The Political Thought In The Works Of Oscar Wilde

Critics in the past have focused on the study of Oscar Wilde’s aestheticism, his wittyremarks and even his scandalous personal life, while largely neglected the more serioussocial political significance of his works. Born in post-famine Ireland, Oscar has witnessedthe misery of Irish peasants on his visits to Irish countryside with his father and hasdeveloped his sympathy with his fellow countrymen. His mother’s fervent nationalism hasalso cultivated in him a hatred toward tyranny and a love for liberty. This study builds uponthe critical discussion of Oscar Wilde’s political ideas by analyzing several of his works forevidence of his political views and by interpreting them in a political perspective. Ratherthan focusing on his most popular works, this analysis examines some of his lessfrequently studied fairy tales, poetry and essays, as well as biographical sources such asRichard Ellmann’s landmark biography, Oscar Wilde (1988). The goal of this thesis is todemonstrate that Oscar Wilde is more than an aesthete who only concerns about how thewords are said as he himself declares. Many of his works, such as his fairy tales, plays andpoetry could lend themselves to a post-colonial reading. Hopefully, the probe into OscarWilde’s political ideas will shed some new light on the interpretation of Oscar’s works andunderstanding of him as a remarkable human being.