Oscar Wilde Research Paper

Oscar Wilde is an Anglo-Irish playwright born in Dublin, Ireland. On October sixteenth in 1854. He died on November thirtieth, 1900 from meningitis. His decision to become a playwright was ,surprisingly, influenced by his mother who was an Irish poet under the name of Speranza. His father was an eye doctor and although he was put to work in his father’s hospital, he did not follow in father’s footsteps, contrary to the norm of the time. It is surprising that he was born and raised in Ireland because just five years prior to his birth Ireland was suffering from a crippling famine ,the Famine of 1945-49, that resulted in the loss of half of the Irish population. His childhood had no significant events, however there was one event when he was

That relationship lasted for many years and was despised by Douglas’s father ,John Douglas, who succeeded in ruining Wilde’s public image. However, before his demise, Wilde wrote plays, poems, essays, short stories, and ,of course, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Picture of Dorian Gray did not receive much praise during its time because critics were enraged by the lack of morality in the novel, but it won the United States National Book Critics Circle Award in 1988. Wilde’s demise began when Mr. Douglas wrote "For Oscar Wilde, posing as a somdomite [sic]." on a visiting card at the Albermarle Club with which he had a servant hand to Wilde. This resulted in Mr.Douglas’s arrest for criminal libel and a trial that revealed Wilde’s sexuality and ultimately ended with the seizing of all of Wilde’s assets and a two-year prison sentence. After he served his time he stopped writing and after reconnecting with his friend circles, he died of meningitis on November thirtieth,

Throughout the whole story Dorian is influenced by Lord Henry to become a hedonist, however Lord Henry did not directly tell Dorian to, rather he slyly tricked him whilst taking advantage of his pure and innocent mind and molding it to follow his ideals. Dorian is innocent at the beginning of the novel, aside from desiring eternal beauty, and his mind is clear and boyish. Up until he meets Lord Henry and becomes friends with him Dorian is good-natured and beloved by all, however when he meets Sibyl Vane his world changes. After he proposes to her and they promise their lives together she gives up acting, the part he loves most about her, and he responds in such a way that she kills herself. In his moment of horrible vulnerability Lord Henry sweeps into Dorian’s life and convinces him to experience not feel. Lord Henry does not believe in moral and this is evident when he states "I quite sympathize with the rage of the English democracy against what they call the vices of the upper orders. The masses feel that drunkenness, stupidity, and immorality should be their own special property, and that if any one of us makes an ass of himself, he is poaching on their preserves. When poor Southwark got into the divorce court, their indignation was quite magnificent. And yet I don't suppose that ten per cent of the proletariat live correctly." He convinces Dorian to feel the same and it is not