Biography of Oscar Wilde-(1854-1900)

1
Biography of Oscar Wilde-(1854-1900)
2
Oscar Wilde-

• Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in
  Dublin, the son of an eye-surgeon and a literary
  hostess and writer (known under the pseudonym
  "Speranza"). After studying at Trinity College,
  Dublin, Wilde went to Magdalen College, Oxford,
  where he achieved a double first and won the
  Newdigate prize for a poem Ravenna. While at
  Oxford he became notorious for his flamboyant
  wit, talent, charm and aestheticism, and this
  reputation soon won him a place in London
  society. Bunthorne, the Fleshly Poet in Gilbert
  and Sullivan's opera Patience was widely thought
  to be a caricature of Wilde (though in fact it
  was intended as a skit of Rosetti) and Wilde
  seems to have consciously styled himself on this
  figure. In 1882 Wilde gave a one year lecture
  tour of America, visiting Paris in 1883 before
  returning to New York for the opening of his
  first play Vera. In 1884 he married and had two
  sons, for whom he probably wrote his first book
  of fairy tales, The Happy Prince. The next decade
  was his most prolific and the time when he wrote
  the plays for which he is best remembered. His
  writing and particularly his plays are
  epigramatic and witty and Wilde was not afraid to
  shock. This period was also haunted by
  accusations about his personal life, chiefly
  prompted by the Marquess of Queensberry's fierce
  opposition to the intense friendship between
  Wilde and her son, Lord Alfred. These accusations
  culminated in 1895 in Wilde's imprisonment for
  homosexual offences. While in prison, Wilde was
  declared bankrupt, and after his release he lived
  on the generosity of friends. From prison he
  wrote a long and bitter letter to Lord Alfred,
  part of which was afterwards published as De
  Profundis, but after his release he wrote nothing
  but the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

3
'The Importance of Being Earnest'

4
Characters

• Jack Worthing - a young gentleman from the
  country, in love with Gwendolen
  Fairfax.Algernon Moncrieff  - a young gentleman
  from London, the nephew of Lady Bracknell, in
  love with Cecily Cardew.Gwendolen Fairfax - a
  young lady, loved by Jack Worthing.Lady
  Bracknell  - a society lady, Gwendolens
  mother.Cecily Cardew  - a young lady, the ward
  of Jack Worthing.Miss Prism  - Cecilys
  governess. The Reverend Canon Chasuble  - the
  priest of Jacks parish.Lane - Algernons
  butler.Merriman - Jacks servant.

5
Plot Summary-The Importance Of Being Earnrest

• Jack and Algernon are wealthy gentlemen.  Jack
  (known to Algernon as Ernest) lives a respectable
  life in the country providing an example to his
  young ward Cecily. Algernon lives in luxury in
  London and has invented an imaginary invalid
  friend (Bunbury) whom he visits in the country
  whenever an unappealing social engagement
  presents itself. Jack has also invented a
  character - a wayward younger brother called
  Ernest whom he uses as pretext for going up to
  London and enjoying himself.
• Jack wants to marry Algernons cousin Gwendolen,
  but must first convince her mother, Lady
  Bracknell, of the respectability of his parents.
  For Jack, having been abandoned in a handbag at
  Victoria station, this is quite a difficult task.
• Algernon visits Jacks house in the country and
  introduces himself to Cecily as Ernest, knowing
  that Cecily is already fascinated by tales
  of Ernest's wickedness. He further wins her over
  and they become engaged.  Shortly after, Jack
  arrives home announcing Ernests death. This sets
  off a series of farcical events. Cecily and
  Gwendolen have a genteel stand-off over which of
  them has a prior claim on Ernest. Jack and
  Algernon vie to be christened Ernest. Eventually,
  Jack discovers that his parents were Lady
  Bracknells sister and brother-in-law and that he
  is, in fact, Algernons older brother, called
  Ernest. The two sets of lovers are thus free to
  marry.
• During these events the characters of  Canon
  Chasuble and Cecilys governess Miss Prism have
  also fallen in love,  and in the best tradition
  of the well-made play the story ends with all the
  loose ends tied up and everyone set to live
  happily ever after.

6
The Picture of Dorian Gray
7
The Picture of Dorian Gray

• The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published
  novel written by Oscar Wilde, first appearing as
  the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
  on 20 June 1890.1 Wilde later revised this
  edition, making several alterations, and adding
  new chapters the amended version was published
  by Ward, Lock, and Company in April 1891.2 The
  story is often miscalled The Portrait of Dorian
  Gray.
• The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray,
  the subject of a painting by artist Basil
  Hallward. Basil is greatly impressed by Dorian's
  physical beauty and becomes strongly infatuated
  with him, believing that his beauty is
  responsible for a new mode in his art. Talking in
  Basil's garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a
  friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord
  Henry's world view. Espousing a new kind of
  hedonism, Lord Henry suggests that the only thing
  worth pursuing in life is beauty, and the
  fulfilment of the senses. Realising that one day
  his beauty will fade, Dorian cries out, wishing
  that the portrait Basil has painted of him would
  age rather than himself. Dorian's wish is
  fulfilled, subsequently plunging him into a
  series of debauched acts. The portrait serves as
  a reminder of the effect each act has upon his
  soul, with each sin being displayed as a
  disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of
  aging.3
• The Picture of Dorian Gray is considered one of
  the last works of classic gothic horror fiction
  with a strong Faustian theme.4 It deals with
  the artistic movement of the decadents, and
  homosexuality, both of which caused some
  controversy when the book was first published.
  However, in modern times, the book has been
  referred to as "one of the modern classics of
  Western literature."5

8
Plot summary-The Picture Of Dorian Gray

• The novel begins with Lord Henry Wotton observing
  the artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait
  of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray. Dorian
  arrives later, meeting Wotton. After hearing Lord
  Henry's world view, Dorian begins to think that
  beauty is the only worthwhile aspect of life, and
  the only thing left to pursue. He wishes that the
  portrait of him which Basil is painting would
  grow old in his place. Under the influence of
  Lord Henry, Dorian begins an exploration of his
  senses. He discovers an actress, Sibyl Vane, who
  performs Shakespeare in a dingy theatre. Dorian
  approaches her, and soon proposes marriage.
  Sibyl, who refers to him as "Prince Charming,"
  rushes home to tell her skeptical mother and
  brother. Her protective brother, James, tells her
  that if "Prince Charming" ever harms her, he will
  kill him.
• Dorian then invites Basil and Lord Henry to see
  Sibyl perform in Romeo and Juliet. Sibyl, whose
  only previous knowledge of love was through the
  love of theatre, suddenly loses her acting
  abilities through the experience of true love
  with Dorian, and performs very badly. Dorian
  rejects her, saying that her beauty was in her
  art, and if she could no longer act, he was no
  longer interested in her. Once he returns home,
  Dorian notices that Basil's portrait of him has
  changed. After examining the painting, Dorian
  realizes that his wish has come true - the
  portrait's expression now bears a subtle sneer,
  and will age with each sin he commits, while his
  own outward appearance remains unchanged. He
  decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but Lord Henry
  arrives in the morning to say that Sibyl has
  killed herself by swallowing prussic acid. Over
  the next eighteen years Dorian experiments with
  every vice, mostly under the influence of a
  "poisonous" French novel, a present from Lord
  Henry. Wilde never reveals the title but his
  inspiration was likely drawn from Joris-Karl
  Huysmans's À rebours (Against Nature) due to the
  likenesses that exist between the two novels.6
• One night, before he leaves for Paris, Basil
  arrives to question Dorian about the rumours of
  his indulgences. Dorian does not deny the
  debauchery. He takes Basil to the portrait which
  is revealed to have become as hideous as Dorian's
  sins. In a fit of anger, Dorian blames the artist
  for his fate, and stabs him to death. He then
  blackmails an old friend named Alan Campbell, who
  happened to be a chemist, into destroying the
  body. Wishing to escape his crime, Dorian travels
  to an opium den. James Vane happens to be nearby,
  and hears someone refer to Dorian as "Prince
  Charming." He follows Dorian out and attempts to
  shoot him, but he is deceived when Dorian asks
  James to look at him in the light, saying that he
  is too young to have been involved with Sibyl
  eighteen years ago. James releases Dorian, but is
  approached by a woman from the opium den, who
  chastises him for not killing Dorian and tells
  him that Dorian has not aged for the past
  eighteen years.
• While at dinner one night, Dorian sees Sibyl
  Vane's brother stalking the grounds and fears for
  his life. However, during a game-shooting party
  the next day James is accidentally shot and
  killed by one of the hunters. After returning to
  London, Dorian informs Lord Henry that he will be
  good from now on, and has started by not breaking
  the heart of his latest innocent conquest, a
  vicar's daughter in a country town, named Hetty
  Merton. At his apartment, he wonders if the
  portrait has begun to change back, losing its
  senile, sinful appearance, now that he has
  changed his immoral ways. He unveils the portrait
  to find that it has become worse. Seeing this he
  begins to question the motives behind his act of
  "mercy," whether it was merely vanity, curiosity,
  or the quest for new emotional excess. Deciding
  that only a full confession would truly absolve
  him, but lacking any guilt and fearing the
  consequences, he decides to destroy the last
  vestige of his conscience. In a fit of rage, he
  picks up the knife that killed Basil Hallward,
  and plunges it into the painting. Hearing his cry
  from inside the locked room, his servants send
  for the police, who find Dorian's body, suddenly
  aged, withered, and horrible, beside the
  portrait, which has reverted to its original
  form it is only through the rings on his hand
  that the corpse can be identified

9
The Happy Prince
10
The Happy Prince

• "The story concerns a statue, golden and
  bejewelled, which has been erected above a town,
  in memory of a rich and happy prince. A swallow,
  off to hibernate in Egypt, stops for the night at
  the foot of the statue, and feels tears on her
  head. Looking up she sees that the statue of the
  prince is weeping over the world's misery and
  poverty, which in life he was never able to see.
  Three times he implores the swallow to pluck
  jewels from his body and to take them to poor and
  needy citizens, then to strip the gold from his
  body and throw it to the starving children in the
  street below. All the time it is growing colder.
  The prince is blind and ugly now. The swallow is
  too weak of fly to Egypt, but anyway she loves
  her prince too much to leave his feet. Stretching
  up to kiss his lips, she dies and the statue's
  lead heart cracks. The mayor and citizens who
  erected the statue come and take it down since
  its decorative value no longer exists, and with
  some disgust they move the swallow's body away,
  the lot to be burned. As the flames rise, alarmed
  voices exclaim that the broken, leaden heart will
  not burn. A choir of angels above the flames
  tells the citizens that the leaden heart and the
  dead bird are the most precious things in the
  city."

11
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE INFANTA
12
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE INFANTA

• The Birthday of the Infanta, a very famous
  painting by Diego Valesquez. Valesquez was a
  Spanish painter. He painted the royal family of
  King Philip. This painting shows his daughter,
  the Infanta, her courtiers, the fantastic or
  little person, and her parents reflected in the
  mirror. You also see the painter! It is one of
  the most famous paintings in the western world.
• The story that fascinated Mr. Wilde was the
  relationship between the Infanta and the
  Fantastic. The Fantastic was a little person who
  hadnt grown big like ordinary people. In those
  days, the royals were very cruel to the little
  people. They treated them almost as if they
  werent human. They kept fantastics in court to
  make them laugh. They thought touching the hump
  on their deformed backs might give them good
  luck. Today, we wouldnt allow such inhumanity to
  happen! But Oscar Wilde used this awful practice
  to help us see more about how humans can think
  and fail to feel.

13
The Canterville Ghost
14
The Canterville Ghost

• The Canterville Ghost is a parody featuring a
  dramatic spirit named Sir Simon and the United
  States minister (ambassador) to the Court of St.
  James's, Hiram B. Otis. Mr. Otis travels to
  England with his family and moves into a haunted
  country house. Lord Canterville, the previous
  owner of the house, warns Mr. Otis that the ghost
  of Sir Simon de Canterville has haunted it ever
  since he killed his wife, Eleonore, three
  centuries before. But Mr. Otis dismisses the
  ghost story as bunk and disregards Lord
  Cantervilles warnings. When the Otises learn
  that the house is indeed haunted, they succeed in
  victimizing the ghost and in disregarding age-old
  British traditions. What emerges is a satire of
  American materialism, a lampoon of traditional
  British values, and an amusing twist on the
  traditional gothic horror tale.
• The story takes place in an old English country
  house, Canterville Chase, which has all the
  accoutrements of a traditional haunted house.
  Descriptions of the wainscoting, the library
  paneled in black oak, and the armor in the
  hallway characterize the Gothic setting and help
  Wilde clash the Old World with the New. Typical
  of the style of the English Decadents, the gothic
  atmosphere reveals the authors fascination with
  the macabre. Yet he mixes the macabre with
  comedy, juxtaposing devices from traditional
  English ghost stories such as creaking
  floorboards, clanking chains, and ancient
  prophecies with symbols of modern American
  consumerism. Wildes Gothic setting helps
  emphasize the contrast between cultures.
• - Sandipan Mondal
• Standard X
• South Point High School,
• Kolkata