GAY ICONS 7: TRUE FRIENDS STAB YOU IN THE FRONT!

[PeterRS]

He was a writer, a playwright, an aesthete, bon vivant, dandy and absolute master of the pithy epigram. The title of this article is one. Even better known perhaps is, "I can resist everything except temptation!" He was also gay - although not initially so. For a time, he was the toast of London and its high society matrons and their rich husbands. Eventually leaders of that society were to turn on him with a viciousness more suited to a violent criminal. He was disgraced, tried in a court of law, found guilty, imprisoned and died in exile in Paris. But his story is a great deal more complicated than these simple facts.

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde came into this world in Dublin in October 1854. After a stellar success at the universities in Dublin and Oxford, he moved to London. With his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation, Wilde quickly became one of the best-known personalities of his day, much sought after at soirées given by the great and the good. Following a brilliantly successful lecture tour of the USA and some time in Paris, he married and had two sons. By this time he had begun earning a reasonably decent income, but it was his wife Constance who had the real money, an inheritance from her grandfather whose investments provided her with a regular income. 

For four years he lived in what appeared to be a loving family relationship. He had written some poems and stories, none of which had much success. Then came his first novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” which illustrated his verbal wit and intellectual playfulness. The novel became particularly important for two reasons. First, the theatre producer George Alexander suggested that he write an entertaining and modern social comedy for the stage, This was to result is “Lady Windermere’s Fan” which became a huge success. My favourite Wilde epigram comes from the play, “What is the difference between scandal and gossip? Oh! Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”

The other result of the novel was that it all but bewitched a young Oxford undergraduate, Lord Alfred Douglas, known to his friends as Bosie. It is alleged he read the book 15 times. Douglas was determined to meet Wilde. They had a mutual school friend in Lionel Johnson who quickly arranged an introduction. The meeting took place in the Wilde home in London’s Tite Street. By all accounts it was both amusing and lengthy. Yet as they discussed the novel, Wilde was almost overcome as he gazed at Douglas with his extraordinarily good looks and mop of blond hair flopping over his eyes. 

Although Wilde at that stage was still married to Constance, he had begun to develop an interest in young men. In 1886 aged 32 he had been seduced by a 17-year old Canadian Robert Ross and they entered into an intense relationship. In some respects, he felt family life had started to constrain him both in terms of his work as a writer and as a sexual being. Ross opened up for him a whole new life, one of excitement and freedom. Having studied classics at university, he was well aware that relationships with young men had been part of and central to Greek intellectual life. That in the England of the late 19th century it also carried dangers appeared only to add to its charm. The friendship between Wilde and Ross was to last for the rest of Wilde's life. Yet it was soon Bosie with whom he became utterly infatuated.

An early photo of Wilde and Bosie

At the time of their meeting, Bosie was in fact being blackmailed over an indiscreet letter he had sent to another youth an Oxford. He needed financial help. Intrigued and excited, Wilde went to Oxford, arranged a solicitor and paid the blackmailer the requested £100 (a great deal of money in those days). Thus a sort of shared danger not only ignited their love, it developed quickly into a passion. Soon he discovered that sexually Bosie was far more experienced than he. The sense of excitement he had felt when they had first met was enhanced when Bosie introduced him to some of London’s seedy gay underworld. Wilde unquestionably felt more alive than ever.

That Wilde loved Bosie there can be no dispute. In one letter he wrote, “You are so dear, so wonderful. I think of you all day long, and miss your grace, your boyish beauty, the bright sword-play of your wit, the delicate fancy of your genius, so surprising always in its sudden swallow-flights towards north and south, towards sun and moon — and, above all, yourself.” In another, he ends with the line, "Always, and with devotion — but I have no words for how I love you.”

This new sense of freedom found its way into Wilde’s writing, Within little more than three years he had capitalised on the success of “Lady Windermere’s Fan” with three more plays – “A Woman of No Importance”, “An Ideal Husband”, and the most successful of all, “The Importance of Being Earnest”. Even if you have not seen the play or one of several films made of it, almost certainly you will have seen this short clip from the 1952 movie with the incomparable Dame Edith Evans uttering arguably Wilde's most immortal line. The formidable Lady Bracknell has just been told that her ward’s paramour was not born in a hospital or even a bed. He was found in a handbag in the lost luggage department at Worthing station.

Wilde was now earning far more money than he ever dreamed of and his fame was rising rapidly. in another of his epigrams he writes, "I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best!" Finally he was able to indulge Bosie’s most extravagant whims including spending weeks at a time at one of London’s most fashionable hotels, The Savoy. Being seen by so many in society, however, meant that gossip naturally followed. 

Another of Wilde's epigrams ends, "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies." It was to prove prophetic. Bosie's father was the Marquess (often spelled Marquis) of Queensberry, a man's man who had drawn up the Queensberry rules used in the sport of boxing. He had an intense dislike of homosexuality which bordered on an obsession. Queensberry was an arrogant, unpopular brute of a man whom no-one in the establishment liked. As an atheist, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Queen  – he called it Christian tomfoolery – and was not permitted to take his seat in parliament. 

He particularly disliked the Prime Minister, a fellow Scot, the 5th Earl of Rosebery. Rosebery was certainly bisexual if not homosexual and always surrounded himself with handsome young men. Queensberry called him a “snob queer”. For some time Rosebery’s inner circle had included Queensberry’s eldest son and heir, the Earl of Drumlanrig, as his Private Secretary. Queensberry must certainly have been aware of the strong rumours of a homosexual affair between his son and Rosebery. This may have fed into his anger towards the influence he saw Wilde exerting over his third son. He confronted Bosie and told him he must never see Wilde again. To which Bosie replied with the equivalent of “Fuck off!” Then in October 1994 just as Wilde’s last play was about to be rehearsed, tragedy struck when Drumlanrig died with a single gunshot to the head, a suspected suicide.

By now fully aware of Wilde's gay reputation, Queensberry was incensed on learning that another of his son’s relationships might have developed into a sexual one. Unable to find Wilde when trying to warn him never to see his son again, he left his name card at Wilde's club, adding "For Oscar Wilde, ponce and somdomite (sic)." 

It seems clear to us today that Wilde should just have let the matter pass. After all, few had actually seen the card. Even if Club members were to hear and whisper about it, the chance of it going further into the public domain must surely have been slim. Oscar, though, was a proud and vain man. He was not going to let this man he so despised get off scot-free. Encouraged by Bosie but very much against the advice of his lawyers, he sued Queensberry for libel. That was his biggest mistake, Not only did he lose his case, within hours Queensberry had counter-sued - and won. In court a succession of private detectives hired by Queensberry during the first trial exposed all the detail of Wilde's promiscuity with young men and boys, all with dates, times and places. The jury in the case could not come up with a verdict. At the retrial Wilde was convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years hard labour. 

For Wilde the entire series of cases had resulted in appalling ruin and bankruptcy. Rather than stand by his lover’s side during the trials, Bosie fled abroad. Yet on his return he tried hard to arrange clemency for Wilde. One of those he petitioned was even Queen Victoria. Wilde on the other hand had begun to believe that his ruin was all a result of the Roseberry family feud which had pitted Bosie against his father. Thereafter he never wanted to see him again.

But he was soon to change his mind. Each realised he missed the other. They travelled clandestinely to Naples where they hoped to find a way of living, both having been cut off from their own inheritances. Soon their love was downgraded to friendship. They continued to meet both in Naples and in Paris to which Oscar had moved. Throughout the trials it had been the ever-faithful Robert Ross who had supplied Wilde with emotional encouragement. To this was added financial assistance when he moved to Paris. It was Ross who was at his side when he died and Ross who had been made Wilde’s literary executor  

On the 50th anniversary of Wilde’s death in 1900 aged 46, an urn containing Ross’s ashes was placed into Wilde’s tomb at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Here he was in the company of such luminaries as the composers Chopin, Rossini ("Barber of Seville") and Bizet ("Carmen"), pop singer Jim Morrison of The Doors, authors Gertrude Stein and Marcel Proust, artists Seurat, Pissarro, Delacroix and Corot, and perhaps most appropriately of all, the Irish revolutionary William Lawless. Wilde may not have fomented revolution, but through his manners, his openness and his writing he came to present a complex problem for the establishment of the day. By failing to play by their rules, he ensured his own downfall. The establishment always won.

In 2012, Wilde was in the first group to be inducted into Chicago's Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and many of its personalities. In 2017 he was one of up to 60,000 thousand homosexual men given a posthumous pardon by the British government under what has become known as the Alan Turing Law.

 

[PeterRS]

Apologies for for one glaring error in the above article. In the last line of the fourth last paragraph, it should read 'Queensberry family feud'. It had nothing to do with Lord Rosebery (whose title is also mispelled)!

[thaiophilus]

There seems to be some doubt about what Queensberry actually wrote on the famous card. Everyone agrees on his misspelling, but his handwriting is terrible. Was it "To Oscar Wilde" or "For Oscar Wilde", and was it "posing as somdomite", "posing as a somdomite", or even "ponce and somdomite", an interpretation I haven't seen before?

[BjornAgain]

9 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 

 

I'm surprised that Harvey Milk doesn't get a mention.

[tm_nyc]

Thank you for a very interesting post on Oscar Wilde & a reminder of what a wonderful performance Edith Evans gave as Lady Bracknell in the 1952 movie. 

 

I will carp about just where Jack was found in the handbag:

 

JACK  [Very seriously.] Yes, Lady Bracknell. I was in a hand-bag—a somewhat large, black leather hand-bag, with handles to it—an ordinary hand-bag in fact.

 

LADY BRACKNELL In what locality did this Mr. James, or Thomas, Cardew come across this ordinary hand-bag?

JACK In the cloak-room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own.

LADY BRACKNELL The cloak-room at Victoria Station?

JACK Yes. The Brighton line.

LADY BRACKNELL The line is immaterial.

[PeterRS]

13 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

There seems to be some doubt about what Queensberry actually wrote on the famous card. Everyone agrees on his misspelling, but his handwriting is terrible. Was it "To Oscar Wilde" or "For Oscar Wilde", and was it "posing as somdomite", "posing as a somdomite", or even "ponce and somdomite", an interpretation I haven't seen before?

I fully agree there is doubt about what the writing on Queensberry's note actually says. The Club porter could not read the writing either, and it was he who testified at the trial that it was "ponce and somdomite". Yet I don't think it really matters as the words "Oscar Wilde" are obvious and the final word is either "Sondomite" or "Somdomite." I doubt if any lawyer could have argued successfully in court that either did not actually mean Sodomite. And so Wilde was probably within in his rights to sue for libel. As I believe, the act of suing a man like Queensberry was the height of stupidity. Wilde's vanity and Bosie's urging got the better of his more rational mind.

Robbie Ross and others had urged Wilde to put the matter out of his mind and flee to France for a year or so, at the end of which time it would all have blown over. By the time of his eventual return, Wilde would have been able to witness Queensberry's own slowly declining health. He died of syphillis ten months before Wilde's own death.

Following Oscar's death, Bosie went to considerable lengths to conceal the truth of the detail of his relationship with Wilde. Indeed, he spent much of his time attacking Wilde. In one court case in 1918, he was asked by the barrister Noel Pemberton Billing about Wilde.

"Noel Pemberton Billing: Do you from your own knowledge know that Oscar Wilde was a sexual and moral pervert?

"Alfred Douglas: Yes, I do, He admitted it; he never attempted to disguise it after his conviction ... whoever was there, he always began by admitting it, glorying in it.

"Noel Pemberton Billing: Do you regret having met him?

"Alfred Douglas: I do most intensely... I think he had a diabolical influence on everyone he met. I think he is the greatest force for evil that has appeared in Europe during the last 350 years ... He was the agent of the devil in every possible way. He was a man whose whole object in life was to attack and to sneer at virtue, and to undermine it in every way by every possible means, sexually and otherwise."

On another occasion he claimed they had never had anal sex, merely mutual masturbation which he stated he did not enjoy. He added he did not like sex with Wilde because he was too old. He preferred men of his own age. Yet in 1902 he marrried and had a son. When linked with Wilde in a manner which he disliked, he had no hesitation in suing the magazines. He also made his loathing of Robert Ross known, partly through more libel cases in which he attacked Ross as being homosexual. Not known before Lord Queensberry became involved with Wilde was that Ross and Bosie had jointly engaged in a sexual tryst with two underage schoolboys aged 14 and 15. Both boys confessed to their parents. Meetings were held with solicitors who made it plain to the parents that if the case went to court the boys would almost certainly be regarded as having led the older men on and therefore go to prison.

In general, it came to be realised that Alfred Douglas was a consistent liar incapable of telling the truth. For a time he edited an anti-Jewish magazine. In one article he libelled Winston Churchill for which he was sent to prison for six months. He became thoroughly disliked as a person. At his death in 1945, only two people attended his funeral.

[PeterRS]

6 hours ago, tm_nyc said:

I will carp about just where Jack was found in the handbag

Not carping at all. It was indeed Victoria station. If memory serves me better, I think I was confused because the man who found him gave him the name Worthing only because he happened at the time to have a first class ticket to Worthing in his pocket!