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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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Oscar Wilde
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His wit was legendary.
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His literary works showed signs of brilliance and his lifestyle made him, for a time, among
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the most celebrated artists of the age…
00:08
Yet his spectacular fall was unprecedented, only equaled in modern times by the disaster
00:14
that was O.J. Simpson.
00:16
In this week’s Biographics, we delve into the outrageous life of (self proclaimed) genius
00:21
Oscar Wilde.
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Beginnings
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Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde entered the world on October 16th, 1854.
00:41
The flamboyance of his name was a portent of things to come.
00:46
His parents were socially prominent Anglo-Irish Protestants, each with eclectic interests,
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a belief in national politics, and publishing careers of their own.
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Oscar’s father, William, was a renowned physician specializing in the eye and ear.
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He was a slight, unkempt figure with an ugly beard and a roving eye.
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But that did not stop him carrying on numerous affairs throughout his marriage, and he fathered
01:10
several illegitimate children.
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In contrast to her husband, Oscar’s mother, Jane, was especially elegant and statuesque.
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Almost six feet tall, she towered over her husband.
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She was a woman who ‘longed to make a sensation,’ once stating that ‘I should like to rage
01:26
through life – this orthodox creeping is too tame for me.’
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And, well, you probably guessed that this was an attitude that her son would quickly
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embrace…
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When Oscar, her second son, was eight months old, Jane described him as ‘a great stout
01:40
creature who minds nothing but growing fat.’
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Jane had wanted a girl and is said to have dressed and treated Oscar as a daughter for
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the first decade of his life.
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At age nine, Oscar, along with his older brother Willie, was sent to his first school – the
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Portora Royal Boarding School, in Enniskillen, far in the Protestant north of Ireland.
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Oscar was younger than most of his peers.
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At first, he was eclipsed by his older brother, but by the time that Willie was set to leave
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Portora, he had been superseded academically by Oscar.
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In fact, the younger Wilde was intellectually far ahead of his classmates.
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In 1889 he recalled . . .
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“I was looked upon as a prodigy by my associates because, quite frequently, I would, for a
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wager, read a three-volume novel in half an hour so closely as to be able to give an accurate
02:24
resume of the plot of the story; by one hour’s reading I was enabled to give a fair narrative
02:28
of the incidental scenes and the most pertinent dialogue.”
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Higher Education
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In 1871, Wilde won a scholarship to study Classics at Trinity College, Dublin.
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He arrived there in 1873, aged 18.
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There he was tutored and befriended by Reverend John Pentland Mahaffy, Professor of Ancient
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History.
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Mahaffy inspired his pupil to be proficient in Greek and, in 1875, he won the prestigious
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Berkeley Gold Medal in Greek.
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Three years later, in 1874, Oscar sailed to England to take the examination for a Classics
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scholarship at Oxford University.
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While awaiting the results, he went to London and was dazzled by his first taste of the
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metropolis.
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After that he headed off to another metropolis…
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Paris.
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It was there, with his mother and brother, that he received news that he had won his
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scholarship.
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He’d not only won it, but he’d achieved the highest mark of the entire group…
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Oscar made the most of his time at Oxford.
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It was during this time that he cultivated his aesthetic sensibilities, filling his room
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with lilies and spending vast portions of his father’s money upgrading the decor in
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his room.
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It was at this time that he famously said, ‘I find it harder and harder every day to
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live up to my blue china.’
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Wilde was never a fan of sport, but he enjoyed watching others play cricket and run.
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He developed a reputation for his wit, proclaiming that ‘the only possible exercise is to talk,
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not to walk.’
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Still he was no pushover.
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It is believed that once, while in his room, four undergraduates pounced on him to beat
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him up and smash his belongings.
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Wilde is said to have kicked out the first interloper, punched the second as he doubled
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over, hurled the third through the air, and carried the last back to his own room and
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tossing him on the floor.
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It was during his time at Oxford that Wilde became a Mason…
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He adopted the costume – velvet breeches, tailcoat, white tie and silk hose.
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But his extravagant lifestyle was dented in April 1876 when his father died, leaving a
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serious debt behind.
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Oscar though, he still managed to find a way to indulge himself with semester holidays
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around Europe…
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Just prior to graduation in 1878, he consoled his mother, distraught with financial worry
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that ‘we have genius – that is something attorney’s can’t take away.’
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Oscar emerged with a degree from Oxford, and a clear vision of what was in store.
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In a remarkably prophetic couple of sentences he declared, ‘God knows, I won’t be a
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dried up Oxford don, anyhow.
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I cannot live without desire, fear and pain . . . self-poised, self centered and self
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comforted.
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I’ll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist.
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Somehow, or other, I’ll be famous, and if not famous, notorious.’
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In December 1878, Wilde moved to London.
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He shared a flat with Frank Miles, a fellow Oxford graduate.
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During this time, he was introduced to many writers, artists and actors.
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He soon gained a reputation for his wit, and became a favored dinner guest, where he would
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espouse his aesthetic values.
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He applied for various fellowships and even tried to become an inspector of schools.
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Meanwhile he was working on his first play, Vera, which was privately printed in 1880.
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Vera was a story of noble socialism set in 19th Century Russia.
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But, unfortunately for Wilde, the London And New York producers who Wilde sent the play
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to turned it down.
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Literary Beginnings
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In 1881, Oscar published sixty-one pieces of writing under the title Poems.
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An initial run of 750 copies sold out, with two further printings being required.
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Meanwhile, a play by the renowned team of Gilbert and Sullivan was, indirectly making
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Wilde famous.
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It was called Patience and was a lampoon of the aesthetic culture that Wilde epitomized.
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The main character was clearly modeled on him.
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By June of 1881, Wilde’s status was such that the Prince of Wales commented, ‘I do
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not know Mr. Wilde, and not to know Mr. Wilde is not to be known.’
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Despite his ever growing reputation, Wilde found himself in tough financial straits.
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He was offered, and accepted, a series of lecture tours around America to coincide with
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the New York opening of Patience.
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He set sail on Christmas Eve 1881 to instruct the New World in ‘The English Art of Renaissance.’
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On arrival, he told a New York customs officer, ‘I have nothing to declare but my genius.’
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Don’t try this today anyone…
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Well, the Americans were fascinated by him and the original schedule would be extended
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repeatedly in response to public demand.
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It would last almost a year, and even extended to Canada.
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Financially, he did very well out of the lecture tour.
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He stayed in New York for two months after the tour’s end.
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He then briefly returned to London in January 1883, before relocating to Paris, where he
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immersed himself in artistic circles.
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He now made himself over physically.
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He had his flowing locks transformed into a bowl haircut and took to wearing a black
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overcoat…
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This was in great contrast to the flamboyant colors that he was known for.
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In May, 1883, Wilde returned to London, apparently motivated by his interest in a woman named
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Constance Lloyd, the daughter of a prosperous London lawyer.
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For the last few years, despite his American earnings, Oscar had had money worries.
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The right marriage might solve them, while also answering growing gossip about his sexual
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character.
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A year-long courtship followed, with the marriage taking place on 29th May, 1884.
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They honeymooned in Paris and then, thanks to his new father-in-law’s money, occupied
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a four-story house in London.
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He then went ahead and had the place redecorated at huge expense, which plunged the newlyweds
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into immediate debt.
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Wilde’s first child, Cyril, was born on June 5th, 1885 with Vyvyan following on November
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5th, 1886.
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With his writing career going nowhere, he agreed to a British lecture tour with topics
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such as ‘The Value of Art in Modern Life.’
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Lecturing and other invitations kept him away from the family home.
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During his long absences he began to surround himself with young men, writing unguardedly
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of his infatuation with the beauty of the male form.
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He formed an especially close friendship with a seventeen-year-old named Robbie Ross…
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Success & Scandal
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During the late 1880’s, while bringing in money with occasional book reviews, Wilde
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worked on his first novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
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When the book was published in a magazine in 1890 it caused an immediate scandal.
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The storyline involved a subtly eroticized triangle of relationships between three men
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and was condemned by many as being immoral.
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Wilde had predicted such an outcome, having written the following in the preface “There
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is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.
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Books are well written or badly written.
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That is all.”
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It was around this time that Wilde was introduced to a blond fair skinned undergraduate by the
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name of Lord Alfred Douglas, but who was known to his intimates as Bosie.
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Oscar quickly became obsessed with the twenty-two-year old…
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From this time on, Oscar saw Constance and his children less often.
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He did his writings from rented addresses or hotels, usually with Bosie in tow….
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Bosie’s father was the Marquis of Queensbury, the man who developed the rules of professional
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boxing.
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He took an immediate and intense exception to the relationship between his son and the
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famous Wilde.
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Apart from the homosexual aspect of their relationship, Queensbury was enraged that
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Wilde was distracting his son from his studies at Oxford.
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When Bosie quit his studies in May, 1893, the Marquis became determined to bring down
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Wilde.
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It was around this time that Wilde finally achieved success on the stage.
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A Woman of No Importance opened on April 19th, 1893 to widespread acclaim.
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During its long run, it brought him between 170 and 200 pounds per week.
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His next play, the satire An Ideal Husband, was also successful, providing the means for
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Oscar and Bosie to travel widely and live extravagantly.
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The Marquis of Queensbury thought his son’s failure to take his degree in Oxford was a
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scandalous waste of time.
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He placed the blame squarely at the feet of Wilde, referring to the relationship as the
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‘most loathsome and disgusting’.
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Queensbury began hounding the pair incessantly.
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He threatened to disinherit Boise.
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To this the son replied in a telegram, ‘What a funny little man you are!’
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Queensbury didn’t like this one bit, and on the 19th of June, Queensbury burst in on
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Wilde at his Tithe Street address in London.
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He had a bodyguard with him and proceeded to threaten bodily harm unless the relationship
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was immediately ended.
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And what was Bosie reaction to all this?
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Well, he wrote nonchalantly to his father, ‘I write to inform you that I treat your
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absurd threats with absolute indifference.’
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The encounter though, it unsettled Wilde, who got out of London for several months,
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going on holiday with his family to Worthing.
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This is where he worked on his latest play, The Importance of Being Earnest.
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But it wasn’t long before Bosie, unable to stay away, invited himself along…
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As you might imagine this caused a certain degree of tension between Mr. and Mrs. Wilde.
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Trials
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The Importance of Being Earnest opened to great applause on February 14th, 1895.
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Two weeks later it was already a ‘wild’ success…
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In true Oscar WIlde style is began basking in the glow of this, Wilde called in at the
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lavish Albemarle Club…
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There he was handed a card from Queensbury by a porter.
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On this card was scrawled, ‘To Oscar Wilde, posing sodomite.’
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At Bosie’s urging, Wilde went to Marlborough Street police station to ask for a warrant
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for Queensbury’s arrest on grounds of libel.
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The case came to trial on April 3rd.
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Prosecuting Counsel, Edward Carson put on the stand a sixteen-year-old ‘rent boy’
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who claimed to have been paid for sex by Wilde.
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Carson then went on to dissect Wilde’s published works, revealing their supposed homosexual
12:23
undertones…
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And how did WIlde react to this serious event?
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Well, he chose to wield his celebrated wit as his main defensive tool…
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He was often funny, but the implicit superiority in his position was also damaging.
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In one exchange, when Carson asked whether the affection and love that is portrayed in
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The Picture of Dorian Gray might lead an ordinary individual to believe it had a sodomitical
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tendency, Oscar replied, ‘I have no knowledge of the ordinary individual.’
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Not exactly endearing himself to anyone…
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Wilde’s counsel, Edward Clarke, made serious miscalculations that did his client no favors.
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He went over letters that Queensberry had sent to his son in an attempt to show how
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crazed the father had become…
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To the jury, though, Queensbury’s volatility was driven by a paternal regard for Bosie’s
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character.
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As Carson put it, his client had one hope alone, and that was simply saving his son.
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On the third day of proceedings, with things going not exactly brilliantly…
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Wilde chose not to attend.
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This was to prove the most damaging day yet, with Carson announcing that he intended to
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introduce a number of boys who would testify to ‘shocking acts’ performed by Oscar…
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Without consulting with his client, Wild’s lawyer, Clarke, offered to abandon the case.
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The defense, however, insisted that the original plea stand.
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The judge agreed and compelled an acquittal from the jury.
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Queensbury was found not guilty of libel against Wilde.
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It had now been proven that his written accusation of sodomy was not libelous.
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Now this had another important consequence…
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It Wilde highly vulnerable to arrest for sodomy, which was a crime in England at the time.
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And, well this happened…
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At five in the evening of the day that the libel case was decided, a summons was issued
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for the arrest of Oscar Wilde.
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The charge was ‘committing acts of gross indecency.’
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Hiding in the Cadogan Hotel, Oscar was urged by Bosie and others to take a boat immediately
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for France…
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Even his wife told him to run.
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However this just didn’t sit right with Wilde.
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He was determined to stand his ground, declaring, ‘I shall stay and do my sentence, whatever
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it is.’
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At 6:10 pm, two detectives arrived, and took a semi-drunk Wilde to Bow Street station.
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The arrest of Oscar Wilde caused an absolute sensation.
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Any friends that he still had quickly drifted away.
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Both of his currently running plays were cancelled and his name very quickly became toxic.
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Wilde was kept in a cell in Bow Street (then in Holloway Prison).
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Queensbury now administered the low blow of forcing a bankruptcy sale of Oscar’s belongings,
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helped by a long list of angry creditors.
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By this time, Wilde was about £6000 in debt.
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After making sure that Oscar had nothing of any physical value left, Queensbury wrote
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to a newspaper denying that he was capable of any sympathy for Wilde.
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He stated ‘I have helped to cut up and destroy sharks.
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I have no sympathy for them, but may have felt sorry, and wished to put them out of
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pain as fast as possible.’
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The trial ran from the 26th to the 29th of April.
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It was extraordinarily explicit in its allusions to sexual acts, many coming from the young
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men who claimed to have been partakers.
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Various Savoy Hotel employees testified that they had seen boys in Wilde’s bed.
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However, Oscar’s counsel was able to point out contradictions in the testimonies, especially
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those of the ‘rent boys.’
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This all meant that the jury were unable to reach a verdict.
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But WIlde was not out of the woods, as an almost immediate retrial began.
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Between the two trials, he managed to secure bail, though stiff conditions were imposed…
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He tried to stay at a number of hotels, only to be told at each that he was unwelcome.
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He finally managed to find lodgings with his brother Willie.
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The second trial began on May 22nd at the Old Bailey.
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This time, after two hours of discussion, the jury returned with a verdict of guilty.
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The sentence?
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Two years hard labor.
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Confinement
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Wilde was taken to Pentonville Prison.
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The wooden bed in his cell had sheets and rugs but no mattress.
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A tin pot was provided for his toilet.
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The prison clothes were not exactly his accustomed style of dress…
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Wilde was compelled to walk a treadmill senselessly for six hours each day, and allowed to exercise
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outdoors for one hour.
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He was also forced to make postal bags.
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For three whole months he had no outside contact, and after that things were not much better,
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with him only being allowed to write one letter.
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The regime was brutal…Wilde recalling three punishments authorized by law – hunger, insomnia
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and illness.
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In September 1895, he received a visit from Constance who found the experience ‘awful,
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more so than any conception of it could be.’
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Constance reported that Wilde professed a rejection of his former conduct, and begged
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her forgiveness for his madness during the last three years.
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She decided to stand by her ‘weak rather than wicked’ spouse.
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Still, she abandoned his name, referring to herself as Constance Holland.
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When Bosie heard about Oscar’s rejection of his former lifestyle he was heartbroken.
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He wrote, ‘I am not in prison but I think I suffer as much as Oscar and in fact more.’
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That was probably not the case though…
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I mean, prison was pretty rough.
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In October, he actually came down with dysentery.
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On 21st November, he was transferred to Reading Prison.
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At Clapham Junction station, he was spat on and ridiculed by the crowds.
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Here though conditions were improved and his duties were lighter.
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He was released on May 19th, 1896.
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Oscar was booked into the Hotel Sandwich in Dieppe, Northern France, living off the generosity
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of the few friends who had stood by him.
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By now, Constance had decided on divorce and, suffering herself with spinal paralysis, put
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off any reunion.
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Between June and July 1897 Oscar wrote his last major work, The Ballad of Reading Goal.
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The subject?
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Well that would be underlining the need for reform in Britain’s prison and justice systems…
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Life in Dieppe was excruciatingly lonely for Oscar.
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Society at large shunned him and he spent day after day alone and miserable.
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Finally, his resolve collapsed and he wrote to Bosie, inviting him to come and stay.
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They reconciled on August 28th, with Wilde bursting into tears at the sight of his ‘one
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true love.’
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When Constance heard of her husband’s behaviour she wrote to him forbidding any return ‘to
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your filthy, insane life.’
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When he refused to give up Bosie, she cut him off completely…
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Once the initial passion subsided, it became clear that both Wilde and Bosie were very
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different than their pre-trial selves.
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Bosie felt a duty to help Wide, but this was no longer tied to love.
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On December 3rd, Bosie left for Naples, and did not return.
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Oscar’s last two years – mostly in Paris – where pitiful.
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He drank, hired men, and begged.
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Acquaintances were few.
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Constance Holland sadly died age forty after an operation on her back on April, 7th, 1898.
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Then, in April, 1900 Wilde went with an acquaintance named Harold Mellor to Rome, where he received
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the Pope’s blessing.
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A month later he was in Paris and suffering from ill-health, which he attributed to food
18:58
poisoning.
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His skin was irritable, frequently coming out in rashes.
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By September, he was completely bedridden.
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On October 10th, he was operated upon for an ear infection.
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The operation did not go well and he got worse.
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Still he insisted on drinking absinthe and champagne.
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On November 25th a diagnosis of acute, inoperable cerebral meningitis was reached.
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From here on, Oscar drifted in and out of consciousness and even sanity.
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At half past five the following morning, a death rattle began.
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Minutes after his demise, his body actually sort-of exploded, fluid pouring out of several
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orifices.
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Oscar Wilde died as he had lived – inappropriately, outrageously and with scant reference to what
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decorum demanded.
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