Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in the month of October in 1854 in Dublin, Ireland, making him a zodiac Libra. He is a renowned poet, writer, and spokesman. His most famous work is his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, a classic known for being incredibly well written. He was criticized for his homosexuality throughout much of his life.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The most influential thing Oscar Wilde ever produced was The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was published in the summer of 1890. The store covers the story of Dorian Gray, a man who goes on a journey that leads him to believe that beauty and sensuality are the only things that matter in life. Dorian realizes that his beauty will leave him with time, he sells his soul in order to preserve his youth, but a portrait of him ages and records what he does. The book is noted to be a philosophical read that influences readers' views on vanity and time as a human condition. The book got some backlash, almost all of it was personal regarding the hedonistic views of Wilde.
Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray#/media/File:Lippincott_doriangray.jpg
Homosexuality
During Oscar Wilde’s lifetime, homosexuality was considered a criminal offense. However, this did not stop him. In 1895, Wilde was put on trial after being accused of engaging in an affair with a wealthy aristocrat. The shocking thing about this affair was that Wilde was around sixteen years older than his muse, Lord Douglas. Because France legalized homosexuality in 1791 (176 years before Britain), Wilde was recommended by many close friends to move there. Instead of moving, he took the father of Lord Douglas -who had been the one to accuse him, to court. Unfortunately for Wilde, the suit did not go in his favor and he withdrew his lawsuit. This trial was later dropped, as the jury was unable to reach a verdict, but Oscar Wilde was convicted for his homosexuality three weeks later. After his release from prison, he was sick and moved to Paris to live out the rest of his life.
Interesting Facts
The last words of Oscar Wilde were, “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has got to go.” Also, Wilde was a strong supporter of Socialism, and advocated for it often, going as far as writing essays on it. Oscar Wilde was capable of speaking fluently in English, German, French, Italian, and Greek. Despite being born in Ireland, Wilde was incapable of speaking any Irish whatsoever. Another interesting factoid about Oscar Wilde is that he was a firm believer in Aestheticism, which was a movement that had the core belief that art should exist only for the sake of being art, without any political or economical affiliation.
Written by Orange Juice Stan
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