OSCAR WILD
LIFE
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He studied at Oxford, where he gained a rst-
class degree and became known for his eccentricity. He moved to London, where he
soon became a celebrity for his extraordinary wit and his characteristic style of dress as
a dandy.
He was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London. His years of
triumph ended dramatically when, in 1895, he was tried and imprisoned for
homosexuality, which was then illegal in Britain. He was sentenced to two years' hard
labour. When he was released, he was a broken man and went into exile in France,
where he died in poverty in Paris in 1900.
WILDE’S AESTHETICISM
Wilde adopted the aesthetic ideal, a rming that his life was like a work of art. His
Aestheticism clashed directly with the didacticism of the Victorian novel. For Wilde, the
artist is simply the creator of beautiful things, and art exists only to celebrate beauty
and sensorial pleasures.
Even virtue and vice are not moral categories but simply raw material for the artist. In
this way Wilde completely rejected the idea that art should teach or carry a moral
message.
THE DANDY
The gure of the dandy is central to understanding Wilde. The dandy belonged to the
upper classes and was the opposite of the bohemian.
For him, elegance was a reason for living and life itself was meant to be a work of art.
The dandy was deeply interested in beauty and literary re nement, and stood in sharp
contrast to the moral didacticism of earlier Victorian writers.
fi ffi fi fi
LIFE
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He studied at Oxford, where he gained a rst-
class degree and became known for his eccentricity. He moved to London, where he
soon became a celebrity for his extraordinary wit and his characteristic style of dress as
a dandy.
He was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London. His years of
triumph ended dramatically when, in 1895, he was tried and imprisoned for
homosexuality, which was then illegal in Britain. He was sentenced to two years' hard
labour. When he was released, he was a broken man and went into exile in France,
where he died in poverty in Paris in 1900.
WILDE’S AESTHETICISM
Wilde adopted the aesthetic ideal, a rming that his life was like a work of art. His
Aestheticism clashed directly with the didacticism of the Victorian novel. For Wilde, the
artist is simply the creator of beautiful things, and art exists only to celebrate beauty
and sensorial pleasures.
Even virtue and vice are not moral categories but simply raw material for the artist. In
this way Wilde completely rejected the idea that art should teach or carry a moral
message.
THE DANDY
The gure of the dandy is central to understanding Wilde. The dandy belonged to the
upper classes and was the opposite of the bohemian.
For him, elegance was a reason for living and life itself was meant to be a work of art.
The dandy was deeply interested in beauty and literary re nement, and stood in sharp
contrast to the moral didacticism of earlier Victorian writers.
fi ffi fi fi
