Oscar Wilde and the allusions to queerness in "The picture of Dorian Gray"

Abstract

Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in July 1890 simultaneously in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in Philadelphia, USA, and in UK. The novel deals with topics such as mortality of beauty and youth, corruption of the soul and art, and how art imitates life, but it also contains hints and allusions to same-sex love, more particularly male homosexuality which was a part of Wilde’s life that influenced his writing. The main focus of this thesis is on the queerness of the three main characters; which was considered immoral and corruptive during Wilde’s contemporary time.