Oscar Wilde and the Victorian Era
Oscar Wilde is a highly important person when it comes to the English language and literature. This Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist was born on the 16th of October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He was raised in a wealthy family by highly intellectual parents.
From early childhood, he was an excellent student, fluent in French and German besides having enough knowledge of Italian and Ancient Greek. As a writer, he left a very important mark in the world literature. His incredibly witty plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, etc. are still being performed all around the world. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is one of the most important Victorian literary pieces. He also wrote short stories, essays and poems. Most of his themes are focused on criticism of the Victorian society, false manners and hypocrisy, marriage, moral values, etc.
As a person, Oscar Wilde was known as a raconteur, a stylish and scandalous socialite, and if he were our contemporary, he would probably experience lots of troubles with the paparazzi. As a young man, he experienced having a broken heart because his childhood sweetheart married another man (who was also a writer - Bram Stoker, the author of the novel Dracula).
He eventually married Constance Lloyd; however, he had many love affairs during his turbulent life, and even ended up imprisoned for homosexuality. After he was released from prison, he moved to France where he spent the rest of his life in exile. He died of meningitis on the 30th of November 1900 at the age of 46.
The Victorian era is named after the British Queen Victoria who reigned from 1837 to 1901. At that time, the Industrial Revolution and technology inventions made Britain prosperous.
However, there were many problems, such as social injustice, child labor, big difference between men’s and women’s rights, etc. Those are also the issues depicted in the literature of this era.
The most important Victorian literary form is the novel, and some of the most important writers are Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Charles Dickens.
