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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Oscar Wilde feel about how the French interpreted aestheticism?

2. What is the name of the scholarship Oscar Wilde won to Oxford?

3. What does Ellman give as a possible reason for Wilde's dislike for sports?

4. What is Robert Harborough Sherard's first impression of Oscar Wilde?

5. How does Oscar Wilde's wife handle the news of Wilde's homosexuality?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Wilde's experience in Paris?

2. What themes does Oscar Wilde write about in his journalism?

3. Why was Oscar Wilde's first play never produced?

4. Describe Oscar Wilde's financial situation while he was courting Constance Lloyd.

5. Why was Oscar Wilde's personality so well-suited to be parodied in the theatre?

6. Where does Oscar Wilde move after graduating from Oxford?

7. What were Oscar Wilde's greatest challenges in his first year at Oxford?

8. Where does Oscar Wilde live after returning to Europe from America?

9. With whom does Oscar Wilde visit Rome in 1875?

10. Which intellectuals became important to Oscar Wilde while he was at Oxford? What were their ideas?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What were the social conditions surrounding homosexuality in Oscar Wilde's times? What did his fellow students feel about homosexuality? What did the school authorities feel? What did society feel? Were there different groups among whom homosexuality was more acceptable?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Oscar Wilde's career as a playwright. What kind of plays did he write? What are his plays' themes? Choose three of his plays and describe what they tell us about Wilde's development as a playwright. How do his style and themes change over time?

Essay Topic 3

Oscar Wilde's mother urged him to marry a woman with money. Who else made suggestions as to whom Wilde should marry? Was there ever a time when he considered not marrying? Was Wilde's homosexuality an impediment to his marriage? How did he reconcile his homosexuality and his marriage? How did his wife? What trials or difficulties did Wilde's homosexuality present to Wilde and Constance as their marriage changed over time?

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