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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. What did Oscar Wilde do in Naples?

2. How did Oscar Wilde escape from being prosecuted for homosexuality?

3. What was Oscar Wilde's clothing like in prison?

4. What is the name of the play Oscar Wilde wrote upon leaving Reading Gaol?

5. What is the title Oscar Wilde gave to "The Duchess of Padua" when he produced it anonymously?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Lord Alfred Douglas' parents refuse to press charges against Oscar Wilde?

2. Why was Oscar Wilde's play "Salome" censored?

3. What relationships does Oscar Wilde resume after leaving prison?

4. What happens to Oscar Wilde when he goes to prison?

5. How did Lord Alfred Douglas' father feel about his son's relationship with Oscar Wilde?

6. How did the English see the crime of sodomy?

7. How is "Lady Windermere's Fan" received when it premieres in London?

8. Describe the conditions under which Oscar Wilde was writing "The Importance of Being Earnest."

9. How do Oscar Wilde's aesthetics develop during his time in Paris in 1891?

10. Why does Oscar Wilde refuse to flee from England to Paris?

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

Oscar Wilde was baptized both as a Protestant and as a Catholic. What do these religions represent to him? Why does he consider converting to Catholicism? What does he hope to gain? What does he expect to free himself from in his Protestant faith? What would conversion have meant to him and to the people around him?

Essay Topic 3

More than one of Oscar Wilde's plays was not produced on the stage. What effect do these failures have on his career? How does he compensate for failing to produce the plays? What does he learn from the experiences? Does he benefit in any way from the plays not being produced?

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