Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Michael Shelden

Second Advisor

Matthew Brennan

Third Advisor

Keith Byerman

Abstract

Oscar Wilde has fascinated generations of scholars and biographers for reasons having as much to do with the man as well as his work. In particular, his conflict with Victorian society, which engendered the drama that destroyed his career and eventually his life, has captured their imaginations and led to all kinds of speculations about why when the crunch came Wilde acted in a way so contrary to his own self-interest. His decision to sue the Marquess of Queenberry for libel and later to stand trial when the ensuing revelations about his private life resulted in his arrest on charges of "gross indecency" has been explained variously as being inspired by hubris, love for Lord Alfred Douglas, Queenberry's son, a subconscious desire for punishment, or a number of other reasons. Wilde himself, though he examines his motivations in several letters to Douglas, including his prison confession De Profundis, is less help in this matter than one might think; it is possible that he did not fully know why he acted as he did. In my thesis I discuss in some depth Wilde's life and work with particular attention to this central drama, and attempt to throw some additional light on his psychological motivations that might have influenced his decisions. In doing so I draw not only on many of the treatments of Wilde's life by biographers and humanities scholars but also on some of the findings of psychological and social science which are relevant to Wilde's experiences and the context of the times he lived in. Using this novel approach I show that many of his difficulties were rooted both in childhood experiences and in his wish as an adult for an impossible reconciliation of his taboo sexual desires and his equally strong desire for social approval and success.

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