Wilde's Trial

The novel was cited as evidence against Oscar Wilde during his 1895 trial for homosexuality. Prosecutors quoted Lord Henry's hedonistic philosophy as proof of Wilde's corrupting influence. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor in Reading Gaol and emerged broken in health.

Wilde famously declared: "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written." The trial proved his novel's central argument — that society punishes those who reveal uncomfortable truths about its values.