Judge: “This is the most evil thing in which I took part”
Oscar Wilde: “And I?”
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If you ask the modern reader, a product of Oscar Wilde he knows he will promptly answer: “of Course, “Dorian gray””. And only a few will remember that after the death of Wilde’s poems were worth reading. His first collection called “Poems” was published in the late nineteenth century. During the year it was published more than a thousand copies.
Alfred Douglas twenty – year-old boy, with whom Wilde tied a close relationship, played a fatal role in the life of a writer. Because of their frequent meetings Wilde hasn’t been home, haven’t seen his wife and children. It was the occasion of serious concern as families, and British society, which could not close my eyes to the relationship between Wilde and Douglas.
As Alfred Douglas and his father fought a lot, Queensberry thought of Oscar Wilde guilty of disorder his relationship with his son. Once at the bar, met two friends, he left Wilde slanderous note, calling him a “sodomite”. This greatly hurt the feelings of the writer, but friends advised him to ignore this ridiculous accusation. Despite this, Alfred Douglas, despised father, wanted payback. In the end, Wilde filed a lawsuit, accusing Queensberry of libel. But it was not there: the writer has received from Queensbury retaliatory accusation of homosexuality, supported by various evidence. (Queensberry found 13 boys with whom Wilde had a relationship and have provided the court with dates and places of their meetings.) This was the beginning of the trial of a London man of letters. News of this spread instantly: the hall in which the meeting took place, was crowded.
In court, Oscar Wilde defended his honor and dignity, denying the sexual nature of the relationship. The answers of Oscar Wilde caused an explosion of laughter from the audience. He was teased by the Prosecutor, by showing lack of seriousness and the absurdity of the accusations against him. When the Prosecutor asked to clarify the meaning of the phrase “the love that carries my name”, taken from a sonnet by Douglas, Oscar Wilde gave a speech that will be remembered forever Londoners:
“The love that carries my name” is in our century the same majestic attachment of older men to younger what Jonathan had for David, what Plato laid the basis for his philosophy, which we find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It’s the same deep spiritual passion, characterized by purity and perfection. She’s intelligent, and time and again she breaks out between the older and younger men, of whom the eldest has developed intelligence, and the younger is filled with joy, anticipation and magic of life lying ahead. As it should be, but the world does not understand. The world mocks this affection, and sometimes puts her man to the pillory”.
When it came time for the jurors to announce their verdict, they are unable to do this. But the trial Wilde was convicted of “gross indecency” with men and sentenced to two years hard labor work.
By author Janya Imanbaeva
