Oscar Wilde Research Paper

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

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

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