what did playwright, oscar wilde, go to prison for on may 25, 1895?
Growing up, Wilde was influenced past both his mother's Irish nationalist politics and his father's philanthropic tendencies. He was schooled at their family unit dwelling in Merrion Square before going on to Portora Royal School in Enniskillen and later attending Trinity College, Dublin, where he was introduced to the Greek literature that would greatly influence his later works and behavior.
Wilde's Anglo-Irish gaelic background is ofttimes forgotten – perhaps because of his quintessentially 'British' writings – though he himself was proud of his Irish heritage. When an 1892 production of his provocative play Salomé was banned from the London stage, ostensibly due to its portrayal of biblical figures, Wilde is known to have remarked on the small-mindedness of the English censors, saying: "I am not English language; I'k Irish gaelic which is quite another thing."
2
He believed in 'fine art for art'south sake'
While at Trinity, and later at the University of Oxford'southward Magdalen College (which he attended between 1874 to 1878), Wilde was known for his support of aestheticism – an intellectual movement which centred on the idea that art should non exist for whatsoever other motive other than beauty. Drawing on the piece of work of 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant, aesthetes baulked against the Victorian idea that fine art could exist a tool for social teaching and moral enlightenment. They believed that any morality or utility that a work might bring to an audience was irrelevant.
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During his time in Oxford, Wilde fully embraced 'aesthetic flair': growing his hair long; dressing in flamboyant fashions and bold exaggerated affectations. He famously once declared, when entertaining friends in his Oxford rooms: "Oh, would that I could alive upward to my blue cathay!"
When aestheticism was satirised in Patience(1881), a popular comic opera past creative duo Gilbert and Sullivan, Wilde was called upon past opportunistic businessman Richard D'Oyly Menu to give a series of lectures defining and defending the movement. Wilde delivered lectures across Due north America throughout 1882, to huge success.
Wilde became an icon of the aestheticism movement and his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray(1890), is regarded as a great example of aesthetic theory and the interplay between art and morality.
3
He wrote children's stories
Oscar Wilde is about famous for his acclaimed social club plays – including Lady Windermere's Fan (1892); A Adult female of No Importance(1893); and The Importance of Existence Earnest(1895). Using sharp and witty comedy to frame a more serious commentary of Great britain's grade bureaucracy and human being nature, Wilde'southward plays were hugely popular when they premiered in 1890s London. Wilde became the toast of lodge, known for his flamboyant manner and frequent socialising at fashionable and sectional venues such as the Café Royal.
Withal, information technology is often forgotten that Wilde also wrote children'due south stories. The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a collection of short fairy tales published in 1888. The best-known story in the collection is that of a golden statue which, befriended by a migrating swallow, attempts to help the poor and miserable of its town.
Wilde's piece of work is all-time remembered for being total of wry observances and prolific wit. Though there are many examples of witticisms incorrectly attributed to the playwright, amid his more famous quotes are: "When I was immature I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is"; "Ever forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them and then much"; and "In that location is only one matter in life worse than beingness talked nigh, and that is non beingness talked about".
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iv
He was in dearest with Bram Stoker's married woman
Wilde is remembered for his relationships with men [he fell from public regard after his infamous trial and conviction for 'gross indecency' and subsequent imprisonment betwixt 1895 and 1897], merely he also had several notable relationships with women.
During his youth in Dublin, Wilde had been infatuated with the beautiful and witty Florence Balcombe. Eleanor Fitzsimons writes in Wilde's Women(2017) how Wilde gushed to a friend almost Balcombe: "I am only going out to bring an exquisitely pretty daughter to afternoon service in the Cathedral. She is simply seventeen with the nearly perfectly beautiful face I ever saw and not a sixpence of money. I volition bear witness you her photo when I see y'all next."
To Wilde's thwarting and despite their courting, Balcombe instead chose to marry fellow Irish author Bram Stoker, who would later gain fame as the creator of Dracula. Fitzsimons notes that although Wilde was crushed, he went on to suggest union to ii further women before he met Constance Lloyd, the woman who would become his wife.
Wilde was introduced to Lloyd, the daughter of an Irish barrister, in 1881. They married in 1884 and had ii sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. Many of their letters demonstrate a deep affection: "Every bit long as I live y'all shall be my lover," Lloyd wrote in answer to Wilde's proposal in 1883.
Around the time of the nativity of the couple's second child in 1886, Wilde met 17-year-old Robbie Ross, a Canadian journalist and art critic who was openly homosexual. Soon afterward their coming together, Ross moved into Wilde's family unit home and, co-ordinate to many sources, the 2 began an matter.
From that point on, Wilde became more open in his favour of the company and attentions of immature men and embraced the hidden side of London'south nightlife, regularly arranging rendezvous with young male 'renters'. Frequent instances of public affection scandalised London order, one occurring in Kettner'southward restaurant in Soho when Wilde kissed a waiter.
5
Wilde's accusation of libel led to his own trial
In 1891, Wilde embarked on a tempestuous affair with Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas, a handsome and poetic 21-yr-old Oxford undergraduate. Douglas was Wilde's beloved, talented muse but was besides a petulant burden who was often reckless with both Wilde'southward affections and money. The couple argued and reconciled oftentimes.
In i letter in mid-1894, Wilde wrote to Bosie: "I can't alive without you. Y'all are so dear, and then wonderful. I recollect of you all day long, and miss your grace, your boyish beauty, the bright sword-play of your wit, the frail fancy of your genius, so surprising always in its sudden swallow-flights towards n and s, towards sun and moon — and, above all, yourself."
Suspecting a relationship between his son and the playwright, Bosie's begetter – John Douglas, the Marquess of Queensberry – began harassing Wilde in an attempt to sever the connection. In February 1895, Queensberry left a calling card at the Albemarle Gild in London, where Wilde was a member. The message on the bill of fare read: "For Oscar Wilde posing every bit somdomite [sic]" – though there is still debate about the actual words and meaning, due to Queensberry's handwriting.
Wilde took exception to the bulletin, believing it a public accusation of the criminal offense of sodomy. Against the communication of many of his friends, including Robbie Ross, Wilde sued Queensberry for criminal libel.
Queensberry was well known for his pugnacious mental attitude and outspoken nature: he gathered copious evidence that Wilde had solicited male prostitutes and he coerced witnesses to bear witness against the author. Despite deploying his feature wit during the trial, Wilde was unable to refute Queensberry's accusation. In a humiliating reversal, the marquess was acquitted and immediately prepared to bring charges confronting Wilde, for 'gross indecency' and sodomy – charges which criminalised homosexual people and no longer exist in the Great britain.
A common myth endures that the magistrate delayed Wilde's arrest warrant in order to let him time to take hold of the last ferry from Dover and escape the charges. However, as Merlin Holland, Wilde'due south grandson writes, this is unlikely for a number of reasons, including the fact that there were withal iv trains from London to Paris which would have left after the time ofhis eventual arrest.
On 6 April 1895, Wilde wasarrested and charged, and two hugely public and damaging trials followed, in which Wilde pleaded not guilty.
In a memorable moment from the outset trial, which opened on 26 Apr at the Old Bailey, Wilde was fiercely cross-examined over the pregnant of the phrase "the love that dare not speak its name". The words were from one of Bosie's poems and thought by the prosecution to be a euphemism for homosexuality. Wilde's defence of the term drew cheers within the court: "[It] is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man equally in that location was between David and Jonathan, such every bit Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such equally you lot find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is equally pure every bit information technology is perfect."
After the two trials, Wilde – along with Bosie, who had escaped to safe on the continent before the charges were brought – was convicted of 'gross indecency' by a jury on 25 May 1895. Wilde was sentenced to two years' hard labour, a penalty described every bit "totally inadequate" by the estimate, given the "seriousness" of his "criminal offence".
6
Wilde wrote i of his most famous works from his jail cell in Reading gaol
Wilde was imprisoned first in Pentonville and Wandsworth prisons, before being moved to Reading gaol in Nov 1895. During his transfer via Clapham Junction station he was recognised on the platform while manacled to a warden – he was subjected to corruption and spat on by his previously adoring public.
Before the 1898 Prison Act, which reformed the aims and methods of incarceration in Britain, the British prison system was designed to bailiwick prisoners to harsh physical labour and silent meditation on their crimes. Wilde'due south life in prison was arduous and grim: he spent 23 hours a twenty-four hour period in his cell, with hardly any contact with other prisoners, and was required to labour on a treadmill. He became sick with dysentery during his incarceration.
Though Wilde was forbidden from writing plays, prose or poesy while serving his sentence, he was permitted to write letters. He realised that the prison regulations did non specify how long a letter should be and, if a letter were not finished, then the prisoner may exist allowed take it with him when he left the prison.
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So, over the terminal three months of his sentence, Wilde worked on the letter of the alphabet that would be later known equally De Profundis(Latin for "from the depths"). He addressed the letter to Douglas, beginning: "Love Bosie, Later on long and fruitless waiting I have determined to write to y'all myself, as much for your sake every bit for mine."
The letter contains many references to their relationship and to Wilde'due south feelings about Christianity and Jesus Christ.
Wilde never revised De Profundisafterward his release from Reading gaol in 1897 and information technology wasn't published until later on his death: first in part past Robbie Ross in 1905; and later in total by Wilde'south youngest son, Vyvyan, in 1949.
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He died destitute in Paris – but non of syphilis
Upon his release, Wilde was irrevocably marred by his imprisonment; his health was suffering and he was financially ruined. He retired to the continent and assumed the proper noun of Sebastian Melmoth – inspired by Melmoth the Wanderer, a 19th-century Gothic novel by Irish gaelic writer Charles Maturin. Wilde lived for the well-nigh part impoverished and lonely, occasionally joined and supported by sometime associates, including a brusk-lived reunion with Bosie in Naples in Baronial 1897.
Though Oscar's wife, Constance, continued to support him with a fiscal stipend for some fourth dimension later his release, she remained in England with their 2 sons and changed their surname to 'Kingdom of the netherlands' to escape scandal. Wilde remained estranged from his family until his married woman's expiry in 1898.
With the exception of The Ballad of Reading Gaol(1898) – a scathing indictment of the Victorian penal system first published under Wilde's prisoner identification number, C3-3 – he wrote little else of literary significance during this time. He told one friend: "I tin write, but have lost the joy of writing."
Wilde'south health connected to decline and he suffered public abuse and humiliation, oft ridiculed and jeered by those who recognised him.
Though there is a common misconception that Wilde died of syphilis – propagated by British journalist and writer Arthur Ransome, who in a 1912 biography claimed syphilis as the cause of Wilde's expiry – the playwright died aged 46 on 30 November 1900 after suffering from meningitis. On his deathbed, Wilde is reported to have remarked: "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of united states of america has got to go." The author died at the shabby Hotel D'Alsace in Paris in the company of a few friends including Robbie Ross and a Catholic priest, who baptised Wilde before his death.
Oscar Wilde left behind a complicated legacy: Merlin Holland has written that, likewise as a writer of stature, his grandfather was also "a convict, a homosexual, a bankrupt... and a charismatic figure prepared to stand up upwards for what he believed in".
Wilde was posthumously pardoned for his convictions in 2017, when the UK government's 'Turing Law' (named later the British Second Earth War codebreaker Alan Turing) exonerated more than than fifty,000 men who had been bedevilled of crimes for homosexuality that no longer exist.
Elinor Evans is Deputy Digital Editor of HistoryExtra.com
This article was start published in June 2018
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Source: https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/oscar-wilde-facts-quotes-married-life-biography-plays-trials/
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