Love, Sex, and Power: Analysis of Wilde's 'Love that dare not speak its name'

Oscar Wilde contributes in this passage to the so-called “birth of the modern homosexual” by passionately describing the love of an older man for a younger in terms understood by the audience of his time. He compares this love to Michelangelo, and to Shakespeare, author of the great love story Romeo and Juliet. In a time when sodomy was often associated with paganism and used as a justification for colonialism, these comparisons were significant. It is perhaps what paved the way for sexology as well; if this love and longing was so innate and powerful that even great men like Shakespeare could find themselves afflicted with it, then was worthy of study.

Wilde also is referring to pederasty, love between an older and a younger man. In speaking in this sense, his rhetoric reflects a power dynamic also present in opposite sex relationships at the time. Because falling in love was something men should not do, that they should go to satisfy their “urges” in brothels rather than undermine the social system, this also portrays men as having all the agency in the relationship. This is partially reflected in Wilde’s defense, he describes the affection of an older man for a younger man, making the older man the one with agency, with urges. Yet, later, when he speaks of the intellect provided by the older man, and the joy by the younger, he does describe it as a mutually beneficial relationship where both parties contribute, even if those contributions are set in predetermined roles. In doing so, he his both reproducing, and challenging, what his audience might understand about sexual and romantic love.