Oscar Wilde: A Brief Biography

Introduction

• Oscar Wilde is a fascinating figure in literature due to his brilliant works and controversial life.

Early Life

• Birth: October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland.
• Family:
  • Father: William Wilde, an acclaimed doctor and founder of St. Mark's Hospital.
  • Mother: Jane Francesca Wilde, a revolutionary poet writing under the pseudonym "Speranza."
  • Siblings: One brother (William Charles Kingsbury) and one sister (Isola Emily Francesca, who died young from a fever).

Education

• Attended Trinity College in Dublin and Magdalene College in Oxford.
• Became involved in the athletic movement, which was unusual for his time.

Literary Career

• Move to London: After graduating, he moved to London to pursue his literary career.
• American Lecture Tour (1882):
  • Met influential American scholars and literary figures such as Walt Whitman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
• Marriage: Married Constance Lloyd on May 29, 1884; had two children: Cyril and Lillian.
• Revitalization of Women's World Magazine (1887-1889):
  • These years were highly productive for Wilde.
• Notable Works:
  • The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888)
  • The House of Pomegranates (1892)
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) published in Lippincott's Magazine
  • First play: Lady Windermere's Fan (1882)
  • Other plays: A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Legal Troubles and Imprisonment

• Wilde had an affair with Alfred Douglas, a young man who was the son of the Marquis of Queensberry.
• The Marquis sent a calling card to Wilde's home, accusing him of being a "sodomite."
• Wilde sued for defamation; however, the trial revealed evidence of his homosexuality, including homoerotic passages from his works and love letters.
• Result: Convicted in May 1895, sentenced to two years of hard labor under charges of gross indecency.

Death

• Died in 1900 from meningitis shortly after being released from prison.