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Oscar Wilde and his Social Environment
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Year: 2004 | School year: 10 | Subject: Drama | Format: Journal | Grade: A
This journal will explore the society that Oscar Wilde lived within and how this world was reflected in his writing. His own upbringing and social status, his sexual orientation, the community about him in all of its classes, and how he perceived these classes, shine through in his witty interpretation of life as a wealthy person.
Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 as Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde. He went to a school with a mixture of Anglo Saxon and Irish students, most from the upper middle class. During the peak of Wildes career, his aesthetic excesses and homosexuality surfaced and created a barrier of prejudice between him and the public. In 1896 he was arrested for being homosexual and was gaoled for two years. He did not stop writing during this time, and his scathingly sardonic literary works still leaked out into the public. After his sentence was completed, he moved to France and lived with various friends. He wrote under the name of Sebastian Melmoth until his death in 1900.
British society in Wilde's lifetime, 1854 to 1900, was very strictly segregated into three classes: the highly wealthy and relatively few landowners, the generally wealthy bourgeoisie and the numerous poor servants and beggars. Manners and social niceties were highly praised in the bourgeoisie, even more so in the upper class. Butlers and maids were common in most households. Wilde was privy to the behaviour of the upper classes, though he himself was in the bourgeoisie. His writing reflects contempt for the wealthys stupidity, excess and low regard for their servant's life.
All of the elements of society around Oscar Wilde have added aspects to his work. Upbringing, social standing and his observations of the upper classes have bound themselves into the strong thread that almost all of his literary work is based upon. It is only with a full understanding of the social climate that gave rise to Wildes satirical plays that one can fully appreciate the genius and wit of the playwright.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
URL: http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/natureslaw/history/scibib.html
Last Updated: 15/7/2003
URL: http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/
Last Updated: 21/3/1998
URL: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=xx-klingon&ie=UTF-8&q=%221850s-1900%22+english+social+structure
Last Updated: 7/6/1999
URL: http://www.unibuc.ro/eBooks/lls/IoanaZirra-VictorianAge/13-1.htm
Last Updated: 9/7/2001
"The New Illustrated History Of The World", George Shepperson , Hamlin Publishing Group LTD 1970
"The Oxford Companion To English Literature", Oxford University Press, 1942
"The Students Guide To World History", R. D. Walshe, Martindale Press pty. LTD, 1966
"The World In Progress" B. J. Elliott, Huchinson Educational LTD, 1969
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