Constance: The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs. Oscar Wilde
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Wilde, Cyril (Oscar–Constance’s son) see Holland, Cyril
Wilde, Dorothy (Willie-Lily’s daughter), 326
Wilde, Emily (Sir William’s illegitimate daughter), 18
Wilde, Isola (Oscar’s sister): death in childhood, 115
Wilde, Jane Francesca (nee Elgee; Oscar’s mother; ‘Speranza’): in Dublin, 13, 15; marriage, 17; and Mary Travers scandal, 18–19;; financial difficulties, 45, 55, 63–4, 157, 249; in London, 45–6, 55; social life and entertaining, 46, 67–8;; and Oscar’s courtship of Constance, 47, 67; burns Oscar’s letter to Willie, 64; and Oscar’s marriage prospects, 65; and Constance’s wedding, 85, 87; attends Constance’s party, 128; encourages Constance’s literary ambitions, 129, 135; Constance’s devotion to, 153; friendship with Anna Kingsford, 166; moves to Oakley Street, 198; Constance helps financially, 212; Constance seeks house for, 216; recalls Constance from Worthing during illness, 249; Constance announces change of name, 273; death, 288; ‘The Bondage of Women’, 63
Wilde, Lily (nee Lees; later Teixeira de Mattos; Willie’s second wife), 249, 288, 326
Wilde, Mary (Sir William’s illegitimate daughter), 18
Wilde, Oscar: at Avondale Hotel, 1, 4; wit and personality, 4–5; visits Algeria, 9, 253; at Oxford, 21, 36–7;; influenced by Pre-Raphaelites and Aestheticism, 36–8;; leaves Oxford for London, 37–41;; relations with Florence Balcombe, 39, 79; dress and appearance, 40–1, 46, 50, 89, 95–6;; satirized, 40; Constance’s romantic interest in, 44–5;; inheritance from father, 45; meets and courts Constance, 45–8, 68–72;; North American lecture tour (1881–2), 49–51, 56, 58, 66; supposed relations with Maud Howe, 50, 65–6;; publishes first book of poems, 51–2;; relations with Violet Hunt, 51–2;; moves to Tite Street with Miles, 52–3;; and mother’s financial difficulties, 63, 157; finances, 64–7, 76–7;; relations with brother Willie, 64; in USA for production of Vera, 69–70;; lectures in Dublin, 71, 104; engagement to Constance, 72–7, 81–2;; Otho warns Constance against, 72, 78–9;; lecture tours in Britain, 78, 81, 103, in; work ethic, 78; sexual experimentation and practices, 79–80;; devotion to Constance, 80–1, 102, 123, 191; gives marmoset to Constance, 83; heavy smoking, 84; public image, 85, 89, 184, 223; acquires Tite Street house on marriage, 86; wedding, 86–8;; early married relations, 90–2, 102–4;; enjoys experiencing low life, 91, 117, 121; lectures on dress, 96, 99, 125; and renovation of 16 Tite Street, 101; gives puppy to Constance, 103, 105; children, 105–8, 114–16;; applies to be Inspector of Schools, 108; journalism, 111, 139; death of sister (Isola) in childhood, 115; declining sexual interest in Constance, 115, 119; attraction to young men, 117–20, 124, 181–2;; frustration with marriage, 117; infatuation with Marillier, 119–20;; on romantic experience, 119; physical relations with Robbie Ross, 121–3;; money problems, 124; secret homosexual life and marriage, 124; appointed editor of The Woman’s World, 125, 129, 139–40, 142, 145, 149, 177; contributes to Constance’s autograph book, 126–7;; and Constance’s entertaining, 128–9;; short stories, 130, 134; upholds ‘art for art’s sake’, 131, 137; Constance assists with writings, 135–7;; launches The Woman’s World, 139; parenting, 146–7;; supports Constance’s political activities, 155, 157; interest in hermeticism, 169; and Constance’s membership of the Golden Dawn, 174–5;; leaves Woman’s World, 177, 187; and Herbert Vivian’s portrayal of Cyril, 178–9;; writes on homosexuality, 179–80;; homosexual lovers, 180–1, 192; individualism, 184–5;; absences from home, 187, 191–2, 194–6;; extravagant social life, 187; visits Paris, 192, 195–7, 202; meets Bosie, 194–5;; dedicates book to Constance, 199–200;; fairy stories, 199–200, 316; holiday with Constance in Norfolk, 201, 204–6;; extravagant public behaviour, 202–3;; homosexual liaisons in Paris, 202; wears green carnation, 202–3;; supports Bosie in blackmail case, 203; affair and infatuation with Bosie, 204, 211, 216–17, 221–3, 249; golfing, 205–6;; Bosie joins in Norfolk, 206–7;; rents cottage at Goring-on-Thames, 209–10, 224–5;; royalties and earnings from plays, 210, 224; rudeness to Constance in public, 211; joins Constance and boys at Babbacombe, 214–15;; prefers to live in London, 215–16;; patronizes rent-boys, 217, 220, 222, 224, 247; at Babbacombe without Constance, 218–19;; Wood threatens with blackmail, 220–1;; correspondence with Constance in Italy, 221; stays in London hotels with Bosie, 222; visit to Brittany, 225–6;; deteriorating relations with Constance, 226–7;; attracted to Catholicism, 229; fails to attend Lilias Bonar’s wedding, 231; refuses to see Bosie, 232; renews marriage relations, 233–5;; theatre-going with Constance, 233; meets Bosie in Paris, 235–7;; and sons’ education, 238; Queensberry confronts in Tite Street, 239–40;; travels to Florence, 239; aware of Constance’s affair with Humphreys, 245; harassed by Queensberry, 246; stays with Constance in Worthing, 246–9;; satirized in The Green Carnation, 249–50;; Punch cartoon with Bosie, 250–1;; sues Queenberry for libel, 253, 256, 261–2;; Queensberry presents ‘somdomite’ calling card, 255; leaves for Monte Carlo with Bosie, 259–60;; visits fortune-teller, 261–2;; attends theatre with Constance before trial, 263–5;; arrested and detained, 266–9;; loses case against Queensberry, 266; popular hostility to, 267; creditors demand payment on arrest, 271; tried for indecency and sentenced, 274–5;; on bail, 275; refuses to flee to France, 275; Constance seeks divorce from, 276, 278; imprisonment, 276–8;; writes to Constance from gaol, 278; Constance visits in gaol, 280–2, 288–9, 298; declared bankrupt, 282, 287; claims on Constance’s annuity, 287, 289, 293–8;; moved to Reading gaol, 288; told of mother’s death, 288; turns against Bosie, 290; and loss of parental rights, 297; mental and physical decline in prison, 297–8;; petitions for early release, 297; release from prison, 299–301;; accepts deed of separation and annual income from Constance, 300; celebrates Victoria’s diamond jubilee with children’s party, 302; invites Constance and sons to Dieppe, 306; writes on treatment of children in prison, 307; proposed visit to Constance in Italy, 308–9;; stays with Bosie in Naples, 310; Constance stops allowance, 311; Constance sends money to, 313–15;; settles in Paris, 313–16, 322; reaction to Constance’s death, 318–19, 321; health decline, death and burial, 321–4;; income restored under Constance’s will, 321; visits Constance’s grave, 321–2;; operation on ear, 324; collected works published, 327; plays revived, 327
WORKS: Ballad of Reading Gaol (poem), 313–14;; ‘The Canterville Ghost’ (story), 130; Constance (draft play), 245; De Profundis (confessional letter), 289, 326; The Duchess of Padua (proposed play), 66; A Florentine Tragedy (play), 235; The Happy Prince and Other Tales, 134–8, 307, 316; The House of Pomegranates (fairy tales), 199–200, 202; An Ideal Husband (play), 4, 7–9, 12, 218, 235, 252–3, 323; The Importance of Being Earnest (play), 8–10, 246, 253, 263–5, 267, 323; Lady Windermere’s Fan (play; earlier A Good Woman), 8, 194, 197, 201–2, 210, 327; ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ (story), 130; Mr and Mrs Daventry (play), 323; ‘The New Helen’ (poem), 39, 112; ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ (fairy story), 316; Oscariana (epigrams; collected by Constance), 241, 244–6, 248; The Picture of Dorian Gray (story), 31, 175–6, 190–1, 194, 314; ‘The Portrait of Mr W. H.’ (story), 179–80, 254; ‘Ravenna’ (poem), 36; La Sainte Courtisane (play), 235; Salome (play), 204, 217, 223, 230, 233; Strauss opera, 326; ‘The Selfish Giant’ (story), 136–7;; Vera, or The Nihilists (play), 55–6, 66, 69–71;; The Wife’s Tragedy (unpublished sketch), 201; A Woman of No Importance (play), 205, 223
Wilde, Vyvyan (Oscar-Constance’s son) see Holland, Vyvyan
Wilde, William (Oscar’s brother; ‘Willie’): in Dublin, 15; inheritance, 45; in London, 45; journalistic career, 55, 63; irresponsibility, 63–4, 187; relations with Oscar, 64; praises decor of Tite Street house, 102; marriages in America, 193, 249; at opening of A Woman of No Importance, 223; death, 326
Wilde, Sir William (Oscar’s father): in Dublin, 13, 15; affairs and illegitimate children, 17–18;; background and career, 17; and Mary Travers scandal, 18–19;; death and will, 19, 45; daughters burned to death, 97; Constance claims appears to Oscar at seance, 235
Wi
lliams, Rosina, 144
Wilson, Dr Henry (Sir William’s illegitimate son), 18, 45
Winter, John Strange (i.e. Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard), 129
Winter, Mary (Otho’s wife) see Holland, Mary
Woman’s Herald (magazine), 162
Woman’s World, The (formerly The Lady’s World): Oscar edits, 125, 129, 139–40, 142, 145, 149, 181; Constance writes for, 140, 142, 145, 176; radical political line, 155–6;; Oscar leaves, 176, 187
women: and marriage, 8; and ‘Pre-Raphaelite’ dress, 23–4;; at Grosvenor Gallery, 30; campaigns for social equality, 62–3, 145, 150, 154–6, 161; fashion and rational dress, 97–8, 109–11;; social issues discussed in The Woman’s World, 140; elected to county councils, 154, 157–8;; London clubs, 161–3;; smoking, 164–5
Women’s Liberal Association, 148
Women’s Liberal Federation (WLF), 148, 150, 153, 156
Wood, Alfred, 217, 220, 262
Woodman, Dr William Robert, 168–70
wool: Jaeger promotes, 141
World, The (magazine), 180
Worthing: Constance occupies house in, 243–4, 246–9
Wright, Sydney, 255
Wyndham, George, 218, 223, 264
Ya, A. B., 99, 101, 131
Yeats, William Butler, 171, 175–8
Young Woman, The (magazine), 6, 27
Zangwill, Israel: The Old Maids’ Club, 163
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. ©, 2000, ed. Merlin Holland & Rupert Hart-Davis. Copyright quotations from Oscar Wilde’s letters credited to the estate of Oscar Wilde, 1862, 1985, 2000, 2011. Copyright quotations from Lady Jane Wilder’s letters © the estate of Lady Jane Wilde 1987, 1994 and 2011. Extracts from Son of Oscar Wilde © the state of Vyvyan Holland 1954.
The right of Franny Moyle to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Copyright © 2011 by Franny Moyle
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