Showing results by author "Oscar Wilde" in All Categories

The Picture of Dorian Gray centers on the character of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is the muse for a talented painter. Dorian wishes for a painting of himself to take on the effects of aging instead of him so he can give into any vice he wants - and his wish comes true. The novel follows Dorian Gray’s life of giving into every temptation and moral malfeasance that come his way, ranging from smaller vices like vanity and dishonesty all the way to debauchery and murder.

An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedy by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honor. The action is set in London, and takes place over the course of 24 hours.

Meet the Otis family: Mister and Missus, and their four children - Washington; the twins called Stars and Stripes; and their daughter, Virginia. They've just moved from America and into the English country manor of Canterville Chase. Though rumors persist that the house is haunted, the Otis' have none of it, and set about making the house their own. Then come the mysterious clanking chains and the bloodstains on the floor, and soon even the Otis family must come face to face with that most feared of creatures - The Canterville Ghost. But will the Ghost be able to survive his encounters with the erstwhile Americans?

Colin Baker (Doctor Who) stars in this delightful adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic tale of the ghost who has lost his knack at haunting. When a modern American family moves into an old English manor with a sinister history, they ignore the warnings and hauntings by the house's fearful, cantankerous, spectral inhabitant... Horror and hilarity will ensure in this timeless, family-friendly entertainment - featuring a full cast, sound effects, and an original musical score.

This is a story from the Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories collection.

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on the 16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. The son of Dublin intellectuals, Oscar proved himself an outstanding classicist at Trinity College and then at Oxford. Wilde then moved to London and its fashionable cultural and social circles. With his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation, Wilde became one of the most well-known personalities of his day.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a play written by the renowned playwright and author, Oscar Wilde. It premiered in London on Valentines Day, 1895, and was an instant success. With The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde accomplished what he'd set out to do, which was to make light of the humorous behavior of British high society.

Here are legendary director, producer, screenwriter, author, and actor Orson Welles' historic interpretations of excerpts from classic literature. Includes selections from Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince', H.G. Wells' "The Red Room", Saki's "Shredni Vashtar", Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer", Rudyard Kipling's "Riki-Tikii-Tavi", Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Wakefield", Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart", and Robert Louis Stevenson's "Letter to the Reverend Dr. Hyde".

High above the city, on a tall column, stands the statue of the Happy Prince. He is gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he has two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glows on his sword hilt. He is very much admired by the town officials, yet a lot of poor people suffer here.

In a late 19th century London studio, aspiring artist Basil Hallward puts the finishing touches on a portrait of his handsome young friend Dorian Gray. Dorian looks at the painting and wishes that the portrait might grow old while he remains forever young.

Oscar Wilde's Salome was originally published in French in 1891 and translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas. This one-act play, a sinister tale of a woman scorned and her vengeance, has become a landmark of Decadent literature. The play tells the biblical story of Salome, stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who, to her stepfather's dismay but to the delight of her mother Herodias, requests the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for dancing the dance of the seven veils.

"The Ballad of Reading Gaol" is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile, either in Berneval or Dieppe, France, after his release from Reading Gaol on or about the 19th of May 1897. During his imprisonment, a hanging took place. This had a profound effect on Wilde, inspiring the famous line "we all are guilty of killing the thing we love."

This is a story from the Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories collection.

Sir Robert Chiltern seems to have the perfect life: he's a successful, well-paid government minister and he has a loving wife. But when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed, all of this is threatened.

Oscar Wilde’s classic story of a young man who sells his soul in exchange for eternal beauty and youth continues to thrill generations of readers. Written by a man who was every bit as flamboyant and unconventional as its hero, The Picture of Dorian Gray is as haunting today as when it first shocked the British public in 1891. Dorian Gray, young, intelligent, sophisticated, gazes on his freshly painted portrait.

In the wealthy and vain hedonist Dorian Gray, London painter Basil Hallward has found his muse. Only when the portrait of Dorian begins to age, while the man himself remains untouched by time, do they realize they may have made a deal with the devil. Oscar Wilde’s only novel takes a witty, philosophical, and harrowing look at our obsession with youth and the price we pay for it.

If you are a fan of literature in general and enjoy novels that have become classics of their time, then you may have stumbled upon the works of Oscar Wilde from time to time. Here, in the Oscar Wilde Collection, you can own three of his greatest works: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Canterville Ghost.

If only I could remain young while the picture grows old. For that I’d give anything.... When Dorian Gray, a handsome young man about town, makes this wish, he can hardly guess that it will mark the beginning of a life of hedonism and debauchery. Soon enough his webs of deception and deceit catch innocent victims, some of them his closest friends, and the only evidence of his misdeeds is a long-forgotten portrait in his attic.

The most personal of Oscar Wilde's works, The Picture of Dorian Grey was also one of the earliest. It was published in 1891 and caused immediate controversy and great notoriety for its writer. The story of an immensely beautiful and hedonistic boy whose conscience becomes separate from his body and housed in a portrait which slowly and hideously ages and decays in keeping with his increasing depravity whilst the boy himself remains untouched plays with all of Oscar Wilde's theories of art and life.

When the Giant's away, the children will play. That's what happens in Oscar Wilde's classic tale The Selfish Giant. Kids of all ages will love listening to this lively performance and will unwittingly learn an important lesson about selfishness and overcoming adversity.