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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. Which of Oscar Wilde's friends tried to discount Wilde's importance?

2. How common was homosexuality in late-Victorian London?

3. What did Oscar Wilde write about his personal experience in prison?

4. How did Oscar Wilde describe homosexuality in court?

5. What play was Oscar Wilde writing in 1894?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Lord Alfred Douglas try to help Oscar Wilde while Wilde is in prison?

3. How is "The Picture of Dorian Gray" seen as a work about homosexuality?

4. What was the outcome of Oscar Wilde's lawsuit against his lover's father, Lord Queensberry?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oscar Wilde was not only homosexual, but openly, even flagrantly homosexual. What explains his openness? What did he gain by it? How did it hurt him personally? How did it affect his career?

Essay Topic 2

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 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?

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