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Oscar Wilde Research Paper

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Oscar Wilde’s inspiration to write The Picture of Dorian Gray stemmed from his excellent scholarly upbring and influential friends and lover, Rachilde and John Gray, respectively. Wilde’s scholarly pursuit into literature began at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, Ireland (biography.com). It is here where he first fell in love with Greek and Roman studies, which would later influence many of his views on aesthetics and the human body. When he graduated into the highly esteemed Oxford University, Wilde began to experiment with creative writing and in 1878 received the Newdigate Prize for best English verse composition for his poem ‘Ravenna’ (biography.com). Rachilde, also known as Marguerite Eymery-Vallette Wilde’s cross-dressing companion …show more content…

Wilde's love letters to Douglas and the Marquis of Queensberry’s, letter to his son, Douglas, condemning his homosexual acts, shows the proliferation of the problematic aspect to Wilde and Douglas’ relationship that ultimately imprisoned Wilde (Linder). In 1895, the Marquis of Queensbury left a note at Wilde’s home indirectly accusing Wilde of being homosexual. Wilde sued him for libel in return, but Wilde’s libel case was dismissed changed to charges of “gross indecency”, which led to him being sentenced to two years in prison (biography.com). Evidence of Wilde’s homosexuality was retrieved from “homoerotic passages from his literary works, as well as his love letters to Douglas”. After being released from prison, he went into exile in France, living off one friend’s apartment to the next and failed to write anymore remarkable works of literature …show more content…

He became a controversial figure, not only for his love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, but also because what was in discussion, was not solely Wilde’s case , but the denunciation of the “true bourgeois male” through the antithetical persona of the “homosexual” (Cohen 801). The effects of his trials transcended past the fundamental jurisdictionsWilde’s own persona and the public response to his trials were pivotal in fixing the modern public image of the homosexual (Carroll 295).” His imprisonment serves as a symbolic realization of the societal ramifications that homosexuals must confront (Summers). It was due to Wilde that the stereotype of the homosexual was redefined from anyone who participated in same-sex love to a dandiacal social-climbing with who threaten the stability of the bourgeoisie. (Luckhurst 335; Summers; Cohen). Wilde’s delineation of this new persona allowed him to abstain from committing to any

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2. The bulk of Chapter 11 lists, page after page, the various pursuits of Dorian's adult life. In these lists, Wilde shows the result of Dorian's chosen path. The reader sees the peculiar kind of hell that Dorian inhabits because of his pact; Wilde delivers a strong judgement against the dangers of decadence. The lengthy passages describing Dorian's study of perfumes, music, jewels, and embroideries border on being tedious.

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Oscar Wilde is the author of “The Picture Of Dorian Gray” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray: Preface”. Based off of these two texts, I infer that Oscar Wilde is often misread. This is shown in both of the texts because they are about how things are often misconceived. First, the text titled “The Picture Of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde states, “: Forgive me, sir! I almost killed an innocent man.”

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This is where Wilde inserted another farce. It was an improbable event. This was a very unexpected turn in the

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One of these flaws is superficiality and Oscar Wilde blatantly expresses it in Dorian Gray. The most noticeable instance of this is when Dorian falls in “deep” love with an amazing actress and proposes to her, however when she refuses to act in love because she wants to actually be in love. He instantly hates her for her refusal and cancels their engagement. This results in her

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The relationships focused on in the novel are very unstable and based on almost no connection other than money. Although there are many different views about different romances. One type of romance that has long been under fire are LGBTQ romances. While many live happily being who they are, others face the scrutiny of others throwing what they believe to be true onto them. That is the case with Oscar Wilde himself.

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Through this satirical writing, Wilde uses comparison of beauty and industrialism and juxtaposition between compliments and criticism to paint American social values as backwards and unappealing in order to dispel the glamour of a romantic American culture.

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I. Background of the Author Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1854 to Sir William Wilde and Lady Jane Francesca Wilde. William was a valuable ear and eye surgeon, who wrote books on medicine, history, and poetry, while Oscar’s mother was known as “Sperenza,” and was a poet as well as a proponent for women’s rights and the independence of the Irish. Wilde attended Trinity College in Dublin, and later went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied the classics and took an interest in Ancient Greek. He met many other authors and philosophers like John Ruskin, who presented new ideas to Wilde, such as the practice of aestheticism, praising the savage human instinct, and defying society’s norms, which Wilde

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Wilde’s representation of the British upper class, its values and opinions, is presented most notably through Lady Augusta Bracknell. She is a dignified aristocratic residing fashionable London society circles. On the surface, she is very typical Victorian woman. As a mother to Gwendolen Fairfax, she has a great authority over her controlling her life. She has even a list of ”eligible young man” whom she is ready to interview in order to select a suitable partner for her daughter.

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Describing how the play differs from the Irishman’s other writings, Ellmann assesses, “What seems clear is that Wilde has turned here from direct onslaughts upon conventional morality to a more olympian amusement” (xviii). Wilde utilizes

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The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray shocked the moral judgments of British book critics. Some of them said Oscar Wilde deserved to be pursuance for breaking the laws guarding the common morality because the uses of homosexuality were in that time banned. This book was for that time unusual because it had a pretty serious criticism on the society from that time. The novel is about a young and extraordinarily beautiful youngster, named Dorian Gray that have promised to his soul in order to live a life of eternal youth, he must try to adapt himself to the bodily decay and dissipation that are shown in his portrait.

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is an excellent play which has many underlying themes and suggestions especially with regards to the Victorian era, during which this was written. Many themes within the play are reflective of Wilde and his life, including his secrecy and supposed “double life,” his interest in aestheticism, his life pertaining the mannerisms and social etiquette during his lifetime. Today, Oscar Wilde is often remembered in part due to his well known homosexuality trial of 1895 (Linderd, 1), but his “second life” per se had been speculated on for years prior to it, in fact many of his plays contain subtle yet effective implications towards a possible piece of his life kept hidden from the public eye. The Importance of Being Earnest mirrored this double life through the utilization of Jack and Algernon's “Bunburying,” and their motives for lying to the ones whom they love.

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This essay illustrates how Wilde reinforce his criticism of the upper class at a satirical tone with his writing style at three levels: inter-scene, intra-scene, and within a word. Satire at the inter-scene level The use of fake identities is one of the motifs of the play. The use of motif is important to

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1283 Words | 6 Pages

Wilde is greatly influenced by the societal movements in the Victorian Era, therefore the theme of hedonism is prominent displaying the influence of Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray and further explaining the consequences of selfishness and self-pleasure. The Aestheticism movement shockingly challenged all past standards of love, pleasure, and sexuality. Specifically this Victorian movement “promotes sexual… experimentation. ”(Burdett)

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877 Words | 4 Pages

Wilde’s comedic influence takes place in the characters placing emphasis on trivial things and treating serious matters with inconsequence. Though this play could be viewed as a simple comedy, what makes it a satirical work is the underlying social commentary. Wilde highlights his views on institutions such as love, marriage, and gender relations by satirizing their nature via reductio ad absurdum and thereby reveals their essential frivolity. Though marriage is traditionally viewed by society as the final step in a lover’s journey, Wilde intentionally separates marriage and love to the point where they seem mutually exclusive.

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1043 Words | 5 Pages

(sparknotes.com). Oscar Wilde provided many subtle hints in the text, which reveal the characters’

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