On 30th November 1900 the Irish-born playwright, poet and wit Oscar Wilde died in Paris, aged only 46. The direct cause of death was cerebral meningitis, but Wilde had really died from premature aging brought on by the disasters that befell him in his final years.
His glittering career had taken him to the highest ranks of
literary London, enjoying huge success with plays that included “The Importance
of Being Earnest” and “Lady Windermere’s Fan”. Another masterpiece was his only
novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.
Any worthwhile dictionary of quotations will contain several
pages of Oscar Wilde witticisms, often said off the cuff (such as “I have
nothing to declare but my genius” when passing through New York customs) and
many containing truths stated in a memorable way (such as “All women become
like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.”)
Wilde’s downfall came about when he foolishly responded to
the barbs of the Marquess of Queensberry to the effect that he was in a
homosexual relationship with Queensberry’s son, Lord Alfred Douglas, which was
true. By suing the Marquess for libel, Wilde was forced to admit his homosexual
behaviour in court and, because homosexuality was then a crime, a criminal
prosecution followed which resulted in Wilde being sent to jail for two years.
The jail sentence broke Oscar Wilde physically, although it
did result in two remarkable works, the prose epistle “De Profundis” and
Wilde’s greatest poem, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, which was composed after
his release in 1897.
Wilde lived out his last years in France, ending his days in
a Paris hotel in the appropriately named “Rue des Beaux Arts”. Whether or not
he had rehearsed his “famous last words”, they do seem to summarise the man who
uttered them – “Either that wallpaper goes or I do”.
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