Life in the Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s response invokes the undeniable history of queer culture and the romantic relationship between men. The first sentence of his answer discusses pederasty, or the love between an older man and a younger man. Wilde illustrates how this love is as old as time is and has been written about through plays, sonnets and poetry since the beginning of man. Wilde tries to convince the court that the love he shares with his love is only the most natural sort of love and that both parties in the relationship serve to benefit from one another.   

In the time of Oscar Wilde’s life the term “homosexual” was created thus making a separation of sexuality. In the late 1800’s homosexuality was considered a disorder and was believed to undermine the social system whose priority was to create lineage and workers. I believed that although Oscar Wilde’s preferences were extremely misunderstood he was one of those few people who could be public about his sexuality and not face all of the consequences. Because he was a famous literary symbol and not to mention, extremely wealthy, he had the social standing to do what he liked. Even though he did face some scrutiny, I believe that his “coming out” actually made him even more popular and recognizable because his sexuality made him exotic and people wanted to read his work.

Wilde’s reaction to the court’s question about the love that should not be spoken relates to the modern era because he believes that nothing is wrong with it and is willing to publicly defend himself and his lover. It opens up a wide range of factors that go on in today’s court rooms with gay marriage on the table, where people are defending their right to love whoever they wish to love.