Oscar Wilde: life and works, the brilliant artist and the dandy
The dandy and the aesthetic ideal
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 and studied at Oxford, where he was influenced by art critic Walter Pater and Aestheticism. In London, he became a celebrity and an example of the dandy: he cultivated elegant, striking self-presentation and treated life as an artistic creation. Wilde’s work is associated with Art for Art’s Sake: art should pursue beauty rather than serve as a moral lesson. He rejected the Victorian expectation that literature must teach readers how to behave.
Major works
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), his only novel, presents a young man who remains beautiful while his portrait ages and reflects his sins.
- The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) uses witty dialogue and paradox to expose the hypocrisy and social conventions of the Victorian upper classes.
- The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), written after Wilde’s release from prison, reflects on punishment, the death penalty, and human suffering.
Imprisonment and later writing
In 1895 Wilde was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to two years of hard labour. After his release, he went into exile in France and died in poverty in Paris in 1900. De Profundis, a deeply emotional letter addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas, was written in prison and published posthumously in 1905.