What I found most interesting about “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” was the references to Plato’s Symposium. It’s a collection of speeches about the nature of Eros, the god of love and desire, and a lot of it focuses on pederasty—the relationship between an older man and a young man. The older man was meant to act as a mentor for the young man and help him develop as a person, but there was also a sexual aspect to this relationship. It was fairly common practice among the elite of Ancient Greece.
In my copy of the Symposium, it mentions that when the Symposium was studied in the past, the sexual aspect of the relationship was ignored, and it was just interpreted as a mentor and mentee relationship between men. When I read the first part “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.,” I thought that the relationship between Shakespeare and Willie Hughes was meant to be seen as romantic. However, on pages 324 and 325 Wilde references the Symposium and says that the Platonic conception of love is “nothing if not spiritual” and is removed from “gross bodily appetite.” This leads me to believe that Wilde included the references to the Symposium as somewhat of a defense against critics who might interpret the relationship between Shakespeare and Willie Hughes as indecent. Wilde might be using the references to say that it’s perfectly natural for Shakespeare to admire Willie Hughes’ beauty because that’s what the Greeks did, and it’s actually one of the higher forms of affection.
Wilde even alludes to the Symposium at his trial. When questioned about the line, “the love that dare not speak its name” from one of Bosie’s poems, Wilde replied that, “There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope, and glamour of life before him.” This defense had mixed results at the trial, but it’s interesting to see the ideas of the Symposium get referenced in multiple works of Wilde’s.
The phrase “The love that dare not speak its name” fascinates me because I think that it contains so many layers. It conveys the beauty and purity of the love he describes, so true its unspoken. But it could also show the feelings of hiding or even shame that must have been felt with having a love that could not be talked about. There is mystery, secrecy, scandal, beauty, and purity simultaneously, all things the Aesthetes valued.
I really like the connection between Ancient Greek Philosophy and Wilde, particularly the similarities Wilde shared with Socrates. Though their art could not have been more different, the core of their principles seem to share some similarities, as both focus on the wholehearted pursuit of their respective crafts (art for Wilde, and knowledge for Socrates) despite what might be acceptable to society. In the end, both were destroyed because society could not accept them, and both accepted their fates much to the intense despair of all those close to them.
These are some great threads you pull out here. There are striking similarities between Wilde’s relationship to Bosie and the relationships of the ancient Greeks, especially when it comes to the power dynamics. I found this article that I thought you might like, it takes a look at that connection and expands it to include the perception of what we today would call tops and bottoms: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/08/bottoming-history-gay-bottoms/.