Celebrate Poe

Gross Indecency

June 28, 2021 George Bartley Season 1 Episode 64
Celebrate Poe
Gross Indecency
Show Notes Transcript
  • Learn about Oscar Wilde’s life
  • How is The Oval Portrait like A Picture of Dorian Gray?
  • How did Wilde meet Bosie?
  • What was the father’s reaction to Wilde’s relationship with his son?
  • What is DeProfundis?
  • What were Wilde’s last years like?
  • Why do we remember Wilde?


  • 00:00  Introduction
  • 01:05 Oscar Wilde’s life
  • 03:15 Meeting of Wilde and Whitman (part 2)
  • 04:09 The Oval Portrait
  • 7:08 A Picture of Dorian Gray
  • 15:02 Meeting Bosie!
  • 16:11 Enter the brutish father
  • 17:18 Dame Judi Dench “recollections”
  • 19:29  More brutish father
  • 20:56 The court trials of Oscar Wilde
  • 22:23 Out of the Depths (De Profundis)
  • 30:53 Wilde’s last years
  • 32:10 Importance of Wilde
  • 34:00 Sources
  • 35:09 Future episodes
  • 37:29 Outro

00:00 Introduction

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - every Monday night at 12:00 Midnight. This is Episode Sixty Four - Gross Indecency

The subject of today’s podcast episode is Oscar Wilde.  First I would like to talk a little bit more about his friendship with Walt Whitman, then briefly touch on some of his writings, compare his “A Picture of Dorian Grey” with Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Oval Portrait,” and finally Wilde’s dramatic trial.  Then I will to discuss the conditions that almost physically and mentally destroyed him.  It is hard for most of us to even imagine the horrors he went though during his imprisonment, and this episode will end with some   sections from a famous letter he wrote in jail - De Profundis - or Out of the Depths.

01:05 Oscar Wilde’s life

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1854 - just 5 years after Poe’s death.  His father was an author and eye and ear surgeon.  His mother was extremely active in Irish society, and little Oscar was first educated at home.  Later he was one of three students to win a scholarship to Trinity College in Dublin.   He must have been wicked smart because he won a scholarship to Magdalen College at Oxford.  During his time at Oxford, he began to formally develop himself, his philosophy of art,  and his view of the world.

After graduation from Oxford, Wilde returned to Dublin where he met and fell in love with Forence Balcombe, a sweetheart from his childhood.  But Florence became engaged to Bram Stoker - a fascinating individual who later wrote Dracula.

Oscar used the last of his inheritance from the sale of his father’s houses, to set himself up as a bachelor in London, and concentrated on writing.  His first book sold out its first print run, but was not generally well received by the critics. For example, Punch magazine wrote "The poet is Wilde, but his poetry's tame"

Now Gilbert and Sullivan had just written an operetta called Patience that satirized the Aesthetic movement.  This was a movement that emphasized art for its own sake - that beauty was far more important than any moral principle.  The producers of the show convinced Wilde to make a lecture tour of the United States to prime the pump for the United States public to become knowledgeable about the Aesthetic movement.  Wilde’s lecture tour was supposed to last four months, but ended up lasting almost a year.

03:15 Meeting of Wilde and Whitman (part 2)

Now in the last episode, I mentioned the time that Wilde and Whitman met when Wilde came to the United States.  I have found some other information about that - none of  it really conflicts with the account in the previous episode of this podcast - but I did find a cool quote that Wilde made about Whitman. Years later, Wilde told a friend, “the kiss of Walt Whitman is still on my lips.”

Oscar Wilde returned to London and began writing a series of incredibly popular plays that made him the toast of London.  And I highly recommend that you check some of them out - or view some of the many DVDs versions.  Just type Oscar Wilde as author in your library’s web site search bar.

04:09 The Oval Portrait

Like Poe’s “The Oval Portrait,” Wilde’s “A Picture of Dorian Grey’ deals with art, and the obsession with the effects of a painting. Wilde admired and even identified with Poe’s style, and the motif of the double - or doppleganger - was used in both William Wilson and The Picture of Dorian Grey.  You could say that both Poe and Wilde were concerned about art for art’s sake - that it wasn’t necessary for a literary work to have a moral.

Wilde discovered Poe through the writings of Charles Baudelaire - a French writer who this podcast will really delve into on down the road.

Now when I started doing the research for this episode, I wanted to compare Wilde’s only novel - The Picture of Dorian Grey, and William Wilson - largely because of its length and use of the double - at first William Wilson seemed a natural.  But the more research I did, it just didn’t feel right - the comparisons got too strained.  And I think I am going to SAVVE William Wilson for future episodes about Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde, as well as The Wolfman - yes there is a connection!

Then I looked at a story by Poe called The Oval Portrait, and realized that might be a better fit.  Both Poe’s The Oval Portrait and Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray have with paintings at their center. In The Oval Portrait, the painting is one of the artist’s beautiful wife. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the painting is the handsome Dorian Gray - a painting where the image seems to age in appearance while Dorian stays the same age. 

Now although "The Oval Portrait” may seem to center around the appearance of the artist’s wife, she is basically a passive figure who somehow becomes more and more ill.  Her husband is so engrossed in finishing his painting that he does not seem to notice or simply doesn’t care.  She is the loving and dutiful wife who ignores her own needs.  In a sense, she is like the image on the portrait - completely manipulated by the male painter.  And in the excitement of his art, the husband only views her as a model.  She is totally submissive, and when the artist has finished the image, he only then notices that the wife has died.  In other words, art has become more important to the man than real life.

7:08 A Picture of Dorian Gray

A Picture of Dorian Grey deals with many of the same themes - but because of its length is able to expand upon them - to go into more detail.  The Oval Portrait is one of Poe’s shortest stories, while The Picture of Dorian Gray is a full-scale novel, and is obviously more involved.
I am going to go into the story for the next few minutes, not only for comparison purposes, but for what The Picture of Dorian Gray tells us about Wilde’s life and philosophy.

Now before we go any further - there are three main characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray
-
First - Basil Hallward  - the artist
Second - Lord Henry Wotton - the somewhat effette snob, and a character who mouths some of what the real-life Wilde said - such as “The best way to overcome temptation is to yield to it.’
And Third of course is - Dorian Gray - you might call him a ‘pretty boy” today

I will describe the basic plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray - but hopefully not so much that you will not want to read the novel or see a movie version.

The story begins in the studio of Basil Hallward, who is discussing a painting with his witty friend Lord Henry Wotton - a man who enjoys scandal.  Lord Henry sees a painting of an extremely attractive young man, and believes that it should be displayed.  The painter, Basil, is a bit paranoid - he thinks that the fact that he is obsessed with the subject of the painting, Dorian Gray, comes across. Dorian then arrives, and then is fascinated as Henry explains his belief that one should live life to the fullest by satisfying one’s impulses. Henry also points out that beauty and youth are temporary, Dorian then remarks that he would give his soul if the portrait were to grow old while he remained young, and Basil gives the painting to Dorian.

Now a few weeks later, Dorian tells Henry that he loves an actress, Sibyl Vane, because of her acting talent and great beauty.  So Dorian, Henry, and Basil go to a run-down theater to see Sibyl.  Well, it turns out she is terrible.  Sibyl then explains to Dorian that now that she knows what true love really is, she can no longer pretend to be in love on stage.  Dorian is really cruel, and says he wants nothing further to do with her.  Then when he goes home, he notices that the face on his portrait has a cruel expression, and realizes “I better do something and ask Sibyl to forgive me.”  But Henry arrives the next day  with news that Sibyl committed suicide the previous night, and he convinces Dorian that there is no reason to feel badly about it.

Dorian has the portrait removed to his attic. And to summarize, he spends the next 18 years partying hard, enjoying sensations, and not caring who he hurts.   Of course, the painting shows signs of aging and even evil, while Dorian remains youthful and innocent looking
One evening Dorian encounters Basil, and after a heated discussion, they go to the attic to see the painting.  The image has become horrifying, and Basil tells Dorian that if this is a reflection of his soul - that he must repent and ask for forgiveness.  In anger, Dorian murders Basil, and gets a friend to dispose of the body.
Dorian then goes to an opium den, where he encounters Sibyl’s brother, James.  But the fact that Dorian still looks quite young prevents him from immediately acting

Some weeks later Dorian tells Henry that he has decided to become virtuous and recently decided against taking advantage of a young girl who was in love with him.   Finally!  Dorian then goes to see if the portrait has improved because of his decent act, but he sees instead that it has developed a look of cunning. He stabs the portrait with a knife in a desparate attempt to destroy it.  His servants hear a scream, and, when they open the door, they see a loathsome old man dead on the floor with a knife in his chest.  And in a touch that Poe would have approved of, the portrait is now that of the beautiful young man he once was, while the physical Dorian Gray is an old withered man lying dead on the floor.

I think the nature of art and life are the themes in both In Poe’s The Oval Portrait and A Picture of Dorian Gray - except that in Poe’s story, is it the COMPLETION of the image that directly results in the death of the subject.  In Wilde’s novel, it is the DESTRUCTION of the image that directly results in the death of the subject - thought it could be argued that in Wilde’s novel, the subject, Dorian Gray, was actually dying all along - though he physically looked quite attractive.  And when I mean dying - I mean deterioting in the worst possible way - even though the aging process was not visible.

Although many critics thought that A Picture of Dorian Gray was scandalous, the novel could even be read as a profoundly moral book, even a cautionary tale against the dangers of vice. Dorian’s descent into moral squalor is neither admirable nor enviable - and definitely not presented as something to be emulated.  But it is a story that reflects Wilde’s own double life and anticipates his own downfall.  Wilde had both a love of the beautiful as well as a fascination with the profane - if that makes any sense.  The Picture of Dorian Gray was later to be used as evidence against Wilde when he was tried in 1895 on charges related to homosexuality - a dramatic subject this episode will deal with in a few minutes.

While The Picture of Dorian Gray is now considered one of the best novels of all time, the reviews for the book when it was first published were terrible. However Wilde was steadfast in defending his vision as an author. He maintained that the Faustian idea of Dorian Gray - the “the idea of a young man selling his soul in exchange for eternal youth", was "old in the history of literature". But it could be argued that he gave an archetypal story a striking contemporary spin, with strong homoerotic undertones. The book then resulted in a furor of hostility.

15:02 Meeting Bosie!

In 1891, Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas, who was an undergraduate at Oxford at the time.  Lord Alfred was known to his family and friends as Bosie, and was a handsome and very spoilt young man.  It has been written that Wilde was relatively indiscreet in a tempestuous affair with Bosie.  On the other hand, Bosie was reckless and just plain sloppy.

Bosie initiated Wilde into the underground of male prostitution. These infrequent rendezvous usually took the same form: Wilde would meet the boy, offer him gifts, dine him privately and then take him to a hotel room - so we are definitely getting on the seedy side.  Wilde later wrote to Bosie that It was like feasting with panthers; the danger was half the excitement... I did not know that when they were to strike at me.

16:11 Enter the brutish father

Enter Lord Alfred’s father - the Marquis of Queensbury - known for his being a brute and the establishment of the modern rules of boxing - the Marquis of Queensbury Rules. The Marquis confronted Wilde and Bosie several times about their relationship, once claiming "I do not say that you are it, but you look it, and pose at it, which is just as bad. And if I catch you and my son again in any public restaurant I will thrash you" to which Wilde responded: "I don't know what the Queensberry rules are, but the Oscar Wilde rule is to shoot on sight.  And at six foot two, Oscar Wilde was quite an imposing sight, but the situation just got worse.

It was around this time that Oscar Wilde wrote what is considered his best play, “The Importance of Being Ernest.”

17:18 Dame Judi Dench “recollections”

Now a little sidebar here -
When I studied at the American Shakespeare Center - most of the plays that were performed were - not surprisingly - by Shakespeare.  But the resident troupe occasionally did plays by other authors - such as a dramatic version every year of Dicken’s Christmas Carol - I believe they still do A Christmas Carol every year.  And in 2004, the acting troupe did a great version of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.  Dame Judi Dench was on the Board, and actually visited the theatre for a performance of the play. 
This was really a big deal because Dame Judi Dench is one of those classic English actors who exudes warmth and grace. When you see Dame Judi Dench, you know you are in the presence of greatness. Madelaine Albright under President Clinton, who served as the first secretary of state, is apparently a big Shakespeare fan, and came to see that performance.
Interesting enough, a movie version of The Importance of Being Earnest - with Dame Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell had been released the preceeding year. Lady Bracknell has the famous line - and this was typical of Oscar Wilde’s wit - “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” and ‘Never speak disrespectfully of Society. Only people who can’t get into it do that.’  One of the resident actors - a rather heavy-set dude in drag - played the part of Lady Bracknell while Dame Judi Dench sat in the audience.  I know I would have been really nervous if I were playing a part that Dame Judi Dench - one of the best actresses in the world - was known for.

19:29 More brutish father

Most critics agree that “The Importance of Being Earnest” is Oscar Wilde’s funniest and best play, so it is especially tragic that the comedy marked the beginning of Wilde’s very public downfall.
As Wilde’s professional success increased, it seemed that his feud with the Marquis of Queensbury also increased.  Queensberry was determined to take Wilde down. Queensberry even planned to insult Wilde publicly by throwing a bouquet of rotting vegetables onto the stage; Wilde was tipped off and had the man barred from even entering the theatre.
On February 18, 1895, the Marquess left his calling card at Wilde's club, the Albemarle.  On the card were the words, ”For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite - in other words, sodomite.  Wilde’s friends basically told him to ignore it, but Wilde began a private prosecution against Queensberry for libel, because the note amounted to a public accusation that Wilde had committed the crime of sodomy.
Now Queensberry was arrested for criminal libel; a charge carrying a possible sentence of up to two years in prison. Under the 1843 Libel Act, Queensberry could avoid conviction for libel only by demonstrating that his accusation was in fact true, and furthermore that there was some "public benefit" to having made the accusation openly. Queensberry's lawyers thus hired private detectives to find evidence of Wilde's homosexual liaisons.
20:56 The court trials of Oscar Wilde
This was the first of three trials - this libel trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for gross indecency with men.
Wilde used his wit and clever manipulation of words so that the second trial did not result in a decision, but he was found guilty in the third trial and sentenced to two years at hard labor - the maximum sentence. 
I highly recommend one of the many books and DVDs about Wilde to learn more about the twists and turns of what has been called the first celebrity trial.

22:23   Out of the Depths (De Profundis)

During his last year in prison, Wilde wrote a long letter to Bosie that discussed his thoughts and spiritual journey - words that served as a dark counterpoint to his earlier ideas about pleasure.  I can’t imagine what I might do if faced with a similar situation, and I can remember when such a prison sentence would have been all too real in the South.  In some areas of the world, homosexuals are still receiving the kind of punishments that Oscar Wilde recieved - and even worse.
The long letter that Wilde wrote was called De Profundis - meaning  “out of the depths” from Psalm 130.  There is some conflict on exactly HOW De Profundis was written, with most sources saying that Wilde was given one sheet of paper a day on which to write.  It has been said that De Profundis is one of the most wrenching and illuminating works of self-awareness every written in the English language, including some sections as:

The gods had given me almost everything.  But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease.  I amused myself with being a dandy, a man of fashion.  I surrounded myself with the smaller natures and the meaner minds.  I became the spendthrift of my own genius, and to waste an eternal youth gave me a curious joy.  Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in the search for new sensation.  What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion.  Desire, at the end, was a malady, or a madness, or both.  I grew careless of the lives of others.  I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on.  I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber one has some day to cry aloud on the housetop.  I ceased to be lord over myself.  I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it.  I allowed pleasure to dominate me.  I ended in horrible disgrace.  There is only one thing for me now, absolute humility.

I have lain in prison for nearly two years.  Out of my nature has come wild despair; an abandonment to grief that was piteous even to look at; terrible and impotent rage; bitterness and scorn; anguish that wept aloud; misery that could find no voice; I have passed through every possible mood of suffering.  Better than Wordsworth himself I know what Wordsworth meant when he said—

‘Suffering is permanent, obscure, and dark

And has the nature of infinity.’


But while there were times when I rejoiced in the idea that my sufferings were to be endless, I could not bear them to be without meaning.  Now I find hidden somewhere away in my nature something that tells me that nothing in the whole world is meaningless, and suffering least of all.  That something hidden away in my nature, like a treasure in a field, is Humility.


Wilde also wrote:

When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was.  It was ruinous advice.  It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind.  Now I am advised by others to try on my release to forget that I have ever been in a prison at all.  I know that would be equally fatal.  It would mean that I would always be haunted by an intolerable sense of disgrace, and that those things that are meant for me as much as for anybody else—the beauty of the sun and moon, the pageant of the seasons, the music of daybreak and the silence of great nights, the rain falling through the leaves, or the dew creeping over the grass and making it silver—would all be tainted for me, and lose their healing power, and their power of communicating joy.  To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development.  To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s own life.  It is no less than a denial of the soul.

Remember that Wilde was never given more than one sheet of paper a day, so it would have been difficult to maintain a logical train of thought.

There is before me so much to do, that I would regard it as a terrible tragedy if I died before I was allowed to complete at any rate a little of it.  I see new developments in art and life, each one of which is a fresh mode of perfection.  I long to live so that I can explore what is no less than a new world to me.  Do you want to know what this new world is?  I think you can guess what it is.  It is the world in which I have been living.  Sorrow, then, and all that it teaches one, is my new world.

And regarding his journey to the centre platform of Clapham Junction -
 
Everything about my tragedy has been hideous, mean, repellent, lacking in style; our very dress makes us grotesque.  On November 13th, 1895, I was brought down here from London.  From two o’clock till half-past two on that day I had to stand on the centre platform of Clapham Junction in convict dress, and handcuffed, for the world to look at.  I had been taken out of the hospital ward without a moment’s notice being given to me.  Of all possible objects I was the most grotesque.  When people saw me they laughed.  Each train as it came up swelled the audience.  Nothing could exceed their amusement.  That was, of course, before they knew who I was.  As soon as they had been informed they laughed still more.  For half an hour I stood there in the grey November rain surrounded by a jeering mob.

For a year after that was done to me I wept every day at the same hour and for the same space of time.  That is not such a tragic thing as possibly it sounds to you.  To those who are in prison tears are a part of every day’s experience.  A day in prison on which one does not weep is a day on which one’s heart is hard, not a day on which one’s heart is happy.

And finally

All trials are trials for one’s life, just as all sentences are sentences of death; and three times have I been tried.  The first time I left the box to be arrested, the second time to be led back to the house of detention, the third time to pass into a prison for two years.  Society, as we have constituted it, will have no place for me, has none to offer; but Nature, whose sweet rains fall on unjust and just alike, will have clefts in the rocks where I may hide, and secret valleys in whose silence I may weep undisturbed.  She will hang the night with stars so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send the wind over my footprints so that none may track me to my hurt: she will cleanse me in great waters, and with bitter herbs make me whole.

30:53 Wilde’s last years

On his release, Oscar Wilde immediately left for France, and never returned to Ireland or England.  His wife refused to ever see him again, and he was not allowed to see his children.  Wilde and Bosie did live together in France for several months until their families threatened to cut off all funds.
He wrote to his publisher, “This poverty really breaks one's heart: it is so filthy, so utterly depressing, so hopeless. Pray do what you can”  Wilde wandered the boulevards alone and spent what little money he had on alcohol. Soon he was confined to his hotel and unable to go outside.  It is said that one of his final remarks was "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go”.

On November 25 1900, Wilde had developed meningitis and was baptised into the Catholic Church.  A few days later, he died at the relatively early age of 46.

32:10 Importance of Wilde

In Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians, Jeff Nunkawa writes that Wilde had a catastrophic drive to destruction - understandable because Wilde, despite his struggles against adversity, had an negative internalized acceptance of society’s acceptance - or more accurately - NON acceptance of homosexuality.  But in his last years, Wilde spoke more candidly about a positive view of homosexuality than almost anyone else at the time.  in his defiance of convention and insistence on the right to be honest, he continues to speak powerfully to us today.  With all its advances, the gay rights movement of today should never forget “the memory of man who paid so dearly for his own defiance.”

In conclusion, Oscar Wilde was a man who found ways to be confident to his truth in an age where that truth could not even be articulated.  He may have lived in the later part of the Victorian age, but how he wrote about the ideas of class, love, emotions, and future aspirations influenced much of how we look at the world today.  Oscar Wilde famously wrote, “We are all of us in the gutters. But some of us are looking at the stars.”

34:00 Sources

Sources for this episode include De Profundis, by Oscar Wilde, Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions by Frank Harris, The Trials of Oscar Wilde from various newspaper reports of the period, The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde by Joseph Pearce, and The Life of Oscar Wilde by Robert Sherard, and Oscar Wilde's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy, The Most Outrageous Trial of the Century by Phillip Hoare, The Fall of the House of Usher by Emer O’Sullivan, and last,  but definitely not least - The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition by Oscar Wilde.

Why not visit my podcast web site at celebratepoe.buzzsprout.com - click on the episode you want to learn more about to see its show notes and a transcript.

35:09 Future Episodes

Now after the special episodes for Pride Month in June, Celebrate Poe is going to take a deep dive back into the life and writings of the Poe, starting with some of the influences on his writing.  There are so many subjects involved in trying to understand Edgar Allan Poe, and his complex works, but I feel that a solid understanding of his greatness rests on mainly two aspects - his creativity - and by creativity, I am including his inspirations and imagination.  And I believe the second main reason for his greatness is his use of language - his understanding of words and how to use them - especially in roducing an effect.

Beginning in July, Celebrate Poe will get back to two other imaginative genres largely from Europe that influenced Poe - starting with the vampire/undead genre from the Villa Diodati - and then covering the fascinating story of The Black Vampyre, as well as later vampire stories and even movies.

Before the school year starts, Celebrate Poe will begin a look at some interesting vampire stories.  The next episode is called “Your Friendly, Neighborhood Vampire” where I will read a great short story about a friendly, matronly lady who turns out to be the village vampire.

So for a good part of this summer, Celebrate Poe will concentrate on vampire and even werewolf stories that may have served as a major influence on Poe - ok - such stories can be a lot of fun too!

Then Celebrate Poe will specifically cover Poe’s years as a child in England - especially his education .  I am finding some exciting stuff  regarding the information that he learned - especially in the form of classical rhetoric - to become one of America’s greatest writers.

Discussing classical rhetoric might seem a bit dry when you first look at it, but I have a feeling that you will find it fascinating, and understand Edgar Poe in an exciting new way.

37:29 Outro

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.