Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet, and novelist who lived from 1854 to 1900. He was one of Victorian London’s most successful playwrights and was known for his wit and social commentary. During the 1890s, Wilde wrote four comedies—Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)—and these propelled him to fame. Wilde was a notable member of the Aesthetic Movement in the arts, valuing the beauty of artistic works over their function as moral lessons. His harsh criticisms of Victorian morality—both in his life and in his work—made him a controversial figure, and he was influential in fashionable circles while also being derided as a “dandy” or overly stylish man.  

Wilde was married to a woman named Constance Lloyd, and they had two sons; however, he preferred men sexually. Wilde had an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, and their relationship led him to hire male sex workers. Lord Alfred Douglas’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry, disapproved of their relationship; he frequently threatened Wilde and warned him to stay away from his son or face exposure. Eventually, the Marquess publicly accused Wilde of sodomy, which was a crime in England at the time, and Wilde sued him for defamatory libel.