Biographical Information
Oscar Wilde was born in Ireland in 1854. From a family of some renown in Dublin, Wilde was given what was likely the best education to be had in Ireland. A writer from the beginning, Wilde became fascinated with literature, and after moving to London in search of a more opulent lifestyle (which was to become one of his trademarks) began writing seriously. He dabbled in everything from journalism to poetry to what would be his most famous works, stage plays.
Works
The first two of Wilde’s most well known works were the short novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the stage play Salome. The Picture of Dorian Gray is about a handsome young man named Dorian Gray whose life is uniquely linked to a portrait of himself painted by a friend, Basil. The portrait deteriorates and becomes uglier with every sin Gray commits and at the end of the book, Gray attempts to destroy the painting. This action kills Gray himself and returns the painting to its original, beautiful form. The Picture of Dorian Gray was condemned when it was first published for containing overt scenes of debauchery and undertones of “the love that dare not speak its name.”
Salome was first published in France, and was barred from being performed in London because it depicts biblical figures and a nude dance by the title character. It tells the story of Salome, the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas who requested John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Also riddled with graphic scenes and various kinds of forbidden love, Salome was just as controversial as The Picture of Dorian Gray , and has inspired a number of adaptations including an opera.
The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
Wilde, despite having fathered a number of children (some of them illegitimately) is widely suspected of having been a homosexual. At the height of his career he had a number of comedies-of-manners playing in London, including the recently opened The Importance of Being Earnest , which is perhaps his best known work. He was prone to spending much of his time in luxuriousness with beautiful young boys and for wearing a white rose dipped in green dye (a well-known sign of homosexuality at the time).
One of his many young beautiful male attendants happened to be the Lord Alfred Douglas (“Bosie”) who was the son of the Marquess of Queensberry. Queensberry, suspicious of his son’s relationship with Wilde, left a note at Wilde’s club saying, “For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite [sic].” Spelling error aside, the note was a public accusation of what was, at the time, a felony. So Wilde brought suit against Queensberry.
Thus began what is now called the three trials of Oscar Wilde. The first “trial” was actually Queensberry’s defense against the libel suit. It was Queensberry’s responsibility to prove that his charge was true. Wilde said this, in what had now become a defense of himself.
“‘The love that dare not speak its name’ in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art, like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo … It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as ‘the love that dare not speak its name,’ and on that account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an older and a younger man, when the older man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it.”
Wilde dropped the libel suit after some time and the charge was found to be true, which opened the door for prosecution by the state for the same crime. The jury was hung for this second trial, but finally, on the third trial for the crime of “sodomy” and “acts of gross indecency” Wilde was found guilty and sentenced to two years hard labor.
Legacy
The most well-known work by Wilde after these trials was his letter to Bosie in prison, which was published after his death under the title “De Profundis.” Wilde’s life has been the subject of many a play, book and biography including a play called Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project. His life and his plays continue to influence and inspire novelists, playwrights, actors and academics, and in his works are found the roots of queer theory, queer theatre and gay pride. And so it is that this the humble, witty, Irish writer who was tried three times for the crime of “gross indecency” is still relevant and hilarious to this day.