Oscar Wilde 1

Perhaps no Victorian is as well known or as well read as the late and great Oscar Wilde. The world renowned satirist renowned for the plethora of witicisms he crafted over a lifetime of writing and his rebelling against against society has left Wilde a legend amongst social historians and playwrights alike. In "The Decay of Lying" Wilde presents two inept and most likely aristocratic Victorian era women discussing the state of lying in modern affairs. Wilde's use of satire to attack the elites of his own culture can be seen in the sentence "How different from the temper of the true liar, with his frank, fearless statements, his superb irresponsibility, his healthy natural disdain of proof of any kind!" (Wilde 833). Wilde presents the two characters of his play, Cyril and Vivian, as caricatures of actual Victorian blue bloods. They are, essentially, like clowns in a circus. They are meant to make people laugh at the foolish interchange of argument between the two of them. Yet, towards the end, something more is revealed about the "lying" which the play is about. I believe it is Wilde's intention not to condemn lying, but rather to embrace one of its forms. There is a possibility, or so I believe, that this poem was influenced by an essay by Samuel L. Clemens entitled: "On the Decay of the Art of Lying." It would be possible, as there is a lengthy portion of the play that deals with the use of art and artistry in lying. Clemens's essay concerning lying espouses the idea that lying can be used for the betterment of society rather than for selfish gain or pleasure. Lying can be used to protect others or help others find happiness, even if the happiness is false. In Wilde's play the character of Vivian takes a surprising change when she delivers an impassioned argument for a rebellion against realism and about the decay of imagination. The lying I believe Wilde wants is one in which the world is more fantastic merely for the existence of lies and the imagination that these lies feed upon.