5 thoughts on “The Portrait of Mr. W.H., by Oscar Wilde

  1. Not sure what this is?! Absolutely fantastic is what it is! This is one of those things that made me certain that I’m more committed to Wilde than to any other author within a hundred years of him (although that may be, as my statements about authors often are, merely youthful exaggeration: there are a lot of authors within a hundred years of him).

  2. Wilde also wrote an expanded version of this story, the manuscript of which mysteriously disappeared, but was then published posthumously. The notion that “Hewes” in Sonnet 20 might refer to the proper name “Hughes” and might be related to the “Mr. W. H.” of the dedication to “The Sonnets” was first suggested by Malone in 1780. There is nothing to substantiate these suggestions and the context of “The Sonnets” would argue against such an interpretation. Nevertheless, Wilde’s story is great fun to read. — Carl

  3. I wonder why "Shakespear in Love" movie won the Oscar for best ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY if it is obviously a mid-plagium from Oscar Wilde's visions, only adapted to the small minds of Hollywood people.
    Don't get me wrong, "Shakespear in love" is actually one of my favourite movies, but after i read this book it was too obvious to keep my mouth shut.

  4. I just read this–what a fantastic story! Wilde is truly remarkable. I have to say I'm not as knowledgeable about the debate surrounding the sonnets as I am about other Shakespeare issues, but this is a lovely theory–even if there's nothing to back it up. 🙂

    (I have to say, Joana, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how Stoppard plagiarized Wilde's story to create "Shakespeare in Love"? They are both inventions of particular people that (fictionally) influenced Shakespeare, but Gwyneth Paltrow's character & Wilde's Willie Hughes are not the same by any means.)

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