{"id":361,"date":"2022-03-27T13:37:32","date_gmt":"2022-03-27T17:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/?p=361"},"modified":"2022-03-27T13:39:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-27T17:39:08","slug":"gross-indecency-vs-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/2022\/03\/27\/gross-indecency-vs-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Gross Indecency vs. Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One instance of intrigue in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde<\/em> is how judges and prosecution alike equate the crime \u201cgross indecency\u201d to be worse than murder. It reminded me about our conversation last Wednesday in class when we talked about how Wilde might have \u201ccreated\u201d the death ending for queer people in media with The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/em>. But then we also emphasized how this narrative may have manifested because there is no other outcome for queer people but death when they end their bloodline and go against society\u2019s heteronormative model. Placing the act of \u201cgross indecency\u201d above murder interested me based on our conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Narrator 4 says: \u201cI would rather try the most shocking murder case that has ever fallen to my lot to try than be engaged in a case of this description\u201d (125). The judge also directs to Wilde: \u201c…the crime of which you have been convicted is so bad that one has to put a firm restraint upon oneself to prevent oneself from describing, in terms I would rather not use, the sentiments which must rise to the breast of every man of honor who has heard the details of these three terrible trials… People who can do these things are dead to all sense of shame, and one cannot hope to produce any effect upon them\u201d (126). In this closing statement by Justice Wills, who delivered Wilde\u2019s sentencing, I found more said in the transcript through the link https:\/\/www.famous-trials.com\/wilde\/335-statement<\/a>, which further aides the argument that gross indecency is elevated as a crime, viewed as worse than murder. So why exactly is \u201cgross indecency\u201d worse than murder? Wilde\u2019s \u201cinfluence\u201d and \u201ccorruption\u201d have to be a significant component of this view. Gross indecency entails a sexual deviation towards something more focused on pleasure and sensuality. Justice Wills states that Wilde \u201chas been the center of a circle of extensive corruption of the most hideous kind among young men,\u201d placing Wilde in the occupation of ringleader who yields all the influence. To deviate from the sexual norm towards something which does not have a reproductive purpose and is seen solely as an activity of pleasure is equivalent to murder: the murder of duty, of normative sexuality, of reproduction, of sex\u2019s purpose. It is a bad thing that Wilde has submitted to pleasure, according to the trial, even when pleasure elicits happiness. The trial believes that Wilde has committed several acts of murder based on the several men he has committed gross indecency with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One instance of intrigue in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is how judges and prosecution alike equate the crime \u201cgross indecency\u201d to be worse than murder. It reminded me about our conversation last Wednesday in class when we talked about how Wilde might have \u201ccreated\u201d the death ending for queer people in media with The … Continue reading Gross Indecency vs. Murder<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18025,541800,73976,525300],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-death","tag-gross-indecency","tag-murder","tag-queerness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions\/362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/oascarwilde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}