Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest "celebrities" of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Oscar also wrote such classics as PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, AN IDEAL HUSBAND, and his version of SALOME.
As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years' hard labour after being convicted of homosexual relationships, described as "gross indecency" with other men.
Wilde made a complaint of criminal libel against the Marquess of Queensberry, (bosie's father) based on the calling card incident, (he was sent a card with the writings~ for Oscar Wilde, posing sodomite, spelled incorrectly) and the Marquess was arrested but later freed on bail. The libel trial became a cause célèbre as salacious details of Wilde's private life with Alfred Taylor and Lord Alfred Douglas began to appear in the press. A team of detectives, with the help of the actor Charles Brookfield, had directed Queensberry's lawyers (led by Edward Carson QC) to the world of the Victorian underground. Here Wilde's association with blackmailers and male prostitutes, crossdressers and homosexual brothels was recorded, and various persons involved were interviewed, some being coerced to appear as witnesses.
After spending two years of hard labor in prison, Oscar was a broken man. his career, destroyed, his family and lovers disowned him. Oscar spent his last years in the Hôtel d'Alsace, now known as L'Hôtel, in Paris, where it is said he was notorious and uninhibited about enjoying the pleasures he had be denied in England.upon his deathbed, oscar's last words were, ' either this wallpaper or i have got to go."
Wilde was buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux outside Paris but was later moved to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His tomb in Père Lachaise was designed by sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, at the request of Robert Ross, who also asked for a small compartment to be made for his own ashes. Ross's ashes were transferred to the tomb in 1950.
Oscar Wilde's epitaph reads:
