Oscar Wilde

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 had outraged Queensbury by his very obvious friendship with the young Lord Alfred, and 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, to please Douglas, who hated his father. Presumably Wilde 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 but he was still taking a chance. Having been found guilty of homosexual behaviour, he was sentenced to 2 years hard labour. After his time in prison, a few friends in England still supported him but he realised that he would be wiser to go abroad and he moved to France. He returned to Alfred Douglas, but the relationship did not last long. Douglas's selfishness finally wore out Oscar's love for him.