Wilde was very much the author of his own tragedy. After a few years of conventional married
life, he had thrown himself into a dangerous sex life with young men, many of
whom were poor and willing to make money by any means possible including
blackmail. He would later admit that the
danger was part of the fun of being with these rent boys.
He had outraged
Queensbury by his very obvious friendship with the young Lord Alfred, and he
had “shown off” in the Witness box at the libel trial. He could have fled abroad before he was
arrested, the authorities were willing to give him a little leeway, but he
chose not to do so. Mainly, he knew that
he was guilty of the behavior that Queensbury was attacking him for, but he went
along with Alfred’s desire to sue his father for libel. Presumably he believed that he would be able to sway the jury even though he must have been aware that his homosexual behavior was likely to be brought out in the trial. Since the law had recently been changed about homosexual acts, he may have hoped for a light sentence, because of his status as a gentleman and his own gift for witty repartee...
Having been found guilty of homosexual behaviour, he was
sentenced to 2 years hard labour.
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