Volume 2 │ Issue 2 │ 2017 The Literary Legacy and Legendary Lifestyle of Oscar Wilde Emma Polini Austin College Texas Kappa Chapter Vol. 2(2), 2017 Article Title: The Literary Legacy and Legendary Lifestyle of Oscar Wilde DOI: 10.21081/AX0091 ISSN: 2381-800X Key Words: Oscar Wilde, homosexuality, Victorian England, legal scandals, media This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Author contact information is available from the Editor at [email protected]. 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The Literary Legacy and Legendary Lifestyle of Oscar Wilde Emma Polini Austin College Texas Kappa Chapter Abstract Abstract: This paper explores Oscar Wilde’s homosexual literary agenda, chiefly how Wilde sought to use his work and lifestyle to disrupt conventional views of normality. The article then explores the legal repercussions of Wilde’s homosexuality, chiefly how Victorian England sought to scapegoat and persecute Wilde in order to “cleanse” society and reestablish normality through the infamous Wilde trials. An analysis of Wilde’s reception in different countries, as well as his perceived threat, establishes the rigidity of the Vic- torian ethos, as well as the fascination of both the public and the press with celebrity scandal. Key words: Oscar Wilde, homosexuality, Victorian England, legal scandals, media Over a century after his death, Oscar Wilde remains downfall was ultimately initiated due to his affair with a prominent and celebrated figure in English literature. fellow writer Lord Alfred Douglas, whom he met in Beloved for his plays and endowed with an unparalleled 1891 (Hyde 133). In 1895, Douglass’s father, the Mar- wit, Wilde is easily one of the most quotable writers of quess of Queensberry, accused Wilde of sodomy. Schulz all time. Contrasted against the rigidity of Victorian so- notes that the Marquess had “his own reputation as a ciety, Wilde was a flamboyant figure famed just as much belligerent, nonconforming aristocrat,” a status which for his writing as he was for his infamous public persona. fueled the public’s engrossment with the trials (39). This persona, however, ultimately proved to be Wilde’s Wilde’s legal woes began when he attempted to sue the downfall, leading to Wilde’s persecution in the most Marquess for libel—a charge he was unable to prove— prominent of a string of homosexual trials in Victorian which ultimately led to Wilde being ensnared in a ruth- England. The Wilde trials reveal the dual repugnance less trio of trials over his “indecent” relations with men and fascination of the public with celebrity scandal, as (Hyde 197). In court, excerpts from Dorian Gray were well as the need to scapegoat and put on trial characters used against Wilde as proof of his homosexuality (Hyde who threaten conventional society. Wilde’s endanger- 256). Additionally, Wilde’s former lovers were called to ment of the Victorian ethos was in part due to his homo- testify against him, verifying after three trials that Wilde sexual literary schema, which led Victorian society to had “commit[ted] acts of gross indecency with various persecute Wilde in order to reinstate societal norms. male persons” (Hyde 226). The trials led to a complete Though Wilde was a married man, he was well doc- upheaval of Wilde’s life: his house was sold by creditors, umented to have a string of male lovers. Homosexual productions of his plays were immediately shut down acts were not decriminalized in England until the Sexual in England, and English society quickly turned on him Offences Act of 1967 (“The Sexual Offences Act”). His (Hyde 233). Journalist Frank Harris wrote, “his arrest 2017 Aletheia—The Alpha Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research 3 was the signal for an orgy of Philistine rancor such as to him simply what the colors on his palette are to the even London had never known before. The puritan mid- painter. They are no more, and they are no less. He sees dle class, which had always regarded Wilde with dislike by their means a certain artistic effect can be produced as an artist and an intellectual scoffer, a mere parasite of and he produces it.” He then writes, “each man sees his the aristocracy, now gave free scope to their disgust and own sin in Dorian Gray,” forcing the readers to confront contempt, and everyone tried to outdo his neighbor in their own depravity through Dorian’s debauchery (qtd. expressions of loathing and abhorrence” (qtd. in Hyde in Hyde 118). Since Wilde’s own personal “sin” was 232). The immediate shock of the trials and devastation his homosexuality, it seems suitable to suggest that this to Wilde’s hedonistic lifestyle are largely cited as the could be Dorian’s sin as well. In the novel, Dorian’s reason for his depression and death three years after his friendship is regarded as “fatal to young men,” and the release from prison. Though his jail sentence did not de- nature of Dorian’s relationship with Lord Henry is left stroy his ability to write, life in prison altered the once open to interpretation (195). Dorian and Lord Henry are witty and upbeat figure, as evidenced in Wilde’s later exceedingly close friends, and it becomes abundantly writings which show a marked departure from gaiety to clear that Basil also holds deep feelings for Dorian, for a focus on human misery and suffering. the younger man becomes his muse. Basil grows jealous Victorian society, notorious for pushing doctrines of the time Dorian spends with Lord Henry, and he syco- of decency and morality, felt the need to punish Wilde phantically tells Dorian: “You have been the one person because they perceived him, his art, and his homosex- in my life who has really influenced my art” (Dorian uality as a threat to this order. In her essay “Purity and Gray 152). Dorian blushes upon meeting Lord Henry, Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and and Lord Henry drinks in Dorian’s beauty as they first Taboo,” Mary Douglas writes, “There is no such thing meet (Dorian Gray 22). He thinks, “no wonder Basil as absolute dirt: it exists in the eye of the beholder. Hallward worshipped him” (Dorian Gray 23). Dorian is Dirt offends against order. Eliminating it is not a nega- known as an exceptionally lovely looking young man, tive movement, but a positive effort to organise the en- and the tremendous hold that he has over both Lord vironment” (2). In relation to Wilde, this “dirt” refers to Henry and Basil certainly seems to suggest more than the taboo nature of his sexual acts. The “elimination” of mere friendliness. Coupled with Dorian’s penchant for this dirt required making an example of Wilde to main- ruining the reputation of young men and Lord Henry’s tain societal order. Douglas explains that the concept of suggestion that Dorian should give in to his temptations, “pollution” works in both instrumental and expressive Wilde implies that the true nature of these men’s rela- ways in society. People attempt to influence each oth- tions transgressed platonic grounds, creating an under- er’s behavior through social pressures, since the order of tone of homosexuality in his novel. society is “guarded by dangers which threaten transgres- Wilde’s introducing homosexuality subverts the tradi- sors,” or so-called “danger-beliefs” (Douglas 3). These tional thinking of Victorian society. It is fitting for Wil- danger-beliefs are very telling in the way they deter- de, a well-known homosexual, to use the characters of mine which figures earn both the hatred of the public Dorian and Lord Henry, as well as Vivian from his es- and attention of the court; danger-beliefs lead society to say “The Decay of Lying,” as mouthpieces to advocate publicly condemn figures that transgress convention, for for homosexuality. Through these writings, Wilde seeks they pose a threat to order. to challenge the common philosophies of Victorian so- Wilde was perceived as a threat in part because of his ciety, namely the fact that heterosexuality was deemed homosexual literary agenda. Wilde’s homosexuality is a “normal” and acceptable, while homosexuality was con- theme subtly present in his works.