s dissatisfaction with the society of the 1880's and 90's caused him to make highly personal and melodramatic attacks on issues which he possibly have never looked close enough to understand. Because of this, he was thought of as only presenting one side of life. He presented the upper English class with clear hostility, and stressed their corruption, shallowness, snobbery, and lack of genuine moral scruples. Wilde had a colorful and scandalous social life, he dressed like a girl till the age of nine, and was even jailed for being a homosexual. He believed that people should be self-expressive vs. self-repressive, and therefore never held anything back. "What is termed sin is an essential element of progress . . . without it, the world would stagnate or grow old or become colorless" (Bloom). Wilde found criticism and self-consciousness necessary as sin. He believed that criticism plays a vital role in the creative process, and that criticism is an independent branch of literature with its own procedures. Wilde stated that: "If we are all insincere, masked, and lying, then the artist is prototype rather than exception. If all the sheep are black, then the artist cannot be blamed for not being white". Wilde believed that art should be made for the sake of art, and that art is permanent, and near immortality. "Only the artist can give to the beauty he sees a form that moves it towards its own ideal and preserves it from erosions of change" (Bryfonski).
             Oscar Wilde was one of the most prominent Irish born playwrights. He was a major player in the aesthetic movement, which was based on art for art's sake. Wilde was also a novelist, playwright, poet, and critic.
             Wilde attended Protora Royal School at Enniskillen and excelled at Classics. In 1872, he placed first in his examinations and was awarded a Foundation Scholarship. In 1874, Wilde won the college's Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek and was awarded a Demyship (scholarship)...