Oscar Wilde Essay

Oscar Wilde Research Paper
Oscar Wilde was an incredibly influential Irish poet, writer, and playwright that changed the way
people wrote and the structure of writing. He was one of the greatest writers of the 18th century
and possibly one of the greatest writers and wordsmiths of all time. His works earned many awards
and high acclaim, even years after his death, leaving a legacy that most people would do anything
for. He used a newfound way of writing and presented himself in a enigmatic and eccentric way.
His clever and often dramatic writing, as well as his image and personal scandals, completely
shook up the world of literature and art and keeps us shaking to this day.
Oscar Wilde was born on October 16th, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland, living in a house with two...show
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Another venture by him was editing the woman–marketed magazine "Lady's World", which he saved
from waning popularity and public attention with his fresh style of writing that drew departed
reader's eyes back to the text and garnered many new eyes as well. All in all, Oscar Wilde had a
successful career with many great feats accomplished and his name going into the pages of many
history books.
Wilde's fame and influence can be attributed to the fact that nothing like him had been seen before
and both his life and his works were eccentric and dramatic. Wilde's writing style was different
from what people had seen before, his writing style clever and full of wit, with relatable
characters which had dialogue that was often baffling, smart, and elaborate world play. Wilde's
image and personality were also memorable as he dressed in eccentric clothing and approached
topics and issues with insight and critical thinking. However, not only was Wilde doused in fame,
he was also enveloped in infamy as well due to a scandal that ended his career. While married and
raising two kids, Wilde had an affair with a young man named Lord Alfred Douglas, who was born
into royalty and riches. When found out, he was put on trial and was convicted, spending most of
the rest of life and jail, writing one of his last stories behind the bars of a prison
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Final Draft 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. The largest leaps in the social progress of mankind have been
created from both, acts of disobedience and rebellion. A historical example of

Oscar Wilde Individualism Essay
The famous Irish writer Oscar Wilde is perhaps best known for his individualistic ideas about art
and life as well as for his homosexuality, which was not only frowned upon in Victorian society, but
illegal. Despite this however, Wilde was influenced heavily by the inescapable pressure from
society to conform. He revelled in being a part of the Victorian upper class, which had strict rules,
whether spoken or unspoken, to dictate the behaviour of everyone in high society. The four comedic
plays that centred on satirizing this very society earned Wilde most of his fame, especially The
Importance of Being Earnest, an amusing story focusing on pretending to be someone else for the
sake of both reputation and pleasure. After his harsh 2–year imprisonment...show more content...
He also reveals his increased individualism through the contrasting tones of De Profundis (written
during and after prison) and The Importance of Being Earnest (written before prison). While
Earnest is cheerful and extravagant to appeal to society, De Profundis is sad and realistic, showing
that Wilde no longer cared what society thought about him after his exile from the upper class
lifestyle. In addition, Earnest's exaggerated, theatrical, happy ending evokes a distinct feeling that
Wilde means the direct opposite. Especially knowing that the play was written as satire, it seems
unlikely that he really believed that all the characters in that situation would end up with exactly
what they wanted and no consequences. Jack's final line, "I've now realized for the first time in my
life the vital Importance of Being Earnest" (Wilde, 2005, p.79), seems especially sarcastic, and
rather than saying that being honest ("earnest") is the reason everyone ends up perfectly content, it
reads as a warning that unless one maintains society's definition of "earnest", he will inevitably suffer
the

Argumentative Essay On Oscar Wilde
Unfortunately, history is riddled with anecdotes about talented and brilliant individuals who are
ostracized, jailed, or worse for being labeled homosexual. Oscar Wilde is another prominent figure
persecuted for his sexuality. This type of discrimination was not unique to the world of the arts.
Alan Turing, brilliant computer scientist and inventor of the Enigma machine that decoded German
transmissions and was instrumental in the Allied victory in World War II, was also jailed for
"indecent acts." He died shortly after being released; some suspect he committed suicide. While the
fate of these individuals is tragic, the work that they did was influential, and the effect is seen today.
In their time, to be homosexual would kill a career;

Running Head: CRITIQUING PLAY 1 Critiquing Play [Name of the Writer] [Name of the
Institution] [Date of Submission] Table of Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 The Critical
Summary 3 The Act One Part I 3 The Act One Part II 4 The Act Two Part I 4 The Act Two Part II
5 The Act Three Part I 6 The Act Three Part II 6 The Themes / Message of the Play 7 Sincerity and
Manners 7 The Dual Identity 8 The Critique of Marriage 8 Idleness of the Aesthete and the
Leisure Class 9 The Plot vs. Characterization 9 The Analysis of Character 9 The Structure Analysis
of Plot 10 The Title of the play 11 Conclusion 12 Critiquing Play Introduction The play, 'The
Importance of Being Earnest', is written by Oscar Wilde and was first performed in London at St.
James's Theatre on fourteen February of the year of 1895. In order to escape burdensome social
obligations, fictitious personal was maintained by the protagonists in this farcical comedy. The
resulting satire of Victorian ways and the triviality through which the institutions were treated are
the significant themes of the play that worked within the social conventions of late Victorian
London (Brophy, 1947). The humor of the play was praised by all the contemporary reviews;
whereas, it's explicit lack of social messages were a significant concern for some people. Discussion
The Critical Summary The Act One Part I An unrealistic and a highly stylized world in which truly
little seems to

Homosexuality in the Works of Oscar Wilde Essay
Homosexuality in Oscar Wilde's Work
"I turned half way around and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. I knew that I had come face to
face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it
would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself" (7). During the Victorian era,
this was a dangerous quote. The Victorian era was about progress. It was an attempt aimed at
cleaning up the society and setting a moral standard. The Victorian era was a time of relative peace
and economic stability (Marshall 783). Victorians did not want anything "unclean" or "unacceptable"
to interfere with their idea of perfection. Therefore, this quote, taken from Oscar Wilde's The Picture
of Dorian Gray,...show more content...
Upon his return to England in 1883, Wilde began lecturing on his experiences in America. This is
how he came to meet Constance Lloyd, whom he later married on May 29, 1884. The couple had
two children together. However, the marriage began to have problems after Wilde met Canadian,
Robert Ross, which "began his involvement in the disordered, destructive homosexual lifestyle so
luridly suggested in The Picture of Dorian Gray and catalogued in his sensational trials" (Stayley
318). Robert Ross forced Wilde to confront the homosexual tendencies that he had been trying
desperately to suppress. A whole new world opened for Wilde, and his only resource in which to
channel this new energy was through his literary works.
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 Art Essay
Oscar Wilde Art
We begin another chapter in the life of Oscar Wilde, the year 1888, many things have taken place,
Oscar has been married and bore two children, Vyvyan and Cyril and his touring of the United
States and other countries have brought forth success to the literary giant. Some of his successful
writings are "The Picture of Dorian Gray"(1891), "A Woman of No Importance"(1894) and his
most resent essay known "The Decay of Lying".
Is it true that lying has fallen to its deepest shadow of shame? In the words of Wilde it is shamefully
true. How could this type of atrocity take place, it seems that the Victorian society is still under the
belief that the Romanticism of life is still coursing through their veins, dead veins as...show more
content...
Wilde's creative writing is to be used as a outlet to escape from the Realism of life. The definition
is to emphasizes the importance the ordinary, the lay person and the simplisticness of life's varied
situations. It seem that the artists, have been rejecting the notion of stories based on the heroic, the
aristocratic and firmly excepted the common man and the middle class as a basis for their story.
Why must our stories continue to focus on the simple life? It seems that we have learned nothing in
the centuries that have past. Wilde stated that the art of writing by some of the best know writers
has boiled down to speaking of the everyday housekeeper and their daily routine. This is type of
work is labeled as plain and unworthy of spending another moments time on this subject let alone on
publishing it for that matter.
Why must every new book, prose, poetry, drawings, painting and even play contain a moral purpose
or lesson? Just for a few moments wouldn't it be extremely pleasurable to escape from the
down–to–earth drudgeries of life? Wilde's hope is that his essay "The Decay of Lying" will be able
to stress this point.
In this particular essay Wilde uses his two main characters Vivian and Cyril to explain the ills of
the days society. The two are discussing the basic characteristics of life, Cyril tries to convince our
writer to take

Ian M. Dean Mr. Bruno English IV November 17 2014 The Themes, Styles, and Techniques of
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16th, 1854 in Dublin,
Ireland to Sir William Wilde, an oto–ophtalmologic surgeon and Jane Wilde, a poet who wrote under
the pen name "Speranza." He was the second of three children and as a child his mother would
read her poetry to him and his brother, instilling in him his initial love of poetry. In 1871 Wilde
left home with a royal scholarship to read classics at Trinity College, Dublin where he shared a
room with his older brother Willie. There he would meet his "first and best teacher" J.P. Mahaffy.
In 1874 Wilde won a demyship to Magdalene College, Oxford. While at Oxford he joined...show
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He then combined his political concern with his admiration for the Pre–Raphaelites by writing
"Sonnet on the Massacre of the Christians in Bulgaria" which he modeled after Milton's poem "On
the Late Massacre in Piedmont." He then later also wrote "To Milton" modeled after Wordsworth's
"London, 1802." "To Milton" was written by Wilde out of his anger towards the British government
for not intervening in the Balkan crisis, fearing that England had lost its moral standing (Raby et al.

Essay on Oscar Wilde and His Fairy Tales
Oscar Wilde and His Fairy Tales
I. Introduction
Wilde, Oscar (Fingal O'Flahertie Wills) (b. Oct. 16, 1854, Dublin, Ire ?d. Nov. 30, 1900, Paris, Fr.)
Irish wit, poet and dramatist whose reputation rests on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere's
Fan (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1899). He was a spokesman for Aestheticism, the
late19th–century movement in England that advocated art for art's sake. However, Oscar Wilde's
takeoff of his enterprise and, his shaping of his characteristic style of works could be both
considered originating from his fairy tales. It was not until his first collection of fairy tales had come
out that he was regarded as an influential author. The British magazine Elegance, in which his The
...show more content...
They sent his far across the sea to a distant land called Great Britain where he learned to write and
eventually succeeded in becoming very famous. He studied and wrote many stories, tales, and
plays that made the British people very happy. He was rewarded for his good work with a
beautiful maiden and two sons as well as the acceptance of society. Oscar was very happy with
his life and his ability to please the people, but he soon became very confused. Many of his
opinion and ideas were not what the people wanted to hear and some of his work was not
accepted as other pieces had been. Yet Oscar felt he must be true to himself and continued to
express his beliefs. Sadly, while h was still a young man, he angered some of the people so much
that they made sure he would be imprisoned in a terrible dungeon for many years. The people in
Britain who once enjoyed his work became frightened because they did not understand what was
happening to Oscar nor did they agree with many of his ideas and assumed he must be awfully
bad for such a strict punishment. They soon stopped being interested in his work and shunned him
from the life he worked so hard to achieve. Even after escaping from the dreadful dungeon, Oscar
could never again find the happiness he had lost. Instead, he felt this world in sadness just a few
years later, leaving only his work

Oscar Wilde Influences
Known for his unique writing style, prominence in the Decadence movement, art critiques, and
imprisonment for homosexuality, Oscar Wilde is one of the most well known Irish authors of all
time. Oscar Fingal O'flahertie Willis Wilde was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin Ireland. His
father, Sir William Wilde, was a successful aural surgeon, and his mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, was
a revolutionary poet and a great supporter of the Irish nationalist movement. Her passion for
literature had an obvious impact on Oscar Wilde, as well as on his brother Willie Wilde, who went
on to become a journalist and poet. Wilde also had a younger sister, Isola, who died at the age of
ten. During his childhood, Wilde was able to interact with well–known artists, doctors, and other
influential intellectuals that his parents knew. These interactions probably had a lasting influence
on Oscar Wilde's beliefs and attitudes. When Wilde was eleven years old, he had the opportunity
to attend Portora Royal School, where he became especially interested in Greek and Roman. He
excelled in his studies throughout his time at Portora, and he graduated in 1871 with the Royal
School Scholarship. This allowed him to attend Trinity College in Dublin, where he also went on to
receive the school's Foundation Scholarship, the highest award given to undergraduates. When he
graduated in 1874, he was awarded several other awards, such as the Berkeley Gold Medal and the
Demyship scholarship for further study at

A good laugh can assist difficult matters to appear less ominous. Retrieving that laughter enhances
the artier of the playwright, weaving one word after another between the lines of the script. This
humorous approach sanctions the disarmament of inhibitions plus defensives, crafting a story that
still provides an important message. In The importance of being Earnest author Oscar Wilde uses
theories of comedy and comic devices adding to the theatrics of the absurdities of the social class of
the era. Algernon attempts to be clever, using food to avert John's request intended for him to leave.
With plans to marry Cecily, leaving becomes an obstacle, which prevents Algernon christening later
that afternoon. David Ball author of Backwards &

Literary Analysis Of Oscar Wilde 's Work Essay
Literary Analysis of Oscar Wilde's work.
Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and critic. He is viewed as one of the best
dramatists of the Victorian Era. Besides literary accomplishments, he is also famous, or perhaps
infamous, for his intelligence, showiness, and affairs with men. He was tried and imprisoned for his
homosexual relationship (then considered a crime). In the wake of writing in various structures all
through the 1880s, he found the opportunity to be one of London 's most acclaimed dramatists in the
mid–1890s. Wilde was aptitude in the genre of drama, short story, criticism, dialogue and journalism.
He has also written many poems in his lifetime. Oscar Wilde is also known for his many novels and
poetic masterpieces. Oscar Wilde is best known for the novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray", the play
"The Importance of Being Earnest" and a novel "The Canterville Ghost". "The Canterville Ghost"
is Wilde's one of the best novel. This novel is unlike any other novel. In this novel Oscar Wilde
tries to create a new genre that is the fusion of horror and comedy in the storyline. In "The
Canterville Ghost", Oscar Wilde makes the criticism of the American culture. Since the principal
part, he has portrayed and contrasts it and the British culture. There is a strong sense of contrast
between aspects of life and death, English and American culture, and humor and terror in Oscar
Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost". This

In his play "The Importance of Being Earnest", Oscar Wilde satirizes social norms; these norms
include marriage, class, and gender. Good satire makes you laugh, but also makes you think
about the subject being satirized. Wilde satirized upper class English culture so the audience
could see how society holds trivial norms in high regard. In many older generations, marriage was
something that you do; it was the next step in life. In the play, Wilde uses witty dialogue to poke
fun at the institution of marriage by having the character of Algernon express skepticism toward
the act. Algernon and Jack have a rather funny exchange, "Jack: I have come up to town
expressly to propose to her. Algernon: I thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call that
business." (Wilde, 1). He uses Algernon once again to comment on class, "Lane's views on
marriage seem somewhat lax. Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on
earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral
responsibility." (Wilde, 1). Here Wilde is satirizing the class system of late 1800's English
society. This is funny because the upper class, particularly in 1800's England, usually viewed
themselves as being better than most especially the lower classes. The characters that Oscar
Wilde created are indeed stock characters. They are based on stereotypical English "upper crust"
folk. Wilde uses the stock characters to mine humor and shine a light on the culture of that time.
Lady Bracknell represents the English social elite, and everyone knows it, "I feel bound to tell
you that you are not down on my list of eligible young men, although I have the same list as the
dear Duchess of Bolton has. We work together, in fact. However, I am quite ready to enter your
name, should your answers be what a really affectionate mother requires. Do you smoke?" (Wilde,
1). This line of dialogue is very British, well–spoken and straight forward. Lady Bracknell is giving
Jack the riot act, as any older English elite considering her daughters suiter would, but adding the
question about smoking adds humor of everyday life. Oscar Wilde uses stock characters but he adds
satire to bring them to life, and to add comedy makes

Oscar Wilde Essay example
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde himself would probably admit that his life had many incredible events that themselves
would make an exceedingly gripping play, his unequalled rise to become the chief celebratory of his
day and his dramatic fall from grace due to his arch rival, lord
Queensbury.
Oscar Wilde was born among the highest social circles of Dublin
Ireland to two very unique and individual parents. His father was widely regarded as the best eye
and ear surgeon in the whole of Great
Britain and is still today looked upon as the founder of that specific medical branch. His mother, a
self–proclaimed genius, was a committed feminist and a key member and open supporter of The
Irish independence movement. This unusual couple...show more content...
It is somewhat ironic that Wilde himself, like a character in a play, would fall from grace many
points during his lifetime and live amongst society's forgotten souls.
Wilde's parents had a healthy interest in superstition and the supernatural. This rubbed off on
Wilde and this influenced many of his works and also upon the way he dressed from an early age,
small mementos and rings created a dress code that would be on a parallel with today's 'gothic'
dressers. This eccentricity was encouraged by his mother who believed that eccentricity and genius
went hand in hand. Oscar Wilde was schooled in the fashion that was expected of the upper middle
classes at that time. When he was old enough he was sent to the top public school in Ireland at that
time, The Portora Royal School.
His headmaster, a good friend of his father, was extremely keen on the classics and this was
reflected upon in the schools syllabus. Wilde won many prizes even though he was widely regarded
as sloppy and this signalled the start of a distinguished education.
Wilde then moved first to Trinity College in Dublin where he won a succession of academic
awards. Wilde then prospered in his third centre of education Magdalen College, Oxford. Oscar was
popular with teachers and pupils alike. He was so popular with his lecturers that he spend four
months with one of the most influential lecturers

By Oscar Wilde
One way Wilde was able to express his thoughts on society was by using satire and metaphor,
instead of being explicit. One professor states, "An overarching theme in the poet's work is social
satire, where Wilde critiques social issues like the relation and rapport of the sexes or the social
conventions of love" (Kemper). This is one of the countless ways Wilde expressed his feelings
about the time he lived in. Even if it was not always clear cut that it was meant to make fun of
society, it was still in several of his works and not just Pictures of Dorian Grey. After depicting it
and seeing the truer meaning, one can see the cruelty Wilde held in his art. On the other hand one
place, Wilde is satirically in his poetry is in his poem. "Flowers...show more content...
The reason why this is significant is not only because of the time period he lived in but also
because it affected his real life. However, even if Wilde was a writer who truly pulled from his
own life to write. Not all the topics he wrote about, were impactful to his life. This was something
Wilde himself even admitted he did, showing just how connected his life was from his writing.
(Marcus 1985) This shows how even if his writing style matched his time, with his lifestyle being
different; Wilde works would not always match the Victorian period. Even if during the Victorian
period, there was more visibility of homosexuals, especially in males. The reason the queer
population was coming to light was due to the Greek views on male relationships. Further, with
all the laws forbidding it, made it more desirable for some (Marsh). As for Wilde, he was not
necessarily a homosexual, but rather a bisexual man. However, as he deepens his romantic
relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. This causes him to write about more controversial social
issues. Further, he became more forward to the people around him, to the point where he asked an
editor to change the way he reviews his work (Marcus). By being in a homosexual relationship
Wilde was able to come out of his shell a bit more. Allowing him to write about issues in a manner
that would fool people, into reading about controversial

Essay about Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband
Oscar Wilde (1845–1903) lived an outrageous and controversial life which was well publicized and
condemned, as his life defied the strict social mores of the time. He was put into this public position
due to the success of his plays which challenged Victorian earnestness while being hilariously funny.
His plays, in particular An Ideal Husband, 1895 portray Victorian society as viciously hypocritical at
it's worst and laughably pretentious at it's best. Wilde expressed this point of view in An Ideal
Husband through the rich use of plot development, construction of characters, dramatic irony,
hyperbole, witty and epigrammatic repartee and satire.
The central plot...show more content...
The audience assumes that people in the real world as lucky and benevolent as this are so
becuase they worked hard and are earnest. By creating a character like this who took the easy
money and built a marriage and friendships around lies, wilde has challenged the earnestness of the
many victorian people because there were many poeple in a social position like robert's who may
have done a similar thing to get there.
In An Ideal Husband Wilde presents a view (the least flattering view presented in the play)that
victorian society is viciously hypocritical. This is acheived through the characterisation of Lady
Gertrude chiltern, as her ridiculously high morals (an important factor of earnestness) almost cost
her her marriage. she demanded to be told if robert had done some shameful thing, in which case
they would separate. This irony shows the hypocrisy of being too earnest.
Morality is an important factor of earnestness which is mocked in An Ideal Husband by the
dialogue of the play, especially the characterised dialogue of Mrs. Chevely. Through her
dialogue"Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.",
wilde, through Mrs.

In The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde revealed that animalistic traits can tint a character's
intellectual attributes. All of the characters possess an overwhelming desire which seems to
diminish their morality. Wilde uses Jack Worthing's animalistic behaviors to reveal that his animal
self is damaging his intellectual self. The play is presented to show that the characters retain an
exaggerated pleasure with food, which shows their pleasures in inanimate objects. Every character in
the play is drawn into lustful relationships, thus mutilating their psychological self. By embracing
their animalistic traits the characters in The Importance of Being Earnest begin to blemish their
intellectual character which inhibits their overall...show more content...
By stating that he did not know anyone by the name of Cecily, Jack initiates his own debacle. He
has to clarify that Cecily is actual his ward. Nonetheless, Jack bears no anguish to dissembling to
his closest companion. Jack's morality has been impaired by his lies and it implies that his
animalistic qualities control him. Yet, he falls in love and he must tell Gwendolen, his
sweetheart, of his morally wrong character. In order to do so Jack has to disclose that Ernest was
not in fact his real name but a mere alias created to cover up his dastardly ways. He can think of
no other way than to "kill" his brother. Wilde shows how Jack's urbane nature begins to be
marred by his animalism since he was willing to kill a man, fictional or not. Ensuing in the play
Jack is speaking with Algernon and he begins to ponder on how to commit the murder. He states
"My poor brother Ernest is carried off suddenly in Paris, by a severe chill. That gets rid of him"
(Wilde 16). Though fictional, Jack's murder of Ernest still seems to carry the same implications
further into the book. This murder eventually skews his reputation once his lies become known.
Wilde proves how Jack's lies soon catch up to him and flaw his esteemed moral persona. Later in
the play Algernon sets off on a trip to Jack's country estate and claims he is Ernest Worthing. Later
when Jack arrives Cecily informs her caretaker that his brother Ernest is in his room. Jack replies

Essay On Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish author, playwright and poet. After
writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular
playwrights in the early 1890s. During the late Victorian era of the 19th century, when literature
was more economically accessible, Oscar Wilde's works became profoundly famous. Wilde's
works have been critiqued and admired for years due to his exalted style of writing and ability to
encode his morals. Oscar Wilde wrote nine plays in all between 1879 and 1894. His fame as a
dramatist rests on four comedies, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal
Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest. His plays continue to dazzle audiences even a century
after his death. The major target of Wilde's scathing...show more content...
The audience of these comedies were mainly the people he criticised (aristocratic and upper
middle class). The most famous aspect of Oscar Wilde's literature is his epigrams: compact, witty
maxims that often expose the absurdities of society using paradox , he criticised the dispairity
between mass culture and high society . Wilde basically gives Victorian society all he has to give
as far as his true feelings for it: He care very little for the high and mighty ways that Victorians
would adopt only to look down on the underdog. Hence, the play did its job at making their lives
look fake, trivial, and worst of all, worthy of laughter! Every page, every line of dialogue, every
character, each symbol, and every stage direction in his plays is bent on supporting Wilde's
contention that social change happens as a matter of thoughtfulness. Art can bring about such
thoughtfulness. If the eccentric or unusual is to be replaced with correct behavior and thought,
human sympathy and compassion suffer. If strict moral values leave no room for question, a society
loses much of what is known as

Oscar Wilde Essay
Oscar Wilde was one of the most prominent Irish born playwrights. He was a major player in the
aesthetic movement, which was based on art for art's sake. Wilde was also a novelist, playwright,
poet, and critic.
He was born Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wilson Wilde on October 16, 1854, in Dublin, Ireland.Wilde
came from a rather large family. William Wilde, his father, had three illegitimate children previous
to his marriage. They were Henry Wilson in 1838, Emily in 1847, and Mary in 1849. William
provided financially for all of them. Henry studied medicine and later assisted his father at St. Mark's
Hospital. William's brother raised Emily and Mary but both died in a fire at the ages of 24 and 22.
Oscar's mother had three children, William...show more content...
This came to be one of Oscar's favorite books.
Oscar attended Protora Royal School at Enniskillen and excelled at Classics. In 1872, he placed first
in his examinations and was awarded a Foundation Scholarship. In 1874, Oscar won the college's
Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek and was awarded a Demyship (scholarship) to Magdalen College,
Oxford.
Then in 1876, Oscar's father died and Henry had to support the family, until his sudden death in 1878.
Oscar did very well at Oxford and was awarded the Newdigate prize for his poem, "Ravenna" and
"First In Greats" by his teachers. After graduation he moved to London with is friend, Frank Miles,
a well–known portrait painter. Then in 1881, Oscar published his first collection of poems entitled,
Poems." It was reviewed well by the critics.
In late 1881, Wilde came to New York and traveled across the United States. He gave a series of
lectures on "The Aesthetics." Originally planed to last four months, the tour stretched to almost a
year. In between lectures, Oscar met with Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Walt
Whitman. He also had his play, "Vera," staged the following year. When Oscar returned from
America, he moved to Paris. He was commissioned to write a blank–verse tragedy but declined due
to his social life. He then went to Ireland and Britain

Oscar Wilde And Disobedience
An object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted
upon by an unbalanced force. Newton's first law of motion identifies what is needed to produce
change. Oscar Wilde shared similar observations when he said, "Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone
who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made,
through disobedience and through rebellion." Both Newton and Wilde recognized how force was
essential in order to successfully achieve change. Although Wilde was an influential leader in the
late 1800s, his ideas are still applicable to today's world just like Newton's laws of motion. The
force of disobedience and rebellion has followed Wilde's claim by historically altering the world
and continuing to serve as a powerful platform for change. For centuries, disobedience has served as
a method for people to gain support and momentum for their cause. In the late 1700s, a group of men
known as the Sons of Liberty were upset by the fact that the British government was heavily taxing
the colonies without giving them more power in the central government. The Sons of Liberty came
together and chose to protest against the British government by dumping loads of tea off of British
ships into the Boston Harbor. Bringing attention to the idea of "taxation without representation," the
uprising encouraged others to stand up and support the impending change. The event also set the
stage for a

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