The Importance of Being Earnest

Abstract

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born into a prominent family in Dublin, Ireland. His unusual talents were evident at an early age, though it was also at an early age that his later proclivities were shaped as a child, his mother loved to dress him like a little girl. He went on to great success at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won a distinguished degree in classics along with the university’s poetry prize.