Oscar Wilde 's Life And Accomplishments

Throughout mankind, there have been plenty of time where disobedience has lead to  greater changes for humanity. Author Oscar Wilde once stated “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history. Is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion.” Wilde’s statement claims that disobedience is a trait that every human possesses, disobedience is the reason society is so developed. As history has shown us, humans have never been satisfied when there is a higher power over them. For this reason, it is through disobedience and rebellion that social progress has been made.

Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, et al. 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2005. 1879-21.

Wilde’s lifestyle may have caused him to be snubbed in certain social situations.   It maybe that he drew on his own experiences to create the atmosphere of scandal in the last chapters, even though, other than murder, the protagonist’s “sins” are never named and only briefly alluded to.

At the time he delivered his lecture on Chatterton, Oscar Wilde’s career was transforming. He was transitioning from the performances he had honed during four solid years of addressing countless audiences and was developing, with greater energy than ever before, his profile as an accomplished author, critic, and editor. His discovery of Chatterton stands at the center of these changes. Paying close attention to Chatterton enabled Wilde to understand that the astonishing inventiveness of the Rowley forgeries evinced the imaginative impulse that inspired the finest forms of imaginative literature. Exploiting the links between imagination, authenticity, and truth, Chatterton’s artistic originality arose in fabrications that conjured a literary past that historically never existed.

In 1888, Oscar Wilde published a set of fairy tales, The Happy Prince and Other Tales and "The Young King." These stories, "revealed another approach to moral situations and human relationships" (Stayley 319). The fairy tales were perhaps the first time Wilde introduced homosexual undertones into his works. For example, in the story The Happy Prince, a male bird and a statue of a Prince fall in love. Although it could be argued that the love between the Prince and the bird was only that of friends, most likely Wilde is expressing his own feelings of homosexuality through the bird and the Prince's relationship. For example,

Oscar Wilde was a figurehead for a larger cause in the late nineteenth century. His reality crumbled under the cognitive dissonance of the high-class aristocrats and their struggle to find any reason to overthrow those who are cognizant enough to see and react to said dissonance. What are best known as the Wilde trials, consisted of using completely fictional literature as evidence to real events. Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray was a tool used to undermine Wilde’s authority and testimony about his personal romantic encounters. While, the book may hold status as a revolutionary novel about exploring ideas, the Victorians did not think as much once they took a closer look. Once a popular novel about high-class society soon became an object of severe scrutiny and libel for the author. The Victorians began to change how they perceived the entire English language. The aesthetics that they once sought after were now being thrown into question.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 and died in 1864. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His father died young and he lived in with his strict mother while he was a child. His great-great grandfather was a strict judge in the Salem Witch Trials. The family felt they had been cursed by their connection to this sad event. It also happens that his family had been a very wealthy/ influential family during Puritan times and was still well-off, so he was the beneficiary of these Puritan wrongs. Therefore, much of Hawthorne’s writing deals with his shame over his connection to the Puritans. It was hard for him to make money, so he had many government-related jobs. He hated Salem but he had to stay because he had to make money. He

Wilde uses the satirical devices travesty and irony in order to portray marriage negatively. Through his use of satire, one can infer that Wilde sees marriage as a hindrance and a task that society seems to be obsessed with. In Act 1, the proposal scene is shown. After Gwendolen and Jack admit that they have feelings for each other, Jack states that they should get married at once, but Gwendolen decides that Jack must properly propose first. The use of travesty is present here when the meaningful act of proposing to someone is constructed to be comical. Jack asks Gwendolen if he may propose to her. When most individuals wish to propose, they do not usually ask for permission first. Once Jack does propose, Gwendolen asks as though she is surprised and asks, “How long have you been about it!” (line 360). Through the way that Jack and Gwendolen conduct themselves, marriage can be perceived as trivial, when it is actually a significant act because a person is committing to a life with another individual. This shows that Wilde does not agree with marriage and it is not to be taken as seriously as society treats it today.

Background Oscar Wilde grew up in a household of successful parents. Wilde’s father, William Wilde, was a famous eye surgeon. His mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, was a profound writer (Pearson, 15). They both had an impact on his fame and achievements. He grew up with two siblings, Willie, his older brother, and Isola, his little sister.

Homoeroticism and Defiance of Victorian Values in Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Mr. W.H. Oscar Wilde once satirically said, "Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everybody in good society holds exactly the same opinions. " Rather than hold the same opinions as those in good Victorian society, he boldly challenges them. Oscar Wilde parallels the relationships of Shakespeare, Michelangelo and other revered historical intellectuals with his relationship to Lord Alfred Douglas in his work, The Portrait of Mr. W.H., and during his criminal trial. Through these parallels, Wilde attempts to normalize and justify his homosexuality in a time of rampant homophobia, forcing the examination of self-expression, through writing and speech, as a tool of defiance.

Throughout his life Oscar Wilde had many strong influences exerted upon him. During his early childhood his mother influenced him and into college some of his professors and certain philosophers left a substantial impression upon him. Into adulthood these influences leaked out in his writing. These influences gave him ample ideas for writing The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde's study of the Hellenistic ideals of Epicurus, his coddled lifestyle as a child and his devotion to the movement of Aesthetics and Moral Ambiguity have produced one of the most astounding works of horror fiction.

Despite what many might think, Satire in The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde is known for his satire, and The Importance of Being Earnest is no exception to Wilde's usual mode of satirical writing. The effect of satire will change, however, depending upon the audience, and one of the fascinating things about this play is that the people Wilde satirizes are also the people he expects to be watching the play. Why does Wilde satirize the viewers who will be buying the tickets? What kind of reaction might he be aiming to evoke in his audience? Historical research into social issues of the time might be helpful here.

John Lahr, a critic of the famous author and playwright Oscar Wilde, once claimed, “To stand out in Victorian culture,Wilde had to stand against it.” Wilde definitely did not conform to the society by which he was surrounded; being an aesthetic homosexual was not the typical or ideal Victorian man. His distaste for the era he lived in is seen clearly in his humorous play The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde was personally judged and outcasted by his own society, which caused him to mock his audience and argue that the Victorian Era was not as virtuous as those of that time attempted to appear. He uses this piece of writing as an opportunity to not only stand against and disprove the Victorian ideals, but to persuade his audience to realize

The simplest, most natural, and strongest character I have ever met in my life”, in his biographical review (116). Throughout Wilde’s literary career, reflections of Whitman can be seen by the more philosophical pieces created by Wilde, which stray away from his typical beauty over content persona.

Throughout the years, there have been many people have tried to come up with their own ideas for life that have failed. Some may have been closer to the truth than others. Many writers expressed these theories of theirs in their writings, creating a large amount of literature reflecting their anomalous opinions. The Dubliner Oscar Wilde portrayed his hedonistic struggles his writings. Hedonism tainted Wilde’s life and was thoroughly reflected in his writings. These hedonistic views are painted across his countless essays. Weighed with this bondage Wilde postponed a long needed conversion. Struggling with these difficulties right up to the end. Extravagance occupied Wilde’s stories in the form of hedonism. All of Oscar Wilde’s writings reflect his life in a personal way most largely in the aspect of Wilde’s hedonism also his torn conscience was greatly reflected in them too (Pearce 241; Ellmann 66).