| Oscar Wilde is a significant figure in the British literature. In addition to understanding his dramatic works, previous scholarship typically focuses on his life as a socialite, aesthete, and homosexual. This paper takes a different approach to such research and seeks to discuss Wilde's place within the Victorian intellectual tradition by comparing his essays "The Critic as Artist" and "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" with social criticisms by Matthew Arnold. Both Arnold and Wilde see culture as a tool to move British society towards perfection, yet their understanding of culture differs significantly, leading to very different interpretations of who may act as a cultural arbiter and what British society would look like under its influence. Despite this difference, however, both Arnold and Wilde contribute to the Victorian intellectual tradition by using their privileged birth, university education, and social status to access the public sphere and provide detached social criticisms to British society. Wilde's intellectual contributions, like those of Matthew Arnold, ground him firmly in the tradition of Victorian intellectuals and provide a new perspective through which one can understand this significant historical figure. |
