The Homosexual Image in the Wilde Trials: Trying a Man and a Model For a modern audience, Oscar Wilde represents a quintessential example of homosexuality, especially among notable historical figures. However, this audience may not realize how much influence Wilde had over popular conceptions of homosexuality; in fact, many believe that Wilde’s trial in fact represented the birth of the popular homosexual image. If critics like Alan Sinfield and David Halperin are to be believed, the Wilde trials served as the crucible for the concept of the male homosexual. As the many nineteenth-century models of male sexuality came under trial, the rhetoric of Queensberry’s defense in Wilde’s first trial was critical in the convergence of these models to …show more content…
Halperin describes inversion primarily as a “transgendered condition” (102) that is easy to identify and impossible to conceal. Inversion incorporates both gender and sexual deviance, including attraction to members of one’s own sex, and its behaviors color every aspect of one’s life. Though elements of this model appear less frequently throughout the trial, the language of the defense concerning its same-sex desire and inescapable influence bring these elements into the resulting image of homosexuality. Queensberry’s initial comment about Wilde “posing as [a] sodomite” (Holland 4) as well as the weight of evidence concerning Wilde’s “filthy and immoral practices” (Holland 252) point to the same-sex desire characteristic of an invert. Wilde’s marriage and nuclear family do not discredit the defense’s use of inversion to describe him, as “inverts may have…sex with women” (Halperin 102) without losing this identity. The ever-present nature of inversion is incorporated by the defense’s repeated insistence that the immorality surrounding Wilde’s works reflects his own sins. Just as the invert cannot separate himself from his identity as an invert, Carson insists “that anyone who was connected with or who would allow himself …show more content…
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sodomy referred “originally [to] any form of sexual intercourse considered to be unnatural… [but] now chiefly: anal intercourse” (“Sodomy”). This shift in definition could easily connect to the focus on homosexual behavior and the use of the word ‘sodomy’ which came together throughout the Wilde trial. However, the defense seemed to follow Halperin’s sodomy model closely, so their specific arguments likely did not cause this modification. The defense insisted on a pederastic view of Wilde’s relationships. This view followed Halperin’s model of the dominant or active partner receiving sexual gratification and the passive recipient receiving some other reward. Though the defense rarely discussed actual sex acts, it emphasized many examples of monetary or intellectual reward for Wilde’s ‘boys’ in a pederastic context, such as an “intellectual treat” (Holland 159) or “money and presents” (Holland 164) to various young men mentioned in the indictment. Though this concept of pederasty was crucial to the defense’s case against Wilde, the inequality between partners it emphasized did not translate to the new homosexual image. Additionally, Carson presents his arguments with a focus on sodomy as a symptom of “a
In the essay, Late Victorians written by Richard Rodriguez discusses an extremely controversial topic about homosexuality in San Francisco, California during the nineteenth century. Rodriguez begins his essay with a captivating perspective about human unhappiness as he writes, “Human unhappiness is evidence of our immortality,” (Rodriguez 121). This gripping statement conveys the meaning that happiness or forever happiness is an illusion, therefore it cannot exist in the individual's life. The main idea of the essay Late Victorians draws out numerous opinions because of the historical impact of this specific era. For example, the limitations of sexuality or thoughts about sexuality for women, and homosexuals. The reoccurring theme appears to be stereotypes of
“Gross Indecency”, is a play about Oscar Wilde’s life which was written by Moises Kaufman. Kaufman wrote the play in 1997, however it was a two year process of writing. The play is a biography of Wilde’s court trials dealing with others trying to prove that he is gay.
The authors of the article “The Invention of Homosexuality and heterosexuality” defined this disease as, “Inverts, according to Victorian sexologists, expressed homosexual desire because they suffered from gender dysphoria, or the sensation of being a man trapped in a woman 's body or a woman trapped in a man 's body.” Since the ideology of the time viewed homosexuality as a disorder, physicians invented ways to cure “inverts” and make them socially acceptable as normal. For example, they used the eugenics concept to justify the elimination of homosexuals.
The topic of homosexuality has always been one approached with caution due to its taboo nature derived from its deviation from the heterosexual norm. Traditionally, and across several cultures, homosexuality has been successfully discussed through normalizing the behaviour through heterosexual representation. Gender reversal or amplification of feminine qualities of male characters have often been means by which authors are able to subtly introduce the foreign idea of homosexuality and equate it to its more formal and accepted counterpart, heterosexuality. The works of Shakespeare and Li Yu have assisted in exposing homosexual relationships while still maintaining them under the heterosexual norm, whether it be through direct or metaphorical representations.
Although history shows us that homosexuality has been present in the development of the species, the place of homosexuals in society and the perception of homosexuality changed greatly between societies and eras. Sodom and Gomorrah, ancient Greece and Rome and ...
Delany, Samuel. "Aversion/Perversion/Diversion." Longer Views: Extended Essays. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1996
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
In Sigmund Freud’s “Sexual Morality and Modern Nervousness”, contained in Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the writer presents separate roles for men and women as it relates to sexuality, even referring to a “double code of morality” (22) for the genders. In his paper the former often takes the role of the subject while the former becomes the object. In fact, women are described as the “true sexual guardians of the race” glorified, it seems, instead of truly studied. However, in one particular section of the essay, Freud turns his focus onto the female sexuality. In specific he references the various factors that, in his eyes, can influence the female sexual formation. The primary influences being that of the society, primarily the institution of marriage, and that of the family, which would include both a woman’s parents and children. After discussing these elements, Freud then
With every great story line comes a theme. William Shakespeare created an art of intertwining often unrecognizable themes within his plays. In Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, one hidden theme is the idea of homosexuality. This theme might not have even been noticed until modern Shakespeare fans discovered them. According to Alan Bray’s book, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, “the modern image of ‘the homosexual’ cannot be applied to the early modern period, when homosexual behavior was viewed in terms of the sexual act and not an individual's broader identity.” (Columbia University Press). This difference between homosexuality as a “sexual act” and an “identity” proves why, during Renaissance England, this theme in Shakespeare’s play was almost invisible. The actual merchant of Venice, Antonio, displays this homosexual identity that might only be recognizable to the modern day reader. Through a close reading of a speech given by Antonio, one can begin to understand the significance of Shakespeare’s word choice and how it plays into this idea of homosexuality.
During the 19th century, of course, homosexuality was acknowledged by heterosexuals (particularly of the upper classes) as an existing activity among the lower classes - an activity that thrived in London's own East End. Those who were thought to be homosexuals were often blackmailed. With the Labouchere Amendment in 1885, homosexuals faced a greater threat of exposure through blackmail. In fact, "the threat of exposure as a sodomite is the basis of more than half of the prosecutions throughout the eighteenth century" ("Jekyll & Hyde," par. 8). Other Victorian writers, like Oscar Wilde, faced this threat, which often damaged their reputations if the affair ever made it to a court.
When the Aesthete, Oscar Wilde, first showed up with his loving association with art it was seen by many as almost “unhealthy” and dangerous, “Wilde himself was accused of corrupting a young man (Lord Alfred Douglas), and his writings (including The Picture of Dorian Gray) were help up as evidence of his dangerous ideas” (Boilard). Some of his writings were frowned upon because they focused on subjects of sensual love, lust and cruelty. It was said that Wilde did not...
Isay began his career believing that the sexuality of a person was ultimately determined by the natural biological condition of it; therein creating space for the conceptualization that gayness is, in fact, a disease to be cured. According to Jay Prosser in Judith Butler: Queer Feminism, Freud’s ideology of sexuality was that, first and foremost it was inherently created by sensation of the body (1998). In this understanding, queer is a learned trait, deriving its basis from bodily experience. Freud was not implying that such a thing should be corrected, but it was nonetheless a projection of the bodily understanding and could therefore be tempered or manipulated. In direct opposition to this idea, Judith Butler’s interpretation reverses the roles altogether, claiming instead that the body and its sensations are shaped by the psyche (1998). This subversion is important, insomuch as it places the epicenter of sexuality foremost, in the human mind. More importantly, this placement eradicates the ability to label sexuality as a lower function of thinking, or an illness to be treated. Isay’s interpretation of gayness as a naturally occurring disposition of sexuality runs concurrently with Butler’s conceptualization of a mentally driven, non-fixable, fluid preference, which finds no room for treatment as an
Since the early 1990’s, “Queer Theory”, or queer study, has emerged and become very common in influential readings throughout literature. Many scholars apply this poststructuralist theory when criticizing works within the Renaissance period, including the works of William Shakespeare. Twelfth Night continues to be a commonly reviewed work when discussing the recurring homoerotic themes throughout Shakespeare’s works. Though Twelfth Night is often used for the discussion of homosexual interaction in Shakespeare, the conclusions drawn from these possible same-sex attractions are still divided and unclear. Regardless of this division, there is a large amount of substance that supports the unquestionably present homosexual relations in the play.
A critical analysis of Oscar Wildes only novel would yield that it is in fact a homosexual allegory of doomed, forbidden passion. The relationship between Lord Henry and Dorian, as well as Basil and Dorian is, clearly Homoerotic and must’ve shocked Victorian society.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) is a central figure in aesthetic writing. Wilde was a poet, fiction writer, essayist and editor. In the opening scenes of the movie Velvet Goldmine, Todd Haynes suggested that Wilde was one of the first pop idols. Oscar Wilde is often seen as a homosexual icon although as many men of his day he was also a husband and father. Wilde’s life ended at odds with Victorian morals that surrounded him. He died in exile.