Oscar Wilde and the influence of Greek Myth, Poetry, and Literature
Today is the birthday Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), one of the most celebrated literary figures of the late 19th century, who is best known for his wit, flamboyance, and his profound contributions to literature, particularly through works such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, and De Profundis. However, beneath the glittering surface of his aphorisms and sparkling social commentary lies a deep well of classical inspiration, particularly from Greek mythology, poetry, and literature. Wilde’s education, artistic vision, and personal philosophy were all shaped to a significant degree by the ancient world, especially by the ideals and artistic traditions of ancient Greece.
Oscar Wilde’s Classical Education and Greek Influence
Born in Dublin in 1854, Oscar Wilde received a classical education that formed the foundation of his lifelong appreciation for Greek culture. His mother, Lady Jane Wilde, was a prominent writer and nationalist who fostered an intellectually stimulating household, while his father, Sir William Wilde, was an accomplished surgeon and antiquarian. Wilde’s education continued at Trinity College, Dublin, where he excelled in classical studies, winning the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek, the university’s highest academic honor.
Oscar Wilde’s exceptional talent for classical languages earned him a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied from 1874 to 1878. At Oxford, Wilde came under the tutelage of several distinguished classicists, including John Ruskin and Walter Pater, who introduced him to the ideals of Aestheticism. It was here that Wilde was first exposed to the aesthetic theories that would shape his worldview, particularly the idea of “art for art’s sake,” which found fertile ground in the beauty-obsessed cultures of ancient Greece.
Greek literature was central to Oscar Wilde’s Oxford curriculum, and his studies of authors like Homer, Sophocles, and Plato influenced his later works. He developed a particular admiration for the elegance of Greek poetry, the moral complexities of Greek tragedies, and the philosophical depth of Platonic dialogues. These texts resonated deeply with Wilde, who saw in them an artistic vision that celebrated beauty, tragedy, and the complexities of human nature.
Hellenism and Aestheticism
Oscar Wilde’s embrace of Aestheticism, a movement that emphasized the pursuit of beauty and art above moral or social concerns, was profoundly influenced by the classical ideals of ancient Greece. The Hellenic worldview, especially as articulated by the ancient Athenians, valued beauty and perfection in both physical form and intellectual expression. This celebration of beauty for its own sake, often called Hellenism, permeated Wilde’s artistic philosophy.
In Wilde’s view, the Greeks epitomized the highest artistic and philosophical achievements of humankind. In an 1877 lecture titled The English Renaissance of Art, Wilde spoke admiringly of the ancient Greeks, emphasizing their profound respect for art and beauty as essential to a meaningful life. He highlighted the Greek emphasis on form, symmetry, and proportion in both sculpture and poetry, noting how these values transcended mere ornamentation and penetrated the very fabric of Greek thought and society.
This aesthetic Hellenism was a fundamental part of Wilde’s literary vision. His works frequently echo the Greek reverence for beauty and the tragic heroism that often accompanies it. Wilde’s famous maxim, “All art is quite useless,” encapsulates the Greek ideal that art exists not for practical purposes but for its intrinsic beauty and the joy it brings to both creator and observer. Like the Greek poets and sculptors who crafted their works for the sheer pleasure of artistic expression, Wilde believed that beauty was its own justification.
Greek Mythology in Oscar Wilde’s Works
Greek mythology provided Oscar Wilde with a rich source of inspiration, shaping not only the themes of his works but also his understanding of character and morality. Ancient myths were not simply stories for Wilde; they were profound allegories that conveyed universal truths about human nature, desire, and fate.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Perhaps the most famous example of Greek influence on Wilde’s writing is his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The story of Dorian Gray—a young man who remains outwardly youthful and beautiful while a portrait of him ages and decays—echoes the themes of ancient Greek mythology, particularly the story of Narcissus. In Greek myth, Narcissus is a beautiful youth who falls in love with his own reflection, ultimately leading to his destruction. Similarly, Dorian Gray becomes infatuated with his own beauty, and his pursuit of aesthetic perfection leads to his moral degradation and downfall.
Oscar Wilde, however, complicates the Narcissus myth in The Picture of Dorian Gray. While Narcissus is destroyed by his vanity, Dorian’s downfall is more subtle and insidious. Wilde explores the idea of moral corruption hidden beneath the surface of beauty, reflecting a darker view of aestheticism. The novel questions the Greek ideal of beauty as a source of virtue, suggesting instead that unchecked aestheticism can lead to decadence and moral decay.
Dorian Gray also invokes the myth of Faust, the scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power, a story with parallels to Greek mythological figures who suffer the consequences of their hubris. Dorian’s pact to retain his youth at the cost of his soul mirrors the tragic fates of figures like Prometheus or Icarus, who dared to defy the natural order and were punished for their arrogance.
The Picture of Dorian Gray just recently won 2 Olivier Awards for its London theater performance. Read our old blog post about The Picture of Dorian Gray theater production for more on that.
Oscar Wilde’s Plays and Greek Tragedy
Wilde’s plays, particularly Salomé (1893), also draw on themes from Greek tragedy. Although Salomé is set in the Biblical context of King Herod’s court, the structure and themes of the play are reminiscent of Greek tragedies like those of Sophocles or Euripides. Salomé, the titular character, is a tragic heroine driven by obsessive desire, much like the women of Greek tragedy—think of Medea, who is similarly consumed by passion and revenge.
The character of Salomé, with her fatal combination of beauty and destructiveness, evokes the figure of Helen of Troy, whose beauty is said to have launched a thousand ships and caused the destruction of Troy. Wilde portrays Salomé as an embodiment of fatal beauty, a motif that resonates deeply with Greek mythological traditions, where beauty is often accompanied by danger and death.
In addition, Wilde’s use of tragic irony in Salomé—where the audience is aware of the impending doom that the characters seem oblivious to—further aligns the play with Greek tragedy. The tension between fate and free will, a central theme in Greek tragedies like Oedipus Rex, also pervades Salomé. Despite their apparent agency, Wilde’s characters are trapped by their desires and doomed to suffer the consequences of their choices.
Platonic Philosophy and Wilde’s Idealism
Another major influence on Oscar Wilde’s thought was the philosophy of Plato, whose works he studied extensively during his time at Oxford. Plato’s ideas about beauty, love, and the nature of reality had a profound impact on Wilde’s own philosophical outlook, particularly his belief in the transformative power of art and the idea that true beauty is eternal and unchanging.
Wilde was particularly drawn to Plato’s concept of the “Forms,” especially the Form of Beauty, which is the perfect and unchanging ideal that all beautiful things in the physical world strive to imitate. In his essay The Critic as Artist (1891), Wilde articulates a vision of art and beauty that is deeply indebted to Platonic thought. He argues that art allows us to glimpse eternal truths, much like Plato’s Forms, and that the highest form of criticism is itself an art, as it brings us closer to an understanding of these universal ideals.
Platonic love, or the idea of love as a spiritual and intellectual connection that transcends physical desire, also played a significant role in Wilde’s personal life and his literary works. His relationships with young men, particularly his love for Lord Alfred Douglas, were informed by this Platonic ideal, though they were complicated by the social and legal constraints of Victorian England. Wilde’s exploration of love in his works often reflects this tension between the idealized, intellectual love of Plato’s philosophy and the more earthly, sensual desires that Wilde himself experienced.
Oscar Wilde’s Personal Mythmaking
In addition to drawing on Greek mythology in his works, Oscar Wilde also engaged in a kind of personal mythmaking, crafting his own public persona in the image of the classical aesthete. Like the Greek philosophers and artists he admired, Wilde viewed his life as a work of art, something to be shaped and perfected according to aesthetic principles. His flamboyant dress, witty conversation, and carefully cultivated image were all part of this personal myth, which aligned him with the Greek ideal of the kalos kagathos—the beautiful and good man.
Oscar Wilde’s life, much like a Greek tragedy, ended in downfall. His imprisonment for “gross indecency” in 1895 marked the end of his public career and the beginning of his exile and suffering. In his posthumously published work De Profundis (1905), written during his imprisonment, Wilde reflects on his tragic fate with the wisdom of a figure from Greek myth, acknowledging the role of hubris in his downfall and finding a kind of redemption in his suffering, much like the tragic heroes of ancient Greece.
Oscar Wilde’s fascination with Greek mythology, poetry, and literature was a defining feature of his artistic vision. From his early education in the classics to his later works of fiction and drama, Wilde drew on the themes, characters, and philosophical ideas of ancient Greece to inform his understanding of beauty, morality, and human nature. Whether through his reimagining of mythological figures like Narcissus and Helen of Troy, his exploration of Platonic philosophy, or his embrace of the aesthetic ideals of Hellenism, Wilde’s work remains deeply rooted in the classical tradition. In many ways, Wilde saw himself as a modern-day Greek artist, crafting works of beauty that transcended the mundane concerns of his time and spoke to the eternal truths of the human condition.
To learn more about Oscar Wilde, you might enjoy this site about his works.
