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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and famous poet. After writing in different forms throughout  the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s .His writings, such as Dorian Gray with homoerotic , brought much controversy for him.

In 1891 Wilde met English poet - Lord Alfred Douglas, son of John Douglas, Marquess the 9th of Queensberry. It was the beginning of a confuse relationship that would cause many problems for Wilde and eventually lead to his downfall. Lord Douglas and Wilde felt in love, one in each other.
Alfred had a stormy relationship with his father. He disapproved of his son's lifestyle and when he had found about his openly living with Wilde, he started to defame Wilde.

Wilde has filed a libel suit against Lord Alfred's father. After a long trial, the court passed the blame on Wilde, because he had inappropriate relationship – a homosexual relationship (which was illegal at that time).

Wilde was sent to prison. In jail, he continued to write many other songs and love letters which were intended to his ex lover – Lord Douglas.
In one of his songs, who called "two loves", Wilde described his homosexual relationship with Lord Douglas as "… the love that dare not speak its name…" (After a lot of years, this quote becomes an icon to the homosexual relationships all over the world).

After his release from prison, Wilde disappeared from public awareness and spent the rest of his life under the fictitious name 'Sebastian Melmoth'.

Wilde died of meningitis on November 30th 1900 in Paris.

Today he is remembered for his statements, his novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', his plays, and the cause of his custody.

Wilde Wilde's revolution is that he announced he was gay, when it was not the norm. In addition, there was a law against homosexuality. This was also considered an act against God and religion which was significant during that period, since the church considered gays as sinners. When he went to jail, he declared that even though he knew what the consequences for being gay were, he wanted to be someone who did not live in fear.

The world today is different because of Oscar Wilde's life story and others like it. We can say that the society after Wilde has changed in many ways. Over time, the society began accepting gay relationships. People began to come out of the closet and admit their sexual orientation. Being gay became (almost) norm.

 

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