EARLY LIFE
Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin on October 16, 1854.
 |
| Photograph taken in 1882 by Napoleon Sarony |
He was the second of three children born to surgeon Sir William Wilde and Jane Wilde, two years behind William ("Willie").
William Wilde (March 1815 –April 19, 1876) was Ireland's leading ear and eye surgeon. He invented the "Ophtholmosope" an instrument for inspecting the interior of the eye especially for focusing on the retina. Also he was the commissioner for Irish Census and discoverer of prehistoric dwellings in the bogs writing books on archaeology and folklore.
He was a renowned philanthropist, and his dispensary for the care of the city's poor, situated in Lincoln Place at the rear of Trinity College, Dublin was the forerunner of the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, now located at Adelaide Road.
Sir William was knighted in 1864 for his services as medical adviser and assistant commissioner to the censuses of Ireland.
Wilde's mother Jane (December 27, 1821 – February 3, 1896) was herself a successful writer and an Irish nationalist. A revolutionary poet under the pen name "Speranza" and authority on Celtic folklore, she read the Young Irelanders' poetry to Oscar and Willie, inculcating a love of these poets in her sons. Lady Wilde's interest in the neo-classical revival showed in the paintings and busts of ancient Greece and Rome in her home.
 |
| Lady Wilde by Frank Harris |
Oscar adored his mother, who was heartbroken when her son was imprisoned. She refused to leave her house and died when he was in jail.
Oscar was brought up at Westland Row. In June 1855, the family moved to 1 Merrion Square, a fashionable residential area. Here, Lady Wilde held a regular Saturday afternoon salon with guests including such figures as Sheridan le Fanu, Samuel Lever, George Petrie, Isaac Butt and Samuel Ferguson.
 |
| Wilde family home on Merrion Square. By Pi3.124 |
Between 1864 to 1871, Oscar spent the summer months with his family in rural Waterford, Wexford and at William Wilde's family home in Mayo. Here the Wilde brothers played with the future novelist George Moore.
Oscar was educated at home up to the age of nine. He attended the fee paying Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, Fermanagh from 1864 to 1871.
Oscar won a royal scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin where he studied the classics from 1871 to 1874. He was an outstanding student, and won the Berkeley Gold Medal, the highest award available to classics students at Trinity gaining first class honours in Classics and Humanities.
He was granted a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where Oscar continued his studies from 1874 to 1878. He led there an aesthetic circle and won the 1878 Oxford Newdigate Prize for his poem "Ravenna". He graduated with a double first.
 |
| Oscar Wilde at Oxford |
CAREER
Wilde once quipped "I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do-the day after." Despite giving the impression he was lazy, in fact Wilde worked hard; by the late 1880s he was a father, an editor, and a writer.
Wilde had been publishing lyrics and poems in magazines since entering Trinity College, especially in Kottabos and the Dublin University Magazine. In mid-1881, a collection of his works titled Poems was published. It sold out its first print run of 750 copies, prompting further printings.
After leaving Oxford, Wilde travelled around deliver lectures on the new "English Renaissance in Art" and interior decoration. He made a huge impression in 1882 in Canada and the USA with his flamboyant style during his lecture tour.
 |
| Keller cartoon from the Wasp of San Francisco depicting Wilde on the occasion of his visit there in 1882 |
After marrying Constance Lloyd in 1884 Wilde moved around English high society gaining his reputation as a wit supported by his wife's fortune.
With a family to support, in mid-1887 Wilde became the editor of The Lady's World magazine. He promptly renamed it The Woman's World and raised its tone, adding serious articles on parenting, culture, and politics, keeping discussions of fashion and arts.
Oscar Wilde was jailed for two years in 1895 for homosexual offences with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. His reputation was banjaxed by the trial.
When he was released two years later, Wilde was an outcast from society. He spent his last three years penniless, in self-inflicted exile from artistic circles. He quipped: "When I was young I used to think money is the most important thing in life; Now that I am old, I know it."
Wilde's death merited only a few sentences in the newspapers of the day.
TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
In mid-1891 Wilde was introduced to Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. By 1893 they were consorting together regularly in a tempestuous affair.
 |
| Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas in 1893 |
On February 18, 1895, Lord Douglas' father the Marquess of Queensberry left his calling card at Wilde's club, the Albemarle, inscribed: "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite" [sic].
Wilde, encouraged by Douglas and against the advice of his friends, initiated a private prosecution against Queensberry for libel. During the trial Wilde's true relationship with Bosie came to light. This led to Irishman's own arrest and trial for gross indecency with men. After two more trials Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour.
 |
| Wilde in the dock, from The Illustrated Police News, 4 May 1895 |
Standing handcuffed on his way to prison in the pouring rain, Wilde quipped "If this is the way Queen Vic treats her convicts, she doesn't deserve to have any."
When Wilde was publicly derided at Clapham Junction while being transferred to Reading Jail, he saw a parallel between his plight and the mockery of the arrested Jesus Christ.
When he was released on May 19, 1897, Wilde moved to France under the assumed name of 'Sebastian Melmoth', after the central character of the gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer.
WORKS
Wilde wrote one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. An intense autobiographical novel, Dorian Gray achieved eternal youth by his portrait ageing on his behalf. It was severely criticised as immoral.
Wilde was deeply impressed by the English writers John Ruskin and Walter Pater, who argued for the central importance of art in life. He later commented ironically on this view when he wrote, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, "All art is quite useless". This quote also reflects Wilde's support of the aesthetic movement's basic principle: "Art for art's sake".
The Duchess of Padua was a five-act melodramatic tragedy set in Padua. Wilde wrote the play in blank verse for the actress Mary Anderson in early 1883 while she was in Paris. After she turned it down, it was abandoned until its first performance at the Broadway Theatre in New York City under the title Guido Ferranti on January 26, 1891, where it ran for just three weeks. Wilde's reaction to its failure was "The play itself was a profound success- but the audience was a profound failure".
Wilde's play Salome tells in one act the Biblical story of the stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who, to her stepfather's dismay but to the delight of her mother Herodias, requests the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for dancing the dance of the seven veils. The play was written in French but was banned in 1892 by Lord Chamberlain on the grounds of portraying biblical characters. It was eventually premiered in Paris on February 11, 1896, while Wilde was in prison.
Wilde wrote four successive comical plays in the 1890s. The first one was Lady Windermere's Fan, which was written for the actress Lilly Langtry in 1892. It was first performed on February 20, 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London.
A Woman of No Importance premièred on April 19, 1893 at London's Haymarket Theatre. Like Wilde's other society plays, it satirized English upper-class society.
An Ideal Husband opened on January 3, 1895 and continued for 124 performances until Wilde's arrest for "gross indecency." His most autobiographical play, it's ironic that An Ideal Husband was the last play before Wilde's fall as it features Sir Robert Chiltern MP who is faced with public disgrace.
His witty comedy The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed on February 14, 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London. Though it was Wilde's most successful play it closed the same year as it opened due to the scandal involving the playwright and Lord Douglas.
 |
| The original production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1895 |
Dame Edith Evans once said she'd played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest everywhere except underwater.
Wilde wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol whilst incarcerated there for homosexual offences. The finished poem was published by Leonard Smithers on February 13, 1898 under the name C.3.3., which stood for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3.
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
The face that launched a thousand quips was covered by long, flowing hair.
 |
| Wilde reclining with Poems, by Napoleon Sarony in New York in 1882. |
While at Magdalen College, Oscar Wilde became particularly well known for his role in the aesthetic and decadent movements. He began wearing his hair long and openly scorning so-called "manly" sports, and began decorating his rooms with peacock feathers, lilies, sunflowers, blue china and other objets d'art.
Wilde's behaviour cost him a dunking in the River Cherwell in addition to having his rooms trashed, but the cult spread among certain segments of society to such an extent that languishing attitudes, "too-too" costumes and Aestheticism generally became a recognized pose. Aestheticism was caricatured by Gilbert and Sullivan in their 1881 mocking operetta Patience.
Oscar Wilde had an enormous centre parting with a necktie attachment and often wore a cravat and knee breeches. He habitually carried a huge lily or sunflower and was known for wearing a green carnation. The green carnation thence became a symbol of homosexuality in the early 20th century, especially through the book The Green Carnation and Noël Coward's song, "We All Wear a Green Carnation" in his operetta, Bitter Sweet.
Wilde desired to bring some color and ornamentation back into the Victorian drab costumes and he favoured velvet jacket, flowing ties and fancy waistcoats together with jewelled watch chains and flower buttonholes, silk stockings and satin knee breeches.
 |
| Oscar Wilde in 1889 |
He lost his Irish accent when underground mockery forced Wilde to switch to an Edwardian toff's drawl.
Full of bon mots, Wilde made a living from his wit. "Are you enjoying yourself, Mr Wilde?" enquired the hostess. "Certainly" he replied, there is nothing else here to enjoy."
"The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it".
"We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities."
"I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar and often convincing."
"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on."
The word “dude” was coined by Wilde and his friends as a hybrid of duds” (slang for clothes) and “attitude”.
RELATIONSHIPS
After graduating from Magdalen, Wilde returned to Dublin, where he met and fell in love with Florence Balcome. She in turn became engaged to Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula. On hearing of her engagement, Wilde wrote to her stating his intention to leave Ireland permanently.
In London, Wilde met in 1879 Constance Lloyd, daughter of the wealthy QC, Horace Lloyd. A demure, religious, happy and pretty girl, he fell head over heels in love. Oscar described Constance as a “grave, slight, violet-eyed little artemis”.
When Oscar was on his lecture tours, he and Constance telegraphed each other twice a day. They were besotted during their courtship.
 |
| Constance Lloyd. Painting by Louis Desanges 1882 |
Constance was visiting Dublin in 1884 when Oscar was in the city to give lectures at the Gaiety Theatre. He proposed to her and they married on May 29, 1884 in Paddington, London.
They honeymooned in Paris and set up home at 16 Tite Street, Chelsea. Constance's allowance of £250 allowed the Wildes to live in relative luxury. He said "Town life nourishes and perfects all the more civilised elements in man"
The couple had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886).
 |
| Oscar, Constance and Cyril |
Wilde's sexual orientation has variously been considered bisexual or gay, depending on how the terms are defined. His inclination towards relations with younger men was relatively well-known within his circles. In 1886 he embarked on his first homosexual affair with Robbie Ross, a Cambridge student.
More and more rumours were reaching Constance's ears of Oscar's affairs. In 1895 Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensberry, for libel and as a result Wilde's true relationship with his son Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. came to light. Wilde was subsequently jailed for two years in 1895 for homosexual offences with Lord Douglas.
Wilde's marriage finally broke up because of the scandal involving him and Lord Douglas. Constance changed her surname to Holland and sent her sons to Switzerland to be educated while she travelled on the European continent. Being deprived of his sons was Oscar’s biggest grief.
 |
| Constance 1896 in Heidelberg |
In 1898 Constance had spinal surgery in Genoa and died soon after on April 7th. She was buried in Staglieno Cemetery in Genoa, Italy.
Cyril was killed in France in World War I. Vyvyan survived the war and went on to become an author and translator.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
He liked the music of Mozart and Chopin.
Wilde: "I like Wagner's music better than any other music. It is so loud that one can talk the whole time without people hearing what one says. That is a great advantage."
Oscar Wilde once asserted the only exercise he took was breakfast in bed. He also quipped "Football is a game for rough little girls not delicate little boys."
Despite this he was very physically strong. At Oxford University when a gang of students tried to beat Wilde up he booted out the first, virtually knocked out the second with a punch, threw out the third through the air then carried the fourth downstairs and buried him beneath his own furniture.
Wilde briefly took up rowing but insisted on maintaining a stately and unhurried pace. He was a strictly non-playing member of Magdalen College, Oxford Cricket Club.
He never took up hunting. Wilde said that fox hunting was, "the English country gentleman galloping after a fox - the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable."
Oscar Wilde had a curious habit of tearing off the top corner of a page as he read it, rolling the paper into a ball and then popping it into his mouth.
DRINK
When the flamboyant Wilde lectured his way round America he ended up drinking gold miners under the saloon tables of the Wild West.
When arrested for homosexual offences, Wilde was drinking hock wine and talking to Lord Douglas at London's Cardogan hotel.
The wit and playwright liked champagne and regularly frequented the Café Royal at 68 Regent Street, London, a French style restaurant.
HEALTH
Wilde is believed to have had syphilis for a number of years having originally caught it from a female prostitute whilst at Oxford. By the 1890s his teeth had turned black from the mercury he took for it.
On one occasion whilst staying with friends at a country house, the Irish writer and wit came down for breakfast looking very pale. "I'm afraid you are ill" remarked someone, "No not ill" replied Wilde. Only tired. The fact is I picked a primrose in the wood yesterday and it was so ill I have been up with it all night."
During his stay at Reading Gaol, Wilde suffered from a long-term infected ear. Earlier after a failed operation by an ear specialist Wilde was informed how much it had cost. He replied "Oh well then, I suppose I shall have to die beyond my means."
 |
| Wilde's cell in Reading Gaol. By Jack1956 |
BELIEFS
Though Wilde lived a bohemian lifestyle, he spent his life wondering whether to become a Catholic or not. However, he still couldn't resist using his legendary wit to mock religion alongside everything else he did. "Truth in matters of religion is simply the opinion that has survived." he once quipped.
By 1900 Oscar Wilde was dying in a shabby Paris bedroom. He had seen into the depths of his own soul after a lifetime of deprivation and his time in prison had led him to reflect on his moral errors. On his deathbed when asked by Father Cuthbert Dunne if he wished to be received into the Catholic Church, the dying writer raised his hand.
DEATH
Oscar Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900.
There are two versions of Wilde's last words in a Paris bedroom. Either accepting a drink of champagne, he remarked so "I am dying beyond my means". Or staring at his shabby Paris bedroom, "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has got to go."
Different opinions are given on the cause of the meningitis; His biographer Richard Ellmann claimed it was syphilitic; Wilde's physicians, Dr. Paul Cleiss and A'Court Tucker reported that the condition stemmed from an old suppuration of the right ear and do not allude to syphilis. Most modern scholars and doctors agree that syphilis was unlikely to have been the cause of his death.
Wilde was buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux outside Paris but was later moved to Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
 |
| The tomb of Oscar Wilde in Père Lachaise Cemetery. By Agateller |
Oscar Wilde's grave is covered with old lipstick kisses from his female fans.
Sources That's Life, A History Of Fashion by J. Anderson Black and Madge Garland
No comments:
Post a Comment