“Ordinary cruelty is simply stupidity.”
This metaphor which seeks to find idiocy in the act of violence is to be found in a work titled “Some Cruelties of Prison Life.” Although the first thought might be that it was stimulated by an incident taking place during Wilde’s own imprisonment, the action which was its genesis was that of kindness by a prison official: giving cookies to hungry children. For this demonstration of humanity, the warder of Reading Prison was dismissed by the board of commissioners. It is that governing body—the Prison Board—which draws the wrath of Wilde in its status as the personification of everything which he hated most: systemic authority operating under the conditions of unimaginative bureaucratic officiousness.
“The sign of a Philistine age is the cry of immorality against art”
Because this is so true and can be pointed to with regularity throughout history, it is difficult to determine whether it should be considered metaphorical or literal. Wilde’s “Lecture to Art Students” is peppered with metaphorism (the metaphorical aphorism at which Wilde excelled) but of them all, this one is the most brutally undeniable.
Despotism
In his discourse upon nature of the soul as it relates to political ideology (“The Soul of Man Under Socialism”), Wilde moves incessantly and insistently toward illuminating a fundamental truth that most would rather not accept for a variety of reasons. The truth is no matter the structure of the power in any ideological organizing principle, it always comes down to people. And giving people authority should be avoided at all costs:
“There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the body. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul and body alike. The first is called the Prince. The second is called the Pope. The third is called the People.”
Funny Guy
Were Wilde alive today, he would likely be an entertainer rather than merely a writer. In the not too distant past, he could have made quite a good living being a raconteur whose sole job is appearing on talk shows and delivering witticisms. The 1980’s would have easily seem him standing in front of a brick wall at the forefront of the observational humor which characterized the revolution in stand-up comedy:
“Hat racks are, I suppose, necessary. I have never seen a really nice hat rack; the ordinary one is more like some horrible instrument of torture than anything useful or graceful, and it is perhaps the ugliest thing in the house.”
“Impressions of America”
An essay written about Wilde’s visit to America is informative: he is unimpressed by Niagara Falls, people dress for comfort, the West is beautiful but a pain to reach, San Francisco’s Chinatown captured his imagination more than any other spot and earth and that overall it is the noisiest place on the planet. Oh, and one other thing stood out enough to capture his flair for metaphor:
“American girls are pretty and charming—little oases of pretty unreasonableness in a vast desert of practical common-sense.”
