摘 要

奥斯卡·王尔德一直是西方文学界的研究热点。其作品及其精神世界中所体现的矛盾性更是引起人们的广泛关注。如今国内外已有一些以其作品为研究方向的学术成果。例如，从其作品中的宗教原型入手分析王尔德的宗教观以及唯美主义审美观；一些研究学者试图从死亡主题的文学角度透析王尔德的内心世界；另外一些深入挖掘王尔德对艺术之美的执着追求。然而，很少有人从其同性恋身份的角度去探讨王尔德的作品。在为数不多的从同性恋角度入手的分析里，大多得出同性恋取向损害了王尔德的创作才华的结论。笔者认为对其同性恋身份的偏见和片面理解不利于对王尔德的全面评价。

本文旨在探讨王尔德写作中的同性恋影响。将从四个部分来论述：一是根据弗洛伊德《性欲三论》中的相关理论分析王尔德同性恋的成因与发展；二是从王尔德的作品出发，分析其作品中所暗含的同性恋因素。例如，在《道林格雷的画像》一书中，颇具绘画天赋的画家巴兹尔·霍尔华德在文中展现了其显著的同性恋倾向。此外，本文也将对王尔德的其他作品如《W.H.先生的自画像》以及《快乐王子和其它故事》进行进一步分析；三是通过对王尔德作品的解读，分析同性恋因素对其创作主题选择的深刻影响；文章最后做出总结，得出王尔德的同性恋情结有助于其创作获得成功这一结论。

关键词：奥斯卡·王尔德；同性恋；死亡；宽恕

Abstract

Researches on Oscar Wilde have always been hotpots in the circles of Western literature. In particular, the contradiction of his spiritual world conveyed in his works has drawn much attention. There are some major research orientations on his works. For instance, the analysis of the religious archetype of the characters in the novels reveals the profound implications of aestheticism and Oscar Wilde’s religious conception. Some scholars try to reach out for his inner emotion from the perspective of death. Besides, some dig into his sustained pursuit of the beauty of art. However, few researches delve into Oscar Wilde’s works from the standpoint of homosexuality. Even though some scholars try to explore the direction, the negative influence of homosexuality on Oscar Wilde makes up most of the page. In my view, prejudice and biased interpretation do no good to the overall study of Oscar Wilde. Homosexuality is one of the essential ingredients for his creation.

This paper is dedicated to discuss about the influence of homosexuality on Oscar Wilde’s writing. It is composed of four parts. The first part is mainly about Oscar Wilde’s growing environment that probably contributes to homosexuality according to Freud’s concept in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality; the second part will demonstrate and analyze some of his works that imply homosexuality. For example, the homosexual tendency of the talented painter Basil Hallward was manifested in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Besides, The Portrait of Mr. W. H.and The Happy Prince and Other Tales will also be given further analysis; in the third part, the influence of homosexuality on Wilde’s writing themes shall be presented; at the end of the paper, the author concludes that homosexuality conduces to Wilde’s success in writing.

Key words: Oscar Wilde; homosexuality; death; forgiveness

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Subjective and Objective Factors in the Development of Wilde’s Homosexuality 3

3 Homosexuality Implied in Wilde’s Works 6

3.1 The Happy Prince and Other Tales—A Vague Description of Homosexuality 6

3.2 The Portrait of Mr. W. H.—A Tentative Statement about Homosexuality 9

3.3 The Picture of Dorian Gray—A Direct Expression of Homosexuality 11

4 The Influence of Homosexuality on the Writing Themes 14

5 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgments 18

The Influence of Homosexuality on

Oscar Wilde’s Writing

1 Introduction

The Victorian era is often thought of as a time when society and its rules were rigid and strict. The whole British society was rigidly adhered to traditions. At that time, there was strict restraint of individual’s basic desire. Males were cultivated to be gentlemen and females were merely taught to take care of family. Homosexuality was seen as a sin and a crime.

On 16 October 1854, Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin, the second of three children born to Sir William Wilde and Jane Wilde. Oscar Wilde inherited his parents’ talent and intelligence. He showed an intense interest in literature ever since he was a child. He attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh at the age of ten when extraordinary talent for literature was shown. Wilde read classics at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1871 to 1874 and was tutored by J. P. Mahaffy who inspired his interest in Greek literature. Wilde called Mahaffy "my first and best teacher"^[1]and "the scholar who showed me how to love Greek things".^[2] After the education at Trinity College, he was admitted into Magdalen College, Oxford with a demyship. During this period, his literary talent was gradually revealed.

As the release of Poems in 1881, his writing career got started. The publication of The Happy Prince and Other Stories in 1888 fired the first shot to march into the literary world. He displayed his brilliant talent in the British literary world by House of Pomegranates published in 1891. In the same year, The Picture of Dorian Gray experienced different evaluations since coming out. He was not confirmed as a first-class writer until Lady Windermere's Fan was published in 1892. In the next three years, A Woman of No Importance, Salome, The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband came out. It is the four comedies that fulfill his success in achieving the apex of his writing career. However, honor is always accompanied by potential risk. In 1895, Wilde was convicted of homosexuality and sentenced to two years in prison. Wilde's health suffered greatly from the harshness of prison. He was released on 18 May 1897 and died of cerebral meningitis only two years later.

Currently, there are some researches on Oscar Wilde from the view of homosexuality at home and abroad. However, it is probably because of the ideological differences that Wilde’s homosexual identity is usually regarded as a complement to analyze the contradiction by domestic scholars. Few scholars specialize in the subject of Wilde’s homosexual identity.

This paper aims to analyze the profound influence of homosexuality on Wilde’s writing. Oscar Wilde, being a homosexual writer, manifested his homosexual tendency in his works. He conveyed his ideals that the public could change their attitudes towards homosexuals, which indeed can not be achieved in Victorian age. Wilde longed for forgiveness while he ultimately failed in despair. He psychologically suffered from the contradiction that homosexuality brought to him while his writing was greatly inspired by homosexuality.

2 Subjective and Objective Factors in the Development of Wilde’s Homosexuality

Sigmund Freud described in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality that “Those for whom the sexual object is not the heterosexuality but the homosexuality, we call them perversions.”^[3] From the view of behavioral studies, Freud enumerated three types of perversions. For the first type, they are absolutely inverted; their sex objects must be the same sex, while the opposite sex can never be an object of sexual longing, but leaves them indifferent or may even nauseous. For the second type, they are bisexually inverted; their sex objects may belong to either the same or to the contrary sex. For the third type, they are occasionally inverted; under certain external conditions, the inaccessibility of normal sex objects enables them to take a person of the same sex as the sex object. Other variations concern the relations of time. The characteristics of perversions may sometimes date back to the initial period as far as his memory goes, or they may be recognized when reaching puberty. The characteristics may either last for a lifetime, or they unexpectedly vanish or represent an episode on the way to normal development. Probably it will not occur until life comes into its twilight after the person has experienced normal sexuality for a long time.

It’s unwise to define which type Wilde should be classified into since there are some cases, stated by Freud, when all transitions are abundantly met with. On 29 May 1884, Oscar Wilde married Constance Lloyd, daughter of Horace Lloyd, a wealthy Queen's Counsel. They had two sons, but marriage begun to unravel after his wife’s second pregnancy. It’s considered by some people that Wilde’s homosexual tendency should absolutely be ascribed to Douglas. In fact, this opinion is biased. Wilde’s homosexual tendency can be traced back to the early time. His childhood experience and intense infatuation for ancient Greek culture contribute greatly to homosexuality.