Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and critic who became one of the leading figures of the English aesthetic movement. Educated at Trinity College Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford, he argued that art should be valued for its beauty rather than for moral or utilitarian purposes, a position set out in his preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). His comedies, including Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), used wit and paradox to satirize Victorian social conventions. His conviction for gross indecency in 1895 led to two years of hard labour, and he died in Paris in 1900.