View a FREE sample

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 consider doing before his first trial?

2. Oscar Wilde said that men resemble which celestial body?

3. What was the subject of much of Oscar Wilde's correspondence in the period when he was writing the Ballad of Reading Gaol?

4. How did Oscar Wilde describe Christ's life?

5. What is the plot of "The Picture of Dorian Gray"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What disturbing incidents does Oscar Wilde witness before leaving prison?

5. How do conditions change for Oscar Wilde when Major Nelson takes over at Reading jail?

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

7. What happened when Oscar Wilde sued his lover's father, Lord Queensberry, for libel?

8. How do the people of Paris receive Oscar Wilde in 1891?

9. Why does it become impossible for Oscar Wilde to write after he writes "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"?

10. Were Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, faithful to each other?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Oscar Wilde's role as an art critic. What did he see as the critic's role in the art world? How did he perform that role himself? Was he consistent with his own prescription?

Essay Topic 2

At Oxford, Oscar Wilde encountered two philosophers, Ruskin and Pater. How did Ruskin's ideas influence Wilde? How did Pater's? How did Wilde reconcile the tension between the two men's philosophies with his career?

Essay Topic 3

Oscar Wilde stated that the work of art requires the destruction of previous works of art. How did he practice this theory in his own art? Can his public persona be considered the work of art that destroyed his plays and poems and his novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 747 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample