Arts
Oscar's Secrets & Trials
Oscar's Secrets & Trials
by Robert William Wolff
The
Secret Life of Oscar Wilde |
The
big question as I began reading Neil McKenna's book was, "Will I
finish the book knowing what has disturbed me for years about the events
leading to Oscar Wilde's imprisonment, death and loss of Wilde's artistic
gifts, or will I still feel frustrated?" Finished, I am not frustrated.
I have the same feeling I do at the opera when a character ruled by emotion
does something that is truly stupid, and then continues to dig himself
deeper as the drama continues. This shift and McKenna's adroit telling
of the story made his book worth reading. Previously unrevealed detail
that will interest gay readers is included.
Of the several books, plays, and films
on Wilde I have experienced, this book tells the most detailed story of
the great writer and wit's personal life and his driven relationships
with young men. The "boys" enjoyed by Oscar and his lover Bosie
(Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the Marquis of Queensberry) included
working-class men that the London elites of the1890s did not rank as respectable
companions for the educated Wilde and his titled Bosie. Lord Alfred's
Oxford classmates, friends, and peers were also favored. A goodly number
of "rent boys," male prostitutes and blackmailers of that day,
were likewise among their bed mates.
In McKenna's thorough examination,
the 21st century reader learns what sodomy meant to the English in the
1890s. He delivers insights on the dynamics between the Marquis of Queensberry,
Oscar Wilde, and the young Lord Douglas. McKenna writes about Bosie's
older brother, Francis Viscount Drumlanrig. Francis, unable to deny his
feelings for men to conform with his father's wishes, committed suicide.
Queensberry incorrectly believed
that our Oscar had seduced Lord Alfred to sodomy. But Bosie needed no
such help. The classic father consumed by rage, the Marquis burned to
see Wilde either safely in jail, banished from England or dead. In the
end, with help of Oscar himself, Bosie, the English courts, and friends
of Lord Rosebury (who needed to distract the public from news of his own
sodomy), Queensberry achieved all of these goals, but not before he himself
died.
The saga told in The Secret Life
of Oscar Wilde is one of twists and turns and Channel crossings worthy
of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Oscar Wilde marries
Constance Lloyd; then Oscar meets Bosie and other young men whom he beds
in various combinations. The Marquis threatens Wilde and finally hands
his card with the fatal handwritten note to the doorman at Oscar's club.
Wilde could have taken his lawyer's
advice and forgotten the matter. But, encouraged by Lord Alfred, Wilde
sues the Marquis for libel, knowing full well that Queensberry's accusation
that he is posing as a sodomite is more than true — he is not posing,
Oscar is a sodomite. Worse yet, while lying about these relations during
the first trial, Wilde was aware that there were young men, who, having
blackmailed him in the past, could testify against him.
The author unfolds a convincing case
for Wilde being attacked legally in the second and third trials partly
to protect Lord Rosebery, then the leader of the English government, from
being accused of sodomy by the same Marquis of Queensberry. The fascinating
story of the happenings and emotional currents among the people involved
between this point and Oscar's death at age 46 is the reason to read this
enlightening book.
As I read, I became aware of the alcoholic
fog that Wilde and Bosie maintained and the impact that could have had
on the judgment of each man. Bosie and The Marquis were both overwhelmed
with anger. The Marquis' wife (Lord Alfred's mother) was not on friendly
terms with him.
Wilde falls into the trap unwittingly
woven in part by his legally inexperienced lover. It is still not completely
clear why Oscar Wilde did not realize that the trial in which he was about
to be engaged would reveal his sexual adventures with men, in a time when
it was strictly against English law. He could have been too focused on
not hurting Bosie, who wanted his father to lose in court. Certainly Wilde
considered himself in a social and artistic world where he was "above"
the common people of the London streets. Perhaps all of these factors
came together to cloud his reasoning. As we know from previous descriptions
of the trials, Wilde spent his time in court being witty, when wit could
not help him.
It was not until he was on his
way to prison that he began to fully grasp the hell into which he had
fallen. In prison, he wrote De Profundis, for the first time putting to
paper his angry feelings toward Bosie, whom he blamed for getting him
into this life-threatening mess. He swore that he would not become entangled
with Bosie after his release, and for a time he and Bosie stayed apart.
In Lord Alfred's absence, Robbie
Roberts, reportedly Oscar's first male lover, took care of details of
Oscar's life with which Wilde was unable to cope. But Oscar and Bosie
were soon together again. Wilde went back to drinking great amounts and
not eating much most of the time. At other times, having sufficient money,
he ate like a king. During this period Wilde also fed his ravenous appetite
for relationships with young men. His last written words expressed the
joy of men loving men.
Robert William Wolff lives in Randolph, and designs scenery and lighting
for theatre in Vermont. He is also a potter.