GENDER-RESISTANCE AND PUNISHMENT IN OSCAR WILDE’S LITERARY WORKS

Abstract

Gender-resistance is a vital part of the whole equal rights movements. Oscar Wilde, who was a celebrity author of his period, was against the sexual norms of his period. He wrote several literary works varying from non-fiction essays to short stories. Even though he did not know it, he talked about gender fluidity and how unawareness of it led to its constraint by the society. In this thesis, the main intention is to show the relationship between gender-resistance and Wilde’s characters and to see if the characters are punished if they try to stand against the norms. Theories included to help us to analyze will be Judith Butler’s Queer Theory which is mainly about gender fluidity and the negative aspects of the heterosexual matrix, proving that all genders are man-made and they are social constructions, and Foucault’s theory of resistance and power relationship and the discourse which leads the society since the day each person is born shaping it with its rules. The thesis is intended to conclude with a statement regarding Oscar Wilde’s works and his life in relation to the literary works he wrote. Therefore, there will be at least one sample from each of the styles he writes. The sample works that will be examined to see the punishments of the gender-resistant characters are The Picture of Dorian Gray, “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime”, “The Portrait of M.R. W.H.”, and the Importance of Being Ernest.