As an author and playwright, Oscar Wilde appeals to his contemporaries through The Portrait of Mr. W. H. It is a narrative directed by questions of art theory, ethics, and the personal. In other words, Wilde writes about the artist's relationship to art, but he does so through a strictly narrative lens. Cyril is the obvious closest stand-in for Wilde himself, being an effeminate young man interested in theater and eager to establish his credibility as an artist and a critic.
George Erskine is in a pub with his friend, the anonymous narrator, when the story opens. The raise various questions which culminate in the ethics of forgery. The discussion becomes so engaging that the narrator promises to introduce Erskine to his friend Cyril Graham -- his best argument of the efficacy of forgery on occasion. Over the course of their relationship Cyril and George become helplessly wrapped up in their desire to persuade the other to change their mind. Eventually, maddened by others lack of faith in him, Cyril commits suicide. Shortly afterward George writes the narrator and says he will do the same. By the time the narrator arrives at George's hotel in Cannes, it is already done.
The question of the efficacy of forgery which opens and frames the story is of little actual significance to the story. For Cyril, George, and the narrator, their relationships to art -- its meaningfulness perceived or otherwise -- take center stage. It's a painful dialogue from start to finish. They are each wrestling with an internal dialogue which questions their own ability to appreciate, engage with, and create art. The book is comprised of a series of conversations about credibility and the nature of art itself, reflecting closely upon Wilde's own insecurities and his ability to present himself vulnerably to his audience.
