OSCAR WILDE: LITERATURE AND THE EXPRESSION OF SEXUALITY

The publications and public profile of Oscar Wilde demonstrate the extent to which celebrity protected, or did not protect a person’s sexual and gender identity. The public trials, and the fact that Wilde appeared to be made an example of under the 1885 Criminal Amendment Act suggests that fame did not protect anyone from criminal prosecution but in fact increased the level of punishment faced, particularly for someone who had an affair with someone as significant as Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde’s experience also demonstrates the individual experience of someone charged with committing indecent acts, and gives a very public view of this, adding to the discussion of sex and sexual acts during the nineteenth century. Furthermore, Wilde’s publications contain references to sexuality which are often interpreted as addressing homosexuality during the period, the contemporary views on these texts, particularly the use of these texts during Wilde’s trial demonstrates that these affected public discussions of sexuality. The high profile of Wilde during the late nineteenth century leaves no doubt that his experience was discussed by members of the public and affected other experiences, however his works are not representative of the many which were published with reference to sexuality, nor were they were the most influential in assisting people to formulate their own identity.

Throughout the nineteenth century literature played a significant role in the expression of identity by including a variety of identities in novels and erotic texts it created a basis of knowledge from which readers were able to formulate an identity from. The nature of literature does mean that there was limited access to these texts due to the costs involved in the production of them, particularly after the radical press moved away from links with the porn industry, making it an elite commodity. In fact throughout most of the nineteenth century literature was primarily accessed by the rich, although rising literacy levels gave more people access to texts. Despite the limited access to literature, it fulfilled a variety of purposes, some literature was pornographic and gave an insight into sex lives and experiences, perhaps widening the readers sexual knowledge, Other literature acted as a guide to places were sexual liaisons could be achieved, The Sins of the Cities of the Plain, for example, was regarded as a guide to London for gay men. Other texts were more subtle in their approaches to sexuality, The Picture of Dorian Gray, contains minimal references to sexuality despite its reputation, perhaps suggesting that sexuality was not necessarily expressed through the text but through the author. Therefore, the expression of sexuality through literature was affected through outside influences as well as the texts themselves.

    The texts which most obviously demonstrated sexuality were erotic texts, while these were in many ways linked to the porn industry, the contents varied enormously, some appeared to have references to real, current events, The Sins of the Cities of the Plain has veiled references to Wilde’s affair with Douglas as well as references to ‘Modern Babylon’ acknowledging the fears of purity reformers. Other texts, such as The Bedfellows; or, Young Misses Manual  and The Adventures, Intrigues and Amours of a Lady’s Maid! seemed to be more focussed on sexual fantasy rather than sexual reality, perhaps demonstrating that pornographic literature was tailored for a particular audience. Not only was access to written pornography more limited than photographic pornography due to the expense of production and limited literacy levels. However, Lisa Sigel argues that looking at sale figures does not explain the uses of pornography, texts may have been passed around to multiple people after the first use. This is, of course is not guaranteed, in fact it is particularly unlikely as Kathleen Frederickson argues that texts such as My Secret Life were particularly lavish which suggests that it would be unlikely for these texts to be passed around to other people. It might also have not been passed on due to the limited nature of these texts as the story meant that the sexual desires and experiences were spelt out in full, meaning there was less scope for imagination suggesting that it would be increasingly unlikely that these would be passed onto many people. Texts such as The Adventures, Intrigues and Amours of a Lady’s Maid!  demonstrate specific instances of sexual encounters, such as virginal sex, which fuels a specific sexual fantasy, rather than allowing the reader to create their own fantasy. This therefore suggests that pornographic and erotic literature did not allow the readers to imagine sexuality in the same way that pornographic images did.

    Erotic literature did, however, grant the reader access to detailed sexual encounters which they may not have ordinarily experienced, such as same-sex encounters, allowing the reader to explore their own sexuality as well as fetishizing sexual acts. This allows the reader to experience sexualities other than their own, in a way which had a minimised criminal impact in comparison to other sexual offences; the Post Office Act, 1884, charged those guilty of posting obscene material with 12 months hard labour, whereas throughout later part of the nineteenth century the sentence for sodomy ranged from two to ten years with or without hard labour. This therefore enabled people to broaden their sexual knowledge and identity with minimal criminal risks, at least in comparison to criminal charges for sodomy. This purpose of erotic literature is further supported by the longevity of erotica as a genre of literature, Simon Joyce argues that the sexual revolution, believed to have taken place in the nineteenth century, actually occurred in the eighteenth century. Joyce further argues that nineteenth-century pornographic literature used eighteenth-century metaphors as it became more widespread, therefore suggesting that by the late-nineteenth century pornographic literature had developed a ready audience, making the industry popular and successful. The age of pornographic literature might therefore explain the seemingly greater popularity of written pornography, as well as explaining why it was perceived as less of a threat than visual pornography.

    The success of pornographic literature does, however, mean that there were people who took advantage of the genre in order to make money, so called ‘whore biographies’, memoirs supposedly written by a woman who had many sexual relations, often a prostitute, were incredibly popular. Jamie Stoops argues that the presence and content of these texts provides evidence that women were the authors, however, the fact that most texts were published under a pseudonym or even anonymously suggests that these texts were rarely written by who they claim to have been written by.  This view is further supported by Joyce’s argument that many pornographic novels followed a very similar storyline with similar sexual encounters, meaning that the bounds that these novels were limited by, for example a chain of sexual experiences without any discussion of identity, demonstrates the fact that pornographic literature was simply a gimmick which was popular rather than a means of recording social history. Joyce further argues that while the inclusion of same-sex experiences does not demonstrate an acceptance of these identities simply because they are included, it is important to acknowledge that there was an understanding and fetishization of these identities during the nineteenth century. This is a very different approach to that of other historians such as Steven Marcus, who Joyce argues, erased the existence of homosexuality during the nineteenth century due to a seeming lack of evidence and the fact that ‘Victorian fiction had no way of accommodating to itself the specialised and isolated diction of sex’. It is, therefore incredibly important to prioritise the content of nineteenth-century literature, rather than analyses of it.

    Focussing on the content of novels, with regards to sexuality, is especially important during the latter part of the nineteenth century as novels such as Carmilla and The Picture of Dorian Gray contained covert references to sexuality. Joseph Bristow argues that these references needed to be covert in order to be saleable, not because sex was unacceptable, but because the thought of unmentionable acts was more exciting to the public than obvious sex scenes. References to sex in mainstream nineteenth-century novels must be viewed carefully, to a twenty-first-century reader these references seem relatively tame, in Carmilla for example the narrator describes Carmilla as exuding ‘the ardour of a lover’ which embarrassed the narrator. Discussing same-sex attraction in this way, and describing it as ‘hateful’ and ‘over-powering’ might support the general contemporary view that homosexuality was in some way wrong and unnatural. André DeCuir supports this view as he argues that the equation of sexuality with vampirism demonstrates that homosexuality was viewed as monstrous. DeCuir is careful to point out that he does not believe that Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is criticising homosexuality but the whole submission to sexuality in general. This is not, however, the view which contemporary audiences would have perceived from texts such as Carmilla, DeCuir argues that by writing about homosexuality called Le Fanu’s sexuality into question.

    Carmilla is not the only text which affected, and was affected by, the authors sexuality, The Picture of Dorian Gray, for example, contains minor references to homosexuality which appear to have dominated scholarship discussing the text. These references are, however, decidedly minor with some of the most noticeable references to sexuality being limited to phrases such as ‘“let our friendship be a caprice”’. Although this phrase does not ostensibly denote homosexuality the readership of this novel general regard this phrase as a demonstration of Dorian Gray’s homosexuality, despite his later engagement to Sibyl Vane. Edward Halsey Foster claims that this leap is a result of the marginalisation of bisexuality throughout queer theory scholarship, an issue made most prominent by the fact that Oscar Wilde is considered to be a ‘gay icon’ despite his heterosexual marriage. Furthermore, although The Picture of Dorian Gray was published prior to Wilde’s affair with Douglas and subsequent trials for libel and sodomy in 1895, these events occurred in quick enough succession that references to sexuality with The Picture of Dorian Gray became linked to Wilde’s personal life. This therefore demonstrates that the sexuality of the author directly affects how sexuality, particularly an illegal sexuality, is perceived by the audience.

    Although the identity of the author affected how a novel was perceived, particularly with regards to sexuality, this may, in some cases, have been beneficial as it allowed the reader to explore their sexual identity in a way which was not explicitly pornographic. While in many cases the ability to identify with a character in a novel, for homosexuals at least, was limited often to same-sex ‘friends’ living together, such as Alfred Jingle and Job Trotter in The Pickwick Papers whom Holly Furneaux argues held a potentially homosexual relationship. However, this relationship, as many others, is not explicit and is nicely tidied away by Charles Dickens as he has these characters emigrate from England, suggesting that Dickens believed that while homosexuality existed, it should not exist in England. The lack of positive role models for homosexuals to identify with during the nineteenth-century is demonstrative of the discussion of identity in wider society. This discussion was rather convoluted, as Joyce argues that the contemporary view was that if homosexuality existed then pornographic material discussing it became irrelevant although the same feelings do not appear to be felt towards heterosexuality and the relevant pornographic material. It could, therefore, be suggested that the inclusion of homosexuality within novels was an act specifically designed to make the authors opinions on homosexuality known.

    There is a further argument that the discussion of identity within novels added to the public discussion of gender and sexuality during the last part of the nineteenth century as these offered a wider audience a chance to participate in the discussion, particularly those who would not have been able to access scientific texts. This therefore suggests that fiction helped normalise identities but did not label them in the same way that scientific texts did as fiction was not intentionally aiding the development of sexology. In fact, it could be argued that fiction writers actually worked against the development of sexology to prevent labels which did not wholly fit being applied to identities. DeCuir argues that novels such as Carmilla counter Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s belief that non-heteronormative relationships were simply based upon lust or hateful feelings, suggesting that literature during the 1890s began to provide a buffer against the definitions laid out by sexology. This opposition is further supported by the role of periodicals such as The Artist which circulated homosexual discourse from 1880 onwards, to which the general public would have been privy to. However, Laurel Brake claims that The Artist was not necessarily the haven for homosexuality that it appeared to be during the late 1890s as she argues that the magazine had homophobic overtones until Wilde’s trials. It might, therefore, be implied that contributors to The Artist were affected by the ideas laid out in Psychopathia Sexualis and only overcame this in solidarity with Wilde.

    This is further supported by Bristow’s argument that Wilde knew that his sexuality was of interest to sexologist during the 1890s, although this could simply be a matter of timing as throughout the nineteenth century male authors behaved in ways which seemed to fit the labels Krafft-Ebing created. John Keats, for example, was notoriously effeminate, although his poetry had a ‘masturbatory’ heterosexual posture, supporting James Narjorian’s view that effeminacy was not equated with homosexuality until 1895. Keats’ work, according to Narjorian, inspired other writers to develop a language of sexuality throughout the nineteenth century, however, poems such as The Eve of St Agnes discuss sexuality through innuendo and metaphor, in a particularly vague way meaning that if Keats was creating a new language to discuss sexuality, he was simply mimicking the language used in pornographic literature.  It might however be suggested that the ability to openly discuss sex and sexuality is partly created by wealth and connections, as well as a certain amount of success. This suggestion has a somewhat limited impact as Keats’ success was largely posthumous suggesting that there was simply a readiness within society to discuss sexuality in literature throughout the whole of the nineteenth-century.

    This does not, however, mean that wealth did not have an impact on the discussion of sexual and gender identities during the nineteenth century, wealth appears to have been a buffer which gave protection from repercussions for certain sexualities. Anne Lister’s sexuality, for example, appeared to be relatively well known within her local community and may well have been due to her wealth as she was able to live unmarried, and was treated with respect by the upper classes. There is also an element of class to this protection, Lister appears to have been safe as her community was relatively small, the fact that she was not quite upper class seems almost irrelevant in this light, however Lister was also protected by the limited public discussion of sexuality, the lack of discussion meant that her sexuality was not necessarily widely discussed when she was not present. The same cannot be said for Wilde’s experience, as although he was not poor his wealth did not offer him the same protection; there are, of course, several explanations for this, firstly Wilde’s fame as a play-write created a wider community to discuss his sexuality suggesting that in order for an individual’s sexuality to be discussed there needed to be a limited community. There is, however a further element to Wilde’s criminalisation during the late nineteenth century, the public knowledge and discussion of sexuality had increased exponentially during the nineteenth century, and largely in a negative sense. Texts such as Psychopathia Sexualis portrayed non-heterosexual identities in a negative light, as well as negatively equating homosexuality with effeminacy, fuelling the public discussion of sexuality as well as giving the public outwardly apparent traits that could be used to determine a person’s sexuality.

    While a prescribed description of how a homosexual is supposed to look and act may have added to the problems Wilde faced, the class difference between Wilde and Douglas appears to have been what led to Wilde’s downfall. Not only was Douglas protected by the Marquess of Queensberry, keeping him from criminal prosecution, partly by focussing on Wilde’s part in the affair, but partly by making use of the precedent set by Lord Somerset, in which peers were protected from criminal proceedings by members of parliament. This precedent suggests that there was an imbalance, perhaps even an exploitative one, within relationships between two people of separate classes. While this can be demonstrated in many of the relationships discussed, such as Lister’s relationships, and the author of My Secret Life’s sexual encounters with those of a different class, these encounters do not seem to have the same benefits as Douglas’ affair with Wilde. While Wilde faced the maximum sentence under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act, Douglas was not charged, and able to publish items collected to Wilde for personal gain.

    There is, of course, an element of personality in all elements of relationships, an element which allows identities to be expressed, shaped and understood by others, however, the precedent set by the upper classes of protecting and masking their identities meant that identities which were not heteronormative were more likely to be restricted and punished. Arguably the expression of identity was not led by those in the upper classes alone, however, the rich were the most able to publish works and be relatively open about their identity. It does appear that this did not necessarily change the discussion of identity in the same way that public trials did, nor did this impact have the longevity of Wilde’s trials or Lister’s diaries. Therefore, while texts which supported and normalised non-heteronormative identities were important to the changing discussion of identity during the nineteenth-century, they are often overlooked in favour of those who publicly experienced and owned their identities.