219). Throughout the end of the letter to Bosie, Wilde has portrayed him and their relationship, in almost an unbelievable way of disdain and displeasure.

Critics´ perception

The listing of all Douglas´s mistakes in the first part of the letter made Wilde an easy target for some critics. Some of them had a more positive reaction, for example, as already mentioned Ellmann, who saw and regarded the letter as a love letter, because of its theme. While other, such as Toibin (2004) mentioned that: “some of his cry from the depths was so sad that it would make you want to burst with laughter” (p.64).

After the enumeration of Bosie´s unacceptable behaviours, it can be questioned why Wilde did not end their relationship. It could be regarded as almost admiring that Wilde suffered through so much with Douglas and at the same time realised the nature of Douglas only when being imprisoned. Related to this issue, Toibin (2004) presents arguments to answer the question: “why did he not get rid of Douglas and walk away from him?” (p.65) In order to provide the answers, he quotes Wilde on the topic of love.

You loved me far better than anyone else. But you, like myself, have had a

terrible tragedy in your life… Do you want to learn what it was? It was this. In

you Hate was always stronger than Love (Wilde, 2003, p. 999).

This vital connection leads him to the importance and matter of their love. Toibin (2004) makes sure to explain to the reader the difference between what Wilde

11 Salome (1891), Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

25 has described in the first part of De Profundis and what was their relationship like. All the time before the “horrible years” were not mention, they remain hidden from the public eye.12

The Hyacinth Letter

As previously stated in the second chapter of this thesis, concerning Wilde´s start of the relationship with Douglas, the Hyacinth letter is covered as a representation of Wilde´s affection felt towards Douglas. In the letter to Ross between May and June 1892, Wilde describes Bosie to “a narcissus” In addition to this clearly expressed affection he felt for Douglas, Wilde wrote a letter almost a year later in January 1893 commenting on Bosie´s sonnet:

My Own Boy, —Your sonnet is quite lovely, and it is a marvel that those red

rose-leaf lips of yours should be made no less for the madness of music and song

than for the madness of kissing. Your slim-gilt soul walks between passion and

poetry. No Hyacinthus followed Love so madly as you in Greek days. Why are

you alone in London, and when do you go to Salisbury? Do go there and cool

your hands in the grey twilight of Gothic things. Come here whenever you like.

It is a lovely place and only lacks you. Do go to Salisbury first. Always with

undying love,

Yours, Oscar (Hart-Davis, 1962, p. 326)

This letter to Douglas, later known as the “Hyacinth letter”, was particularly important since it has subsequently become one of the letters used, not only by Queensberry, as blackmail material. Furthermore, in the end, it has been read out in the court during Wilde´s trials (Belford, 226).

It comes back to the time when everything in their relationship was new and exciting. Just as discovered at the beginning of their affection, Wilde pictured Douglas

12 At least they are not explicitly stated in De Profundis; there is still notion of their happy years in many of the letters sent to each other or someone else (mentioned in “The Hyacinth letter”) 26 with Greek features. Belford (2000) here makes the connection to Wilde´s inclination towards Greek spiritual love as the ultimate relationship goal he wanted to pursue (p. 216). This time, Wilde´s approach differs, since the recollection of his affection held for Douglas is written from the prison:

You send me a very nice poem, (of the undergraduate school of verse), for my

approval: I reply by a letter of fantastic literary conceits: I compare you to Hylas,

or Hyacinth, Jonquil or Narcisse, or someone whom the great god of Poetry

favoured, and honoured with his love. […] It was, let me say frankly, the sort of

letter I would, in a happy if wilful moment, have written to any graceful young

man of either University who had sent me a poem of his own making, certain

that he would have sufficient wit or culture to interpret rightly its fantastic

phrases (Wilde, 2003, p.995).

As Robbins (2011) indicates, the reader expects from an autobiographical writing a sincere expression of the writer as well as creating a self-consciously literary structure. From this perspective, we can see a problem regarding De Profundis as an autobiographical work of art. Furthermore, even though Wilde described their relationship as toxic and throughout De Profundis listed all the examples of the toxicity he was exposed to in their relationship, he disagrees with this statement after his imprisonment. He regards the first part of the love-letter he wrote in prison, at least according to Douglas´s autobiography “as a hideous confession to make” (p.161). Even further in De Profundis, Wilde accepts the importance of forgiveness, expressed in these lines in connection to Christ:

To live for others as a definite self−conscious aim was not his creed. It was not

the basis of his creed. When he says, ´Forgive your enemies´, it is not for the

sake of the enemy, but for one's own sake that he says so (Wilde, 2003, p.1030).

27

5 De Profundis

This part of the thesis will be devoted to the most known part of the letter. It alters from the progressive conversion of the relationship with Bosie into Wilde´s reconsideration of his life before prison, as well as incline towards Christlike humility and awakening. In the analysis, some of Wilde´s changes of personality and opinions connecting his life before and after the imprisonment will be discussed. The thesis should offer the main consequences and reasons that led him to the completion of this letter and the opinions he formed during his imprisonment.

The direct difference between the first and second part of the letter can be seen after just reading the first couple of lines. Since in the “love-letter”, Wilde aimed at Douglas and focused mostly on his faults, in the second part of the letter Wilde lets go of the blaming approach and considers more of a different path to take. The sudden change of tone in these two parts can be seen mainly in the acceptance of forgiveness and life so far. This aspect can be seen in the overall tone of the letter, which goes more into the depth of Wilde´s thoughts and overlooks the intense feelings of hatred and blame. Even though he went through such a terrible occasion, his life moved on, and he started to accept this fact in the second part of De Profundis. One could view it as a release of his anger in the first part and the actual thinking process and contemplating in the second.

The first part of this chapter regards Wilde as an aesthete. It discusses his change given what the real aestheticism is for him, including the perception of aestheticism of sorrow. The second part focusses on the overall topic of De Profundis, which is Christ and the perception of him in Wilde´s eyes. Finally, the self-realisation connecting the whole book as such will be realised in connection to Wilde´s understanding of himself.

28

5.1 The aestheticism of sorrow

“The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is, and those who know what sorrow is: nobody else interests me.”

Oscar Wilde, De Profundis (2003, p. 1022)

Since the actual beginning of the epistle has been already covered in the section before, with Wilde´s first sentence in the second part of De Profundis, being: “Suffering is one long moment” (Wilde, 2003, p.1009), the focus on Douglas is moved aside, and Wilde´s contemplations about his beliefs and attitudes linking his previous life with the present one, are discussed. Given that sorrow and suffering are some of the reoccurring themes in De Profundis, the aim of this chapter is to explore Wilde´s reasoning of these feelings together with the process of conversion to a different form of the aestheticism then in the past.

He sets the tone of the second part of the epistle on suffering right at the beginning, moreover, continues some lines later: “For us there is only one season, the season of sorrow” (Wilde, 2003, p.1010). Consequently, throughout the book, we get a look into Wilde´s perception relating it to the topics of beauty and the change of what was beautiful to him before and what is now. In order to discuss and observe Wilde´s changes on this matter, his background connected to his role of being an aesthete in Victorian England needs to be, at least in some detail, covered.

Since he was always linked with the movement of Aestheticism during the Victorian period, his life was filled with his passion for the beauty of art and aesthetics. His interest in Greek culture already started at the Portora Royal School, when he recalls:

I was nearly sixteen when the wonder and beauty of the old Greek life began to

dawn upon me [...] I began to read Greek eagerly for love of it all, and the more

I read, the more I was enthralled” (Harris, 2003).

29

It only intensified during his years at Oxford as he, later on, discusses the two turning points of his life being: “when my father sent me to Oxford, and when society sent me to prison” (Wilde, 2003, p.1020). Here he connects the importance of the two, seemingly different events as the most important ones in his lifetime. Oxford has enabled him and showed the importance of art and beauty through the perception of aestheticism. On the other hand, the prison has shown the art and beauty of sorrow through the eyes of a prisoner.

The term – aestheticism of sorrow, regarding Wilde´s shift towards a new form of aestheticism has already been used with connection to his former Apollonian aesthetic thinking, introduced by Evangelista (2009). Furthermore, Evangelista explains this term and association to the conversion mainly on the myth of Apollo and Marsyas, in which Apollo had for Wilde a function of an idol. The idol for Wilde has, however, altered throughout the imprisonment. Therefore, even the connection to his previous form of aestheticism is dropped. The part regarding Wilde´s previous inclination towards Apollonian aestheticism is in De Profundis mentioned as such:

When Marsyas was 'torn from the scabbard of his limbs' – DALLA VAGINA

DELLE MEMBRE SUE, to use one of Dante's most terrible Tacitean phrases -

he had no more song, the Greek said. Apollo had been victor. The lyre had

vanquished the reed. But perhaps the Greeks were mistaken. I hear in much

modern Art the cry of Marsyas. It is bitter in Baudelaire, sweet and plaintive in

Lamartine, mystic in Verlaine. (Wilde, 2003, p.1039)

Even though the importance of sorrow and suffering in connection to him as one of the leading figures of aestheticism and beauty of art are presented, the Apollonian portrayal of aestheticism as seen in the passage and explanation by Evangelista (2009) above is moved aside, and Wilde´s contemplations regarding only the aestheticism of sorrow begin.

As he later on mentions: “Behind joy and laughter there may be a temperament, coarse, hard and callous. But behind sorrow there is always sorrow. Pain, unlike pleasure, wears no mask” (Wilde, 2003, p.1024). These lines explicitly show the

30 realness of pain and sorrow. Furthermore, they can be connected to the time he made references to his relationship with Bosie. As previously mentioned, he was “deceived by the mask of joy and pleasure” (Wilde, 2003, p. 998) throughout their relationship. However, upon the imprisonment full of sorrow, no mask is applicable, and nothing else is hidden behind it, just pain. During the contemplations on the pain and suffering, he goes so far, that he now connects the suffering to “being the supreme emotion of which man is capable” (Wilde, 2003, p.1024).

The extensive period of horrible conditions, as well as Wilde´s nature for perceiving “the beauty of the Sorrow” (Wilde, 2003, p.1028), which he moreover, as Buckler (1989) further explains “nurtured through thoughts of self-pity and self- destruction” (p. 99) led him into destruction of soul, madness or even suicide. Even Wilde himself, comments on his most difficult days in the Wandsworth Prison, when he recollects: “I longed to die. It was my one desire” (Wilde, 2003, p.1022). Despite the contemplations about death during his first months of imprisonment, Wilde never attempted to do it. The only suicide he committed was, as Harris (2005) expressed in many occasions, a “soul-suicide“ (p. 405). When considering Wilde´s hopelessness, it is essential to realise that if there were not any sorrows for him during his imprisonment, he would not have found the spiritual connection to Christ covered in the following chapter.

5.2 Wilde´s perception of Christ through De Profundis

This part aims to clarify Wilde´s perception of Christ and spiritual living connected to the time he spent in prison. It observes Wilde´s modification of Christ according to his needs during the difficult two years of his lifetime. Moreover, it discusses the connection to something he was already familiarised with, the love for art and beauty.

Despite the importance of Wilde´s spiritual journey before entering prison, the primary purpose of this section is not to comprehend an entire part of Wilde´s life connected to his previous beliefs. Moreover, the focus is on the main differences and points discussed in De Profundis, related to Wilde´s modification of Christlike attributes he connected to his perception. Further, these diverse interpretations will be 31 backed up by some of Wilde´s biographic authors before his imprisonment as well as the interpretation of these themes in his last years, as stated in De Profundis. To fully comprehend the change of views on Christ and his importance established in De Profundis, Wilde´s background related to his spiritual journey needs to be covered.

Oscar Wilde was born into an Irish family. Therefore, it can be assumed that he was a Protestant. However, this conclusion is somewhat wrong, since he was throughout his life always more linked to the Catholic approach of the Church, than the Protestant one. Concerning this, being born into a Protestant family could be seen as no more than a label for him. During Wilde´s childhood, Lady Jane “Speranza” Wilde, Oscar´s mother, was not discouraged by the fact that both of her sons were baptised as Protestants and since she was drawn to Catholicism, she got them baptised. As later on, Catholic priest, Father Fox, quoted in Ellmann´s Oscar Wilde, explains “Oscar Wilde would have been perhaps between four and five” when it happened. Later on, at Portora, Oscar was given a substantial amount of Protestantism teaching, which he would have been happy without. Throughout the years spent at Portora school, he indulged himself in discussions about God and continued even at Trinity College, where his interests in Catholicism intensified and continued throughout the whole undergraduate time (Belford, 2003).

Throughout his adolescence, primarily owing to the inspiration at Oxford, he started flirting with the idea of conversion to the Catholic Church. Moreover, in one of his attempts when he made an effort and showed the Church his willingness and eagerness to convert. One of the priests with whom he had consultations told him, according to Pearson (1919): “The finger of God, has not yet touched him”, since Wilde´s primary aspiration at that time laid in the school and education (p. 45). Throughout his later life, the focus of his main literary works was connected mainly to the perception of aestheticism than the overall importance of Christ. Therefore, upon receiving books such as Bible or Divine Comedy, during the hardest time of his lifetime, he could have portrayed that as an awakening and an aid that could help him with the acceptance of sorrow, he was feeling. Moreover, it can be stated that De Profundis among his other literary works written in different conditions, can portray a different and more in-depth connection with Christ, which will be discussed in the following passages.

32

When regarding Wilde´s spirituality, we have to differentiate between Christianity and Christ himself. Despite the fact, Wilde has approached and shown many examples of Christian motives, for example, in his fairy tales, overall, he was not very keen on Christians (Quintus, 1991). As Quintus (1991) further states, Wilde´s aversion towards Christianism appeared after the trials he underwent and where everyone who described themselves as Christian showed Wilde no mercy or sympathy. From this point, he did not want to have anything in common with such Christianism since he had perceived the Christian Church as an institution.

“Where there is sorrow there is holy ground” (Wilde, 2003, p.1011). With this sentence, Wilde opens the discussion regarding his perception of spiritual awakening, discovered during his imprisonment. He continuously carries on with the insight into his perception of sorrow, as seen in the excerpt; nonetheless, now he does not only describe the sorrow as such but connects it with the holiness matter. The connection can be drawn to the horrible conditions Wilde has undergone during his imprisonment.

Moreover, his adaptation of Christ as a romantic figure helped him to undergo the imprisonment time. He regards Christ as someone who underwent the same experiences as himself, regarding the suffering, humility and acceptance. As Belford (2000) states, “Christ was Wilde´s ideal: a romantic artist and poet, a sexually ambiguous individualist and Aesthete much like himself” (p.44). This can be also observed in one of Wilde´s contemplations in De Profundis: “I see a far more intimate and immediate connection between the true life of Christ and the true life of the artist” (Wilde, 2003, p.1027). In this line, Wilde connects the two figures – an artist and Christ, together in one. He links them with the symbolic connection of truth being in each of them. Both figures can be regarded as beneficial to portray beauty and creativity, in which Wilde takes interest as well.

Even though, some authors have implied that Wilde adapted sort of self-pitying voice regarding his imprisonment, mainly through sufferings and sorrow, depicted in De Profundis. Moreover, leading to a perception of dramatization and exploitation of his misery in order to connect with Christ, Woodcock (1978) on this topic states, that it does not have to imply an insincerity whatsoever. Further, Woodcock (1978) adds that he is convinced that Wilde meant what he said in De Profundis. He concludes it by saying that the evidence of his life in and after the imprisonment clearly shows a new 33 attitude towards life. However, this opinion can be merely connected to the Christ related questions, issues and the second part of the letter.

Even later on, Woodcock (1978) mentions Wilde lacking the old arrogance, not in terms of being “a spiritually broken man but in need of humility and pity and understanding of everything he encountered” (p. 93). In the next passage, Wilde explains the understanding of his imprisonment as well as the amount of importance his awakening meant for him:

I had no idea that it was one of the special things that the Fates had in store for

me: that for a whole year of my life, indeed, I was to do little else. But so, has

my portion been meted out to me; and during the last few months, I have, after

terrible difficulties and struggles, been able to comprehend some of the lessons

hidden in the heart of pain. Clergymen and people who use phrases without

wisdom sometimes talk of suffering as a mystery. It is really a revelation. One

discerns things one never discerned before. One approaches the whole of history

from a different standpoint. What one had felt dimly, through instinct, about art,

is intellectually and emotionally realised with perfect clearness of vision and

absolute intensity of apprehension (Wilde, 2003, p.1024).

The associations in De Profundis can imply Christ as an embodiment of many different characteristics and attributes, which helped Wilde during imprisonment. Wilde´s belief in Christ as an artistic idol and poet helped him to identify these features with himself. Another characteristic Wilde used for the illustration of his attributes was the example of Christ as a redeemer. This knowledge helped him to understand and forgive the ones troubling his life. The realisation can be also connected to the letter he wrote for Bosie. In this sense, the reasoning for Ross´s choice of naming the epistle De Profundis, as the forgiving psalm, is evident.

Additionally, Woodcock (1978) mentions Wilde´s view of Christ in all his life as a being with human attributes, rather than divine. This observation could also be related to the depiction of Lord Alfred Douglas. Even though it is not explicitly stated, Wilde

34 may have portrayed some of Douglas’s characteristics into Christlike human. Since we have covered Wilde portraying God throughout his life mainly as an individual being and not divine, it can be assumed that in this case of De Profundis, Douglas could be the divine.

Even though Wilde has undoubtedly suffered, either from the hard labour, lack of human contact, impossibility to write more or altogether horrible conditions of the Victorian prison, it led him to a new important realisation of spirituality, in particular, the importance of Christ. This valuable discovery which has Wilde made for himself offered him another view on the unfortunate events he underwent during his imprisonment and helped him to cope with his sufferings. Thus, even when he therefrom continues on more than 40 pages, the perception of Christ develops only further and further. The portrayal of Christ does not only comprehend the distinct spiritual belief with which is Christ associated, but Wilde´s perception relates Christ to his artistic features.

Since De Profundis seems to be one of the most religiously concerned literary works written by Oscar Wilde, its importance and necessity to examine and hypothesise the whole epistle, at least in some notions, is significant. Although as Wilde coming to the end of the epistle reveals it is not so easy to comprehend. For a better understanding of his latter interest and importance of undergoing the imprisonment, he informs: “It is difficult for most people to grasp the idea. I dare say one has to go to prison to understand it. If so, it may be worthwhile going to prison” (Wilde, 2003, p.1037).

5.3 The Path to Individual Self-Realization

The importance of understanding Wilde´s path of self-realisation is necessary for the comprehension of the whole letter since it strongly connects Wilde´s thought processes throughout the whole work, as well as it illustrates the progress he made during his imprisonment. When considering Wilde´s journey of his self-change, we must try to comprehend his life and view of himself before the imprisonment, in order to compare it to the self-realisation he underwent in prison. This can be regarded as a rather demanding task since a detailed discussion of Wilde´s past self-change covering his whole life cannot be done comprehensively. Moreover, it is beyond the scope of this 35 paper. Therefore Wilde´s own words describing himself before the imprisonment will be used in contrast to his self-descriptive way in De Profundis. In one of the lines, he describes his previous self, as such: “I used to live entirely for pleasure. I shunned suffering and sorrow of every kind. I hated both They had no place in my philosophy” (Wilde, 2003, p.1023). Since Wilde became more aware of his previous status and attitude towards his life, in these next lines, he recapitalises his life until the imprisonment:

I was a man who stood in symbolic relations to the art and culture of my age. I

had realised this for myself at the very dawn of my manhood, and had forced my

age to realise it afterwards. Few men hold such a position in their own lifetime,

and have it so acknowledged. […] Mine passions were to something more noble,

more permanent, of more vital issue, of larger scope. The gods had given me

almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and

sensual ease. I amused myself with being a FLANEUR, a dandy, a man of

fashion. I surrounded myself with the smaller natures and the meaner minds. I

became the spendthrift of my own genius, and to waste an eternal youth gave me

a curious joy. Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in

the search for new sensation (Wilde, 2003, p.1022).

In the passage above, Wilde considers himself in a symbolic role of an artist. He accepted the status he had in his previous life and not questioned it and lived on. This left him amusing himself only with the smaller nature, which can be here portrayed as his lovers or Lord Alfred Douglas. He concludes this whole passage by announcing his deliberate choice to find the depths and explore something that could be again exciting for him.

As previously mentioned, Wilde has gone through self-realisation throughout the whole epistle. Either in the connection of self-realisation in the part that was written for Bosie or later when contemplating his own state of mind and thinking. The self- development can be further seen not only in connection to his whole life but to the form

36 and tone of the letter. It develops from the accusatory tone in the first part of the letter, in which the only development of Wilde´s persona could be related to the few excerpts of Wilde recollecting his actions to go only as far as blaming himself for continuing that “unintellectual friendship” with Douglas. And continues through his path of acceptance of his suffering and linking his sorrow to Christ

Owing to Wilde´s interpretation and realisation of his persona in De Profundis, his self-portrait through the literary device of an epistle is created. His intentions were as William E. Buckler (1989) suggests: “revealing himself to himself as on revealing himself to the world”. Additionally, Buckler (1989) continues: “Wilde's idea of what he wanted to accomplish in the way of creative self-portraiture had more to do with his way of conceiving and treating his subject than did any formal devices used by his predecessors in the genre” (p.96).

In De Profundis, Wilde mentions everything that made him the person he is now. All the suffering that befell him shaped him in a way for any other human unimaginable. Even though Wilde mentions undergoing that immense suffering in every mode possible and perceiving suffering as he says “permanent, obscure, and dark and has the nature of infinity” (Wilde, 2003, p.1018), he nevertheless manages to describe how and where he found value and reasoning in his sorrow in the passage below:

But while there were times when I rejoiced in the idea that my sufferings were to

be endless, I could not bear them to be without meaning. Now I find hidden

somewhere away in my nature, something that tells me that nothing in the whole

world is meaningless and suffering least of all. That something hidden away in

my nature, like a treasure in a field, is Humility (Wilde, 2003, p.1022).

Furthermore, he continues finding all that could help him with the acceptance and appreciation he was in need of. All the things that he has previously seen as horrifying, sickening or aggravating, he now sees, or tries to see, in a different light:

I have got to make everything that has happened to me good for me. The

plank-bed, the loathsome food, the hard ropes shredded into oakum until one's

fingertips grow dull with pain, the menial offices with which each day begins 37

and finishes, the harsh orders that routine seems to necessitate, the dreadful dress

that makes sorrow grotesque to look at, the silence, the solitude, the shame—

each and all of these things I have to transform into a spiritual experience

(Wilde, 2003, p.1020).

According to Wallen´s (2017) analysis: “In De Profundis Wilde reasserts control over his own life narrative, transforming his life into a beautiful tragedy, the ultimate realization of his philosophy of “Life as Art” (p. 331). Even though at the beginning of the imprisonment, the sorrow and despair took over his mind and body and left him quite distraught, Wilde found the aid, the reason to survive.

Now that I realize that it [humility] is in me, I see clearly what I have got to do,

what, in fact, I must do. And when I use such a phrase as that, I need not tell you

that I am not alluding to any external sanction or command. I admit none. I am

far more of an individualist than I ever was. Nothing seems to me of the smallest

value except what one gets out of oneself. My nature is seeking a fresh mode of

self-realization. That is all I am concerned with. And the first thing that I have

got to do is to free myself from any possible bitterness of feeling against the

world (Wilde, 2003, p.1018).

This part provides Wilde´s recollection of all the things he used to be. Mainly it shows his side of fascination with pleasure and enhanced symbolic features. This listing of his previous bohemian life could function as a portrayal of the pretentious arrogance. “It was the depth of his inner disgrace that made the salvation recorded in De Profundis possible “(Buckler, 1989, p. 100).

Even for his contemplations about death and as he was longing to die in Wandsworth prison or after the improvement of his physical health, thinking of killing himself after the imprisonment, his condition changed dramatically. Throughout De Profundis, he slowly moved from this wish to die in Wandsworth Prison to the next passage about the after-imprisonment life.

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I determined to commit suicide on the very day on which I left prison. After a

time that evil mood passed away, and I made up my mind to live, but to wear

gloom as a king wears purple: never to smile again: to turn whatever house I

entered into a house of mourning: to make my friends walk slowly in sadness

with me: to teach them that melancholy is the true secret of life: to maim them

with an alien sorrow: to mar them with my own pain (Wilde, 2003, p.1023).

As previously mentioned, in the first part of the letter Wilde aiming his critique mainly at Douglas and not directly towards himself was a prominent theme. In the second part of the letter, Wilde is putting more attention on himself and trying to come up to terms with his own mistakes and problems. This approach led, together with his awakening and contemplating his previous choices, to new self-realisation of his persona. In the end, we can observe the path of self-fulfilment he managed to accomplish. Moreover, the final part of the epistle showed Wilde coming to terms with all that has happened to him and as Pearce (2004) states: “above all, De Profundis showed Wilde at his most honest and candid. Nowhere in its pages is there the barest hint of the disingenuous” (p. 360).

Wilde ends the whole letter coming back to the one issue, he blamed and referred to, with most importance – his relationship with Douglas. And as such he finishes the whole letter: “You came to me to learn the pleasure of life and the pleasure of art. Perhaps I am chosen to teach you something more wonderful. The meaning of sorrow, and its beauty. Your affectionate friend

Oscar Wilde”

(Wilde, 2003, p.1059).

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6 Life after the Imprisonment

The spark of genius in him was extinguished by prison life, and it could never be rekindled.

Vyvyan Holland, Son of Oscar Wilde

Throughout De Profundis, observably in the second part of the letter, Wilde

expressed the willingness to find his “Vita Nuova” (Wilde, 2003, p.1018), as well as

carry on with his life after the end of his conviction. Regarding his imprisonment and

life afterwards, he recollects the advice from other people:

When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I

was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found

comfort of any kind. Now I am advised by others to try on my release to forget

that I have ever been in a prison at all. I know that would be equally fatal

(Wilde, 2003, p.1020).

As he is aware, that forgetting his imprisonment and all the lessons he learned in it would be fateful, he is inclined to continue in his previous life as an artist. Moreover, owing to the newly found humility and discovery of the importance of sorrow and Christ in his life, he plans to continue writing, assuring not only others but possibly mainly himself in this promise:

It will force on me the necessity of again asserting myself as an artist, and as

soon as I possibly can. If I can produce only one beautiful work of art I shall be

able to rob malice of its venom, and cowardice of its sneer, and to pluck out the

tongue of scorn by the roots (Wilde, 2003, p.1022).

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In addition, he continues on what could possibly be the future theme of his written pieces:

„If ever I write again, in the sense of producing artistic work, there are just two

subjects on which and through which I desire to express myself: one is ´Christ as

the precursor of the romantic movement in life´: the other is ´The artistic life

considered in its relation to conduct.´ The first is, of course, intensely

fascinating, for I see in Christ not merely the essentials of the supreme romantic

type, but all the accidents, the wilfulnesses even, of the romantic temperament

also (Wilde, 2003, p.1034).

Although these notions and promises, he never has written about staying in England. In fact, in order to escape the disgrace and humiliation surrounding him in England, he decided to go to France. Following this decision, he changed his name to Sebastian Melmoth, making a connection to his familial relationships together with his acquired fondness of Christ. He has taken the surname Melmoth from the anti-Christ novel written by his uncle Charles Maturin, called Melmoth the Wanderer. His uncle, even the novel itself, represents a robust pro-Protestantism attitude, expressing a noticeable aversion to Christianism. This was Wilde way how he could connect himself to his family as well as show the clear distinction he felt regarding the topic of Protestantism. Primarily, when his uncle in the book portrayed Christianism as “a blood-crazed cult of masochism and torture” (Killeen, 2005, p.3). On the other hand, Wilde´s choice of his first name Sebastian can be related to the Christian denotation of the origin of the name, which expresses the opposites in his choice of a name.

After fleeing to exile, his years were spent mostly in poverty and bad health. He stayed most of the time in France, where he was mainly alone, with few visits from his friends. His last wish before death was to be accepted to the Church and be baptized as an adult. Ross on this occasion found a priest to administer the baptism and even though Wilde was mostly unconscious, he was as a dying man accepted to the Catholic Church. Soon after the ceremony, he died in his apartment in Paris on November 30, 1990 (Hyde, 1976). 41

Conclusion

This bachelor thesis aimed to analyse a posthumously published text De Profundis, one of the last works written by Oscar Wilde. It focused mainly on Wilde´s change of persona portrayed in the challenging conditions of prison designed “to break him in body and spirit”. This letter can be regarded as an extraordinary piece of work recollecting life and changes in one of the most world-renowned figures in the literary world, Oscar Wilde. Given its uniqueness, considerably less attention in contrast to other works written by Wilde is paid to it. That mainly includes awareness in the Czech Republic. In order to bring the epistle into the attention, aspects of its unfamiliarity were analysed through the explanation of the problematics of its incomplete editions and publications throughout the years.

The first part of the letter, as well as the most omitted one in multiple editions of De Profundis, is the letter to Lord Alfred Douglas. The importance of this part of the letter is brought to the attention through Wilde´s interpretation of their past relationship. The accusatory tone, including many examples of Wilde´s blame aimed at his lover – Douglas, were analysed in the awareness of Wilde´s upset state of mind as well as connected to the other more reliable notions related to their relationship. Owing to the difficulties and terrible circumstances Wilde was exposed to in prison, it is difficult to arrive at any conclusions with regard to the letter written to Lord Alfred Douglas since the past Wilde choose to depict is full of pain and suffering.

In the second part of the letter, the main body of De Profundis, regarding Wilde´s thoughts and reasoning was discussed. Throughout this part, significant themes were portrayed in relation to Wilde´s overall depiction of his past life compared to the present one, in prison. The first topic illustrated in comparison to the different perception of aestheticism was the aestheticism of sorrow. His fondness for art and beauty was shifted to something that was at the time, more appropriate to focus on. Even though for the suffering that made him contemplate suicide, De Profundis revealed, that it was essentially the despair and hopelessness that helped him to find and be introduced to the Christlike attributes with which he later identified himself.

The topic of spirituality, being one of the significant themes throughout De Profundis, came to Wilde as an escape from the suffering and sorrow. Owing to the

42 hardships of being imprisoned, the introduction of Christ through the understanding of the purpose of his imprisonment was necessary. Moreover, owing to the theological confession, he was able to reassess his past life as well as give an explanation to the events that were hard to comprehend.

Wilde´s intentions on “revealing himself not only to himself” but also to a public notion were necessary to undergo for his self-change. In order to stress the importance of this revelation, many significant aspects associated with his process of self- realisation were analysed. These aspects connected the previous two themes of suffering and sorrow and newly found connection to Christ set Wilde on his path to self- realisation. As discovered, Wilde´s experiences in regard to his imprisonment showed the ability to undergo his self-change. In this sense, De Profundis can be seen as evidence of a change of Wilde´s self-realisation process.

Overall, owing to the autobiographical format of the work containing personal and introspective thoughts depicted through the form of a letter, the thesis proved the importance and differences from his previous opinions and thoughts, realised during his imprisonment. Moreover, the results of this thesis support the idea that despite the severe conditions and negative implications, related to the concept of suffering and the time spent in prison, Wilde reached his new turning point - Vita Nuova. As a result, he demonstrated the ability to re-establish his perspective and purpose of his imprisonment to enrich his experiences and accept life as it is.

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Works cited

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Figures

Figure 1. The publication processes. Adapted from “Love-Letter, Spiritual Autobiography, or Prison Writing? Identity and Value in De Profundis” by I. Small, 2003, In J. Bristow (Ed.) Wilde writings: Contextual conditions p. 97...... 16

Figure 2. The copy of De Profundis published and edited by Robert Ross in 1905. Adapted from De Profundis in Archive.org, by O. Wilde, 1905, Retrieved November 25, 2019, from https://archive.org/details/deprofundis01wildgoog/page/n24 ...... 18

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