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| Sunday, 10 July 2005 |
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Editorial
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Famous trials that shook the world : The Trial of Oscar Wilde by Lionel Wijesiri
Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854 - November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. One of the most successful celebrities of his day, known for his barbed and clever wit, he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned after being convicted in a famous trial for his 'indecent behaviour'. Though not of the aristocracy, the Wilde family was nonetheless well off and sent Oscar to the finest schools as he grew up. Oscar seems especially influenced by his mother, a brilliantly witty raconteur, and he was frequently invited while still a child to participate in their intellectual circle of friends. In 1871 he went to Trinity College, Dublin on a scholarship, and here he won a Gold Medal for Greek. In 1874 he took a scholarship at Magdalen College, Oxford. He got a First Class in Classical Moderations in 1876, and two years later he got a First Class in Literae Humaniores. In 1879, Oscar Wilde moved to London and started to write for his living and styled himself the 'Apostle of Aestheticism', drawing attention to himself by the eccentricity of his dress. In an era of conventionality amongst the middle classes, Oscar Wilde caused indignant curiosity by dressing in a velvet coat edged with braid, black silk stockings, a soft loose shirt with a wide turndown collar, and a large flowing tie. He is also well known for wearing a buttonhole flower dyed green. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd and had two sons. When the boys were children, Wilde wrote fairy tales for them, that were later published as The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888). This was followed two years later by the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and a book on the role of the artist, The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891). And what a reputation he built. During the 1880's Wilde would establish himself as a writer, poet, and lecturer, but above all as a 'Professor of Aesthetics'. In late 1881, he began a lecture tour of the United States. A well-known Wilde anecdote states that at customs upon his entry to America, when asked if he had anything to declare, Oscar replied: "Nothing but my genius." Wilde made his reputation in the theatre world between the years 1892 and 1895 with a series of highly popular plays. Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) dealt with a blackmailing divorcee driven to self-sacrifice by maternal love. In A Woman of No Importance (1893) an illegitimate son is torn between his father and mother. An Ideal Husband (1895) dealt with blackmail, political corruption and public and private honour. The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) was about two fashionable young gentlemen and their eventually successful courtship. Before his theatrical success Wilde produced several essays. His two major literary-theoretical works were the dialogues 'The Decay of Lying' (1889) and 'The Critic as Artist' (1890). By 1895 Wilde had left his wife and began having an intimate association with Alfred Douglas. When the Marquis of Queensberry heard about his son's relationship with Wilde, he publicly accused the writer of being a "sodomite". Wilde sued for libel but he lost his case and was then himself put on trial on charges of homosexuality (then illegal in Britain). The trial started on April 26. During the case Oscar made a statement: "The so called 'Love that dare not speak its name' in this country 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 in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as 'The Love that dare not speak its name', and on account of it I am placed where I am now". However, Oscar Wilde was found guilty and was sentenced to two years hard labour on May 27. The time spent in jail was the beginning of the end for Wilde. He soon declared bankruptcy and his property was auctioned off. In late 1895, his transfer from Wandsworth to Reading Gaol was to provide a traumatic experience which Wilde later wrote of. The imprisonment and hard labour consisted of a thirteen by seven foot cell, with planks for a bed, and useless work designed to break the spirit. In 1896 Wilde lost legal custody of his children. When his mother died that same year, Constance visited him at the jail to bring him the news. It was the last time they were to see each other before her death in 1898. In 1897, after his release, he moved to France under an assumed name. He wrote 'The Ballad of 'Reading Gaol' in 1898 and published two letters on the poor conditions of prison; one of the letters helped reform a law to prevent children from imprisonment. His new life in France, however, was lonely, impoverished, and humiliating. Wilde died in 1900 in a cheap Paris hotel room. Nevertheless, he retained his epigrammatic wit until his last breath; he is rumoured to have said in the drab hotel room, "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has to go." Wilde was buried in the Cimetiere de Bagneux outside Paris but was later moved to Le Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. His tomb in the Pere Lachaise was designed by the sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein. Despite his undignified end, today Oscar Wilde is enjoying resurgence in popularity. Perhaps it is society's attempt to redeem itself for those who condemned this brilliant man to ruin. The biography of Wilde has been portrayed on a number of books and on stage and film. His, An Ideal Husband was recently released as a major motion-picture and a new sculpture in London was dedicated to his memory. Oscar Wilde walked the line between insider and outsider, balancing a
conflicting public and private life in anti-homosexual late Victorian
society - a precarious situation that led to his disaster. |
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