Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900): Life and Career

Birth and Family

• Born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland.

• Father: Sir William Wilde, a well-known surgeon and writer on folklore.

• Mother: Lady Jane Francesca Wilde, a nationalist poet and supporter of Irish independence, writing under the name Speranza.

Education

• Attended Trinity College, Dublin, where he excelled in classics and won the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek.

• Continued at Magdalen College, Oxford (1874–78), where he became known for his wit, style, and devotion to the Aesthetic Movement ("art for art’s sake").

• Won the Newdigate Prize (1878) for his poem Ravenna.

Career and Literary Works

• Moved to London, gaining fame as a wit, dandy, and lecturer on aesthetics.

• Published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), a work that explored beauty, morality, and decadence.

• Achieved his greatest success with society comedies, including:

  • Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892)

  • A Woman of No Importance (1893)

  • An Ideal Husband (1895)

  • The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), his masterpiece.

• Also wrote fairy tales (The Happy Prince and Other Tales, 1888), essays (Intentions, 1891), and poems.

Personal Life and Downfall

• Married Constance Lloyd in 1884; they had two sons.

• Known for his flamboyant lifestyle and homosexual relationships, especially with Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie").

• In 1895, sued Douglas’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry, for libel—but the trial turned against Wilde.

• Convicted of “gross indecency” (homosexual acts) and sentenced to two years’ hard labor (1895–97).

• Prison experiences inspired his prose work De Profundis (a long letter to Bosie) and The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898).

Later Life and Death

• After release in 1897, lived in exile in France under the name Sebastian Melmoth.

• Died on 30 November 1900 in Paris, aged 46, from meningitis, in poverty and disgrace.

• Buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

• Today Wilde is celebrated as one of the greatest playwrights of the 1890s, a master of wit, and a martyr of freedom of expression and individuality.

The Age in Which Wilde Lived:

• Victorian Age (1837–1901): Marked by industrial progress, empire-building, strict morality, and social conventions.

• The Aesthetic Movement (1870s–1890s): Wilde was its leading figure, promoting “Art for Art’s sake” against utilitarian views of art.

• The Fin de Siècle (end of the 19th century): A cultural mood of decadence, pessimism, and questioning of morality—Wilde’s works reflect this.

• He also overlapped with the Decadent Movement in Europe, influenced by French writers like Baudelaire and Huysmans

The phrase “Naughty Nineties” is often used to describe the 1890s in England — the very decade in which Oscar Wilde’s greatest works appeared and his downfall happened.

Why it’s called the Naughty Nineties

• The decade had a double character:

  • Outwardly, Victorian society still preached strict morality, family values, and respectability.

  • But underneath, it was a period of decadence, aestheticism, and rebellion against those moral codes.

• Artists, writers, and fashionable society figures began to challenge Victorian prudery with new ideas about art, beauty, sexuality, and pleasure.

• The Aesthetic Movement and Decadent Movement flourished in this era, with Wilde as a central figure.

Major Writers of the Naughty Nineties (Decadents & Aesthetes)

1. Walter Horatio Pater (1839–1894)

   • An Oxford don and essayist, he was the philosopher of Aestheticism.

   • Famous for his book Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873).

   • Advocated the idea of “art for art’s sake” and living intensely in the moment.

   • Greatly influenced Wilde and other Decadent writers.

2. J. A. Symonds (1840–1893)

   • Critic, poet, and biographer.

   • Wrote on the Renaissance and sexuality (including early works sympathetic to homosexuality).

   • His writings prepared the ground for Wilde and the “decadent” mood of the 1890s.

3. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

   • The central literary figure of the Naughty Nineties.

   • His witty plays (The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband), novel (The Picture of Dorian Gray), and essays embodied the spirit of aestheticism, wit, and social satire.

   • His trial and downfall became symbolic of the age’s contradictions.

4. John Davidson (1857–1909)

   • A Scottish poet and playwright.

   • Associated with the Decadent movement and the Yellow Book circle.

   • Wrote Fleet Street Eclogues (1893) and other poems blending modern life with a decadent mood.

So there are actually two streams in the 1890s:

• Mainstream “Naughty Nineties” Writers (Shaw, Kipling, Hardy, Housman, etc.)

• Decadent / Aesthetic Writers (the “real Naughty Nineties” group) → Pater, Symonds, Wilde, Davidson, Beardsley, Symons, Dowson

Meaning of Decadence

• The word literally means decline, decay, or moral/cultural deterioration.

• In literature and art, Decadence refers to a late 19th-century European movement that celebrated beauty, artifice, and sensuality, often rejecting traditional morality and social norms.

• It was linked with the “fin de siècle” mood (end of the century) — a feeling of weariness, pessimism, and fascination with excess.

Features of Decadence in Literature

1. Art for Art’s Sake → Beauty and style valued more than moral lessons.

2. Artificial over Natural → Preference for sophistication, ornament, and refinement over simplicity.

3. Sensuality & Eroticism → Exploration of pleasure, sexuality, and taboo themes.

4. Pessimism & Fatalism → A sense of decline, ennui (boredom), and fascination with death.

5. Exotic & Unusual → Love for rare, strange, or “morbid” subjects, often drawn from French Symbolism.

Meaning of Decadence

• The word literally means decline, decay, or moral/cultural deterioration.

• In literature and art, Decadence refers to a late 19th-century European movement that celebrated beauty, artifice, and sensuality, often rejecting traditional morality and social norms.

• It was linked with the “fin de siècle” mood (end of the century) — a feeling of weariness, pessimism, and fascination with excess.

Features of Decadence in Literature

1. Art for Art’s Sake → Beauty and style valued more than moral lessons.

2. Artificial over Natural → Preference for sophistication, ornament, and refinement over simplicity.

3. Sensuality & Eroticism → Exploration of pleasure, sexuality, and taboo themes.

4. Pessimism & Fatalism → A sense of decline, ennui (boredom), and fascination with death.

5. Exotic & Unusual → Love for rare, strange, or “morbid” subjects, often drawn from French Symbolism.