20+ Facts About The Incomparable Oscar Wilde, Who Had A Sharp Answer For Any Occasion

Oscar Wilde is one of the most famous English writers, well known for his dramatic sentences and the acclaimed novel The Picture of Dorian Gray🇧🇷 His plays are still reproduced all over the world today, and his works are dissected down to the smallest citation. Wilde believed that aesthetics were paramount and refused to live up to standard and modestly. He defended, until his last days, the right to individuality.

The team of awesome.club I wanted to go deeper into the biography of this great playwright, who was elected, in a survey, the greatest thinker in the United Kingdom. Check out!

Oscar Wilde in childhood. At that time, it was customary to dress children in dresses, regardless of gender.

Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin. His father, William Wilde, was a famous ENT doctor from Ireland. He also wrote some books dedicated to archeology and Irish folklore and opened a free medical center for the most needy. Wilde’s mother, Jane Francesca Wilde, wrote poems and was a great woman. She felt that she was born to do something important and she didn’t hide it from anyone. With a similar mindset, Wilde followed in her footsteps and loved to “alter” reality to his liking. Even on his marriage certificate, he indicated the wrong date of birth, purposely thereby lowering his age by two years. Wilde’s younger sister, Isola, died aged 9 from meningitis. He also had a younger brother, and they were both a lot alike: both a few pounds overweight and a little lazy. Wilde disapproved of this similarity so much that he even paid his brother to remove his beard, thus increasing the physical differences between them.

Until the age of 9, the future writer was educated at home and quickly learned French and German. He later entered Portora Royal School, where he became famous for making fun of school events and creating nicknames for his classmates thanks to his sharp mind. He became a prodigy because of his ability to explain a three-volume novel after reading it in just 30 minutes. After an hour of reading, he could retell specific scenes and the most important dialogues in the story. Before exams, he didn’t memorize anything forcibly, he read the obligatory materials for pure pleasure. Wilde graduated from the school with honors. At Trinity College, he developed his spectacular ability to learn ancient languages. It was at this time, too, that he began to be interested in aestheticism (an artistic movement whose representatives believed that aesthetic values ​​were above social issues). As a result, he gradually developed his original style of dress and self-irony, which later became his calling card.

In 1874, Oscar Wilde entered Magdalen College, Oxford, where he tried to stand out among the other students: he wore tweed suits that were one size larger than his peers; he wore hats with curved edges, which only the elderly wore. Once, Wilde even sewed a jacket after dreaming about it: with a mixture of red and brown tones, it was reminiscent of a cello. It could be said that this was the first stage of his “aesthetic revolution”. Back at school, Wilde was fond of scarlet and purple T-shirts and, instead of the usual books, used by all the other students, he preferred to find the most exquisite editions. port. At Oxford, he began to attach more importance to clothes. Once, he even announced that if he found himself alone on a desert island, he would continue to change his clothes every day for dinner.

Oscar Wilde had long hair, despised typically male sports, although he occasionally enjoyed boxing, and had decorated his bedroom with peacock feathers, lilies, sunflowers, and a few works of art. He dressed in a flashy way, maintained certain mannerisms and, perhaps because of this, some people considered him crazy or too snobbish. Once, some classmates, who didn’t like him, dragged him to the top of a hill and only at the top did they release him. Wilde, however, managed to get out of this situation brilliantly. He got up, dusted himself off, and said, “The view from this hill is really impressive.” Behind the apparently fragile and delicate aesthetic, a surprising physical strength was hidden. Once, four students tried to hit Wilde and, at the same time, vandalize his house, but they got a surprise: he retaliated against the first attacker and threw him far; he crashed into the second; he knocked the third down the stairs; grabbed the room, took it into the house and threw it against the first piece of furniture he saw ahead.

After graduating, Oscar Wilde moved to London. Thanks to his eloquence and good manners, he quickly adapted to local society. He became, then, a requested guest at any meeting: many dreamed of meeting that “insightful Irishman”. In one night, the writer met Lillie Langtry, who later became a famous actress. Despite being married, Wilde dedicated poems to her and tried his best to integrate himself into the young woman’s social environment. Once, he even waited for his beloved to return from a friend’s house and, because it was dark, he almost bumped into her husband while he was waiting on the stairs.

Seeking recognition and fame, Oscar Wilde agreed to give a lecture on aestheticism and even went on a tour, which later became very famous. When I had to go through customs, said who “had nothing to declare except his genius”.The first lecture was a great success and the author was applauded by the audience. However, not all of his performances were so well received. The press could be quite hostile, as could many locals. On Wall Street, even, Wilde had to run away from some employees. The playwright also had the opportunity to perform for miners, who welcomed him with open arms. When he was asked if it was true that the miners were a direct and rude people, he replied: “Direct, yes, but not impolite. Compared to many people I met in big cities, they are even very refined and polite.”

Upon returning to his hometown, Oscar Wilde met Constance Lloyd, the daughter of a famous Irish lawyer, and married her. When asked why he had fallen in love with her, he replied: “She speaks so little”. . Constance had to attend a reception in a white and yellow muslin dress and white stockings. The hostess even wrote in her diary that Constance’s clothing was really in very bad taste; and that she found the young woman herself shy and boring.

Over time, Wilde began to feel indifferent to his wife. After she became pregnant, rumors emerged that he began to feel some contempt for her. The following statement is attributed to him: “When I got married, my bride was a lovely woman, skin like snow and slender as a lily. After a year, the color of this flower’s delicate beauty faded; my wife became a burden, lazy and formless”. However, they had two children, Cyril and Vyvyan, for whom the writer composed fairy tales. A little later he published a whole collection. At that time, he became editor of The Woman’s World magazine, for which he wrote articles on serious topics such as parenting, culture and politics.

After a trip to the United States, Oscar Wilde gave up his typical clothes. Almost nothing remains of the image of the long-haired man, who walked down Piccadilly Street with a sunflower in his hand. Even the Punch newspaper ran a story about it in which they joked: “For sale a stash of faded lilies, sunflowers and crushed peacock feathers; some long hair wigs; collection of incomprehensible poems and a collection of confusing paintings.” Wilde ditched the long hair and opted for a look in keeping with ancient Roman standards. In order for the hairdresser to understand exactly which cut to perform, he took him to the Louvre and showed him a marble Roman statue.

In 1890, he published the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which brought him not only great fame but also the stigma of being publicly immoral. Oscar Wilde wrote more than 10 open letters to British magazine and newspaper editions, explaining that art existed independently of morality. After a year, the novel was released with numerous additions and a masterful preface by the author. Wilde’s glory years were between 1891 and 1895. One after another, he wrote Salome, Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of being Prudent and thus became the most popular man in London at that time. The media considered him the best modern playwright and highlighted the perfection of his writing style and originality.

staging of the show Lady Windermere’s Fan at the Royal Theater based on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name in 1945.

In 1891, the playwright met Lord Alfred Douglas, a very attractive and spoiled young man. This meeting, however, would later turn into a great tragedy. Wilde soon became very fond of Bosie, as Alfred was also called: he did not deny him anything and always satisfied the boy’s whims. The writer’s wife began to fret over the monstrous expenses and her husband’s continual disappearance, but Wilde assured her that everything he did was a necessity for the sake of writing. Bosie, however, did not want to hide the connection he had with the brilliant writer and demanded that they go out in public. They traveled together a few times out of the country, but soon the boy’s father found out about their relationship. Wilde was then charged with indecent behavior and sentenced to two years of compulsory hard labor.

Oscar Wilde spent the first six months in a prison for serious crimes; and the rest of the time at Reading Penitentiary. Incarceration totally consumed the talented writer. The terrible conditions and poor diet weakened him physically: he was often hungry, sick and insomniac. The correctional officers didn’t like him either and punished him harshly for the smallest infractions. Wilde once took a tumble in chapel and damaged his eardrum. This injury was one of the contributing factors in his later death. Nearly all of Wilde’s friends distanced themselves from Wilde, and Bosie did not once visit him in prison. By the way, during this period, the young man was living abroad…