He was a flamboyant fop, a man ahead of his time, a brilliant playwright and rebel of the Victorian period. He was a staple in the Western literary tradition since I’ve been alive, so I was amazed the other day when a few younger colleagues had never heard of him.
Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 and died at the age of 46. He was raised by intellectual parents from Dublin. He was a scholar from Trinity College and Oxford College, and he was an advocate for the rising literary movement called aestheticism. He rubbed elbows with the wealthy. He was popular and funny. Because he was a homosexual, he was sent to prison for hard labor and exiled from both London and Dublin. Sadly, he died destitute in Paris from an ear infection and meningitis.
His epigrams and aphorisms abound with wit and sarcasm. Which one resonates with you?
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
The heart was made to be broken.
Twenty years of romance makes a woman look like a ruin; but twenty years of marriage make her something like a public building.
Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.
There is only one thing in the world that is worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
I never put off till tomorrow what I can do the day after.
The only way a woman can ever reform her husband is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life.
Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief.
Men always want to be a woman`s first love – women like to be a man`s last romance.
No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.
Every saint has a past and every sinner a future.
In the world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
The biography of Wilde by Richard Ellmann, is a staple even though controversy surrounds his account of Oscar’s demise. Ellmann suggests Oscar died of syphilis instead of meningitis. I’d like to read about other Irish writers like Yeats and James Joyce by Ellmann, too.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). It’s the manual for aestheticism. He worshiped the Romantic poets of the 18th century. In the prelude, Oscar described the tenants of aestheticism. Natural beauty, created by God, and conceived beauty by humans are linked. To surround oneself with beauty is essential for happiness. The artist strives to reveal beauty, and in doing so, the artist’s profession is elevated. “Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated.” Ah, well, cultivation has problematic side effects. Taken to extremes, surrounding oneself with luxury could create a pompous and shallow personality. It is a spooky classic–the book and the 1945 film contains a great cast: Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray, George Sanders as Lord Henry Wotton, Lowell Gilmore as Basil Hallward, Donna Reed as Gladys Hallward, Angela Lansbury as Sibyl Vane, Peter Lawford as David Stone, Richard Fraser as James Vane, and Douglas Walton as Alan Campbell.
The Importance of Being Ernest (1895). His famous play is lighthearted fun and full of witticisms and puns. It was a favorite choice for high schools and colleges productions for a hundred years. If you liked the recent 2016 Jane Austen film, Love & Friendship, you would enjoy the 2002 period comedy adaptation starring: Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench, and Frances O’Connor.
I few years ago when I visited Paris, I had to visit the tomb of Oscar Wilde at Père Lachaise cemetery. Marked on a pane of glass in front of his tomb was my favorite epigram:
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Unconventional and smart, he was an entertaining character.
Cindy Bruchman 
Hi Cindy, I’m sure you will agree that Dorian Gray was way ahead of his time!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I meant it’s author was ahead of his time!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I knew what you meant. No worries. 🙂
LikeLike
I loved the theme of sin and how it’s played out in Victorian England. So much repression and denial. Wilde was indecent and ignoble in societies eyes and you can see how a part of him runs through the character Dorian. Although, he really is more like Lord Henry Wotton. George Sanders in the classic film was perfect in the role.
LikeLike
Yes. I agree. Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. Something everyone of us should acknowledge at the start of each day: Be yourself.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Welcome. Whenever I start to doubt my actions, I remind myself of his quote. And then, for fun, I juxtapose that nugget of wisdom with: “Get over yourself.”
LikeLike
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
LikeLike
One of my favourite writers. A true wit, an observer of humankind, and a man misunderstood and persecuted during his lifetime. The fact that some of your colleagues have never heard of him, and that they are working in education, just seems staggering to me, and must surely be a sign of these often depressing times. I suggest that those same colleagues would probably be able to recognise Kim Kardashian. Enough said.
I don’t know if you have seen this film, but Stephen Fry was definitely born to play Wilde.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120514/
He also provided me with my own favourite quote, one I have tried to live my life by.
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”.
Best wishes as always, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah! Good, we are in total agreement. Yes, my dropped open when they had not heard of him. There’s a post for this topic, for sure. Briefly, I’ll say, in the late 1980s, 1990s, a new literary canon was established welcoming in voiceless minorities and in do so, pushed out the old hearty voices like Wilde. It corresponds, I’m convinced, with the downfall of the British Empire. ANYWAY, I am embarrassed I have not seen Stephen Fry or Jude Law on film in the 1998 version of Wilde. I have to. I liked Wilde’s American tour. He was quite popular and could hold his own right along with Mark Twain. I love his wit and his gifts. Your quote is fantastic. He knew how to stick it to the pompous while remaining pompous himself. Fascinating.
LikeLike
I used to work close to this central London statue, and always stroked it as I walked past.
http://www.vanderkrogt.net/statues/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gblo025
The film is very good. Fry is the best Wilde ever on film.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll put in on my list. Thanks, Pete. 🙂
LikeLike
I like number 2, “Forgive your enemies” best lol. It rings true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha! What can you do when you want to feed the fire of hate and there are no embers to blow?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love a bit of Oscar Wilde. I too went to visit his grave at Père Lachaise. There is a photo of me somewhere kissing the glass surrounding it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HA! I’m glad we appreciate his dark humor. I wish he could be here today. I wonder if he’d be amazed or horrified? What would he write about?
LikeLike
I think probably a bit of both and he’d be fascinated by social media.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” That resonates.
LikeLike
It is hard to live with fervor every day. But it is awesome advice!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have been on quite the O.W. kick lately. I found your article very interesting. thx.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Welcome, and thank you!
I find his wit and sarcasm entertaining. He was complicated and a fascinating fop.
LikeLiked by 1 person