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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 were prison conditions like at Reading jail?

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

3. What did Oscar Wilde discover that his lover was trying to do to him?

4. How did Oscar Wilde come across at his first trial?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What happens to Oscar Wilde's allowance from his mother after he leaves prison?

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

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

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

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

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

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

After Oscar Wilde was convicted of homosexuality, his friends urged him to flee to Paris. Why did he not flee? What did he gain by remaining in England and being imprisoned? What did he lose?

Essay Topic 2

Oscar Wilde came into prominence as a friend and opponent of James McNeill Whistler. Describe how Oscar Wilde used controversy and debate and personal invective to his own purposes. What does Wilde gain from his contests, with Whistler and other critics, and then with the Marquis of Queensberry--as a person? What does he gain as a public personality?

Essay Topic 3

Oscar Wilde wrote only one novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." How is this novel different from his plays and poems? What part of his personality does he express that is not expressed elsewhere? How does his novel resemble his plays and poems? How is it different?

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