The Portrait Of Mr. W. H.

The Portrait of Mr. W. H. is a novella written by Oscar Wilde, first published in 1889. The story revolves around the mystery of the identity of Mr. W. H., the person to whom Shakespeare's Sonnets were dedicated. The protagonist of the novella, a young man named Cyril Graham, becomes obsessed with the idea that Mr. W. H. was a young actor named Willie Hughes, who died at a young age. Graham believes that Hughes was the inspiration for the ""fair youth"" in Shakespeare's sonnets, and that the dedication was a code to protect his identity.The novella is structured as a series of letters and essays, including a fictional letter from Shakespeare to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in which he explains the true identity of Mr. W. H. Wilde uses the story to explore themes of art, beauty, and the nature of love. The novella also includes a critique of the Victorian era's obsession with morality and sexual propriety.The Portrait of Mr. W. H. is considered one of Wilde's most enigmatic and challenging works. It has been the subject of much scholarly debate and interpretation, with some critics seeing it as a coded confession of Wilde's own homosexuality, and others viewing it as a satire on the literary establishment. Despite its complexity, the novella is widely admired for its lyrical prose and its exploration of timeless themes.I collected all the passages that seemed to me to corroborate this view, and they produced a strong impression on me, and showed me how complete Cyril Graham's theory really was. I also saw that it was quite easy to separate those lines in which he speaks of the Sonnets themselves from those in which he speaks of his great dramatic work.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.