![]() Wilde was in a sense documenting the “evolution of (his) character and intellectual attitude towards life.” (11). Wilde wanted to make certain his intentions were not seen as a defense of his behavior, but rather an explanation. In a letter to his friend Robert Ross, dated April 1, 1857, Wilde wanted Ross and others to understand why he wrote it. He was permitted to write during the day, surrendering the pages to the warden at night, and having them returned to him the next morning. Wilde spent three months crafting his personal manifesto. Wilde was transferred from Pentonville to Wandsworth before finally being sent to Reading, where he began writing De Profundis. Wilde took on full culpability writing, “I ruined myself, and nobody great or small can be ruined except by his own hand.” (32). The passion for youth and beauty that had inspired Wilde had run unchecked and had flung him into ruin. ![]() The “love that dare not speak its name” became a source of deep regret for Wilde, not because of what it was, but because of what it became. ![]() Wilde, arrested on charges of indecency, and convicted of “committing acts of gross indecency with certain male persons” was sentenced to two years hard labor. ![]() In May 1895, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde began his prison sentence. “It is tragic how few people ever ‘possess their souls’ before they die.” ![]()
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