Wilde helps to defend the “love that dare not speak its name” by bringing up people and sonnets from his history that also refer to this same kind of love. This was done so then the prosecutors would then rethink their position, because if they admired these people from the past who had such prestige such as: Plato, Shakespeare and Michelangelo who also thought the same way then it would be contradictory to punish Wilde for the same thing. Wilde also brings up all of the things that this relationship would bring about in the individuals involved. Such as, how this deep spiritual affection that is pure and perfect. We can relate Wildes’ text to the birth of the modern homosexual because people sometimes still bring up relationships from the past that could be classified as queer now.
Also, the way that I surmise that his kind of love is so misunderstood in his century, other than the fact that he says that it is misunderstood, is if it was not misunderstood then there would be no need for a trial. If everyone agreed upon a certain idea, construct, or action then there would be no need for a person to have to defend themselves, in court, and everyone would just be living life as usual.
At all costs Wilde tried to portray a spiritual bond with Bosie that was free of sexual contact. It was not believable. It is interesting though that, like so many early defenders of Queerness he sought to seek the high ground, claiming for "the love that dares not speak its name" a higher pedigree than the common loves between men and women.
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