Oscar Wilde Research Paper

Oscar Wilde is a well-known author responsible for many notable works such as The Importance of Being Earnest, A Woman of No Importance, and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Biography). His use of wit throughout his writings and sense of humor drew the attention of many readers (Biography). The exuberant author was born in Dublin, Ireland on October 16, 1854 (Biography). He grew up drawn to books and displayed immense amounts of intelligence from a very young age (Biography). His mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, was a talented linguist that inspired Wilde in his writings (Biography). Her famous translation of Sidonia the Sorceress influenced Wilde greatly (Biography). His father, William Wilde, was a physician greatly admired for his help as a medical

While living in London, Wilde remained interested in poetry and issued his first gathering of poems in 1881 (Biography). The collection received a modest amount of praise but did not launch his career as a famous writer (Biography). Wilde moved to New York City a year later and began lecturing to American students. In America, Wilde met many influential American figures such as Walt Whitman, Henry Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes (Biography). Wilde returned home to lecture in Europe after finishing lecturing in America. Wilde became an important advocator of the aesthetic movement through his teachings (Biography). The aesthetic movement focused on the beauty and aesthetic values of art, rather than the social or political perspective of the piece (Biography). He became one of the leading supporters of the movement. Wilde married the well-off Constance Lloyd in 1884 (Biography). Together they had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan (Biography). Throughout Oscar’s writing career he wrote highly acclaimed books famous for his unique comedic and eccentric themes (Biography). One of Wilde’s most criticized works of literature is The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was picked apart by critics for its seemingly absence of morality

Wilde also wrote a few notable plays, his most famous being The Importance of Being Earnest. During his most creative spurt of literary accomplishments, Wilde was exposed for having an affair with a young man named Lord Alfred Douglas (Biography). After the discovery was revealed to Douglas’ father, Queensberry, he left a card at Wilde’s house addressing him as a “somdomite,” as he infamously misspelled sodomite (Biography). The disrespectful notion left Wilde so furious that he sued Queensberry for libel (Biography). At court, Queensberry proved Wilde’s homosexual lifestyle through a series of love letters written to Douglas and queer quotes from his novels and plays (Biography). The evidence destroyed Wilde’s case of slander against Queensberry, and Wilde was arrested for “gross indecency” (Biography). He was condemned to two long years confined in jail. After serving two years at two different prisons, Wilde underwent a complete transformation (Biography). The wealthy, witty, and flamboyant man had emerged humiliated, heart-broken, and dirt-poor (Biography). He lived out the rest of his life in France in poverty (Biography). His only valuable work after his imprisonment was a poem written about his experience in jail called “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”