"The Ballad of Reading Gaol" is unique from
any of Wilde's other works in that it was written after his imprisonmetnt when his outlook on life had been completely changed
by tragedy. Because of the life experience and maturity Wilde had during its creation, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" was a
more complete literary work than anything Wilde has ever attempted before. It better establishes many of the themes discussed
on the previous page while dismissing others. These changes of heart and outlook are a result of whether or not they rang
true in the way Wilde was treated during and after his trials.
The story of the inmate sentenced to death told by "Reading
Gaol" is the ideal example of a man's journey into sin. The central idea of the piece (repeated several times for emphasis
and expanded on throughout) is that "Each man kills the thing he loves." That sentence itself shows the entire journey of
a man's soul, it begins with Love, the most sublime, innocent, and especially beautiful emotion man can feel and ends with
that man killing this beautiful thing because of some temptation they could not resist be it greed, lust, jealousy, or any
other motive.
Human facades are also explored in "The Ballad of Reading
Gaol" especially in Part I stanzas 11-18. In the previous stanza, Wilde establishes that although each man kills the thing
he loves, not every man dies along with his love, he then explains the punishments these men never have to suffer through.
This establishes the idea that all men are just as guilty (or more so) of murder as the inmate but because the way they killed
their love is deemed acceptable by society, they continue to live on as if they are good men when in truth they are evil and
do not even feel guilty for it.
The error of allowing society to dictate morality is
also largely addressed in "Reading Gaol" primarily in Part I stanzas 6-10. What would jump out at the reader is the speaker's
sympathy for a man condemened to death for the brutal murder of hjis wife, someone he should have loved. Upon further explanation,
however, the reader comes to understand why the speaker feels such pity for the inmate and upon observing the way Wilde's
own love was killed by Lord Alfred, it is not hard to see why he asserts the belief that the inmates crime was not really
that bad. The argument laid down in these stanzas is as follows: each man kills what he loves but those who kill it literally
do not allow their lover to live on with the torment of a broken heart. The man whose love is literally killed can be tried
and brought to justice, like the inmate, his action is repaid, it is fair. The person who kills a love by leaving their lover
for any reason be it greed or want of love from another are not doing anything illegal and live on in perfect freedom while
the person whose heart they broke has to live their entire life coping with this pain afflicted by one so dear to them.
Human relationships are also explored in this poem but Wilde's
interpretation is no longer just the light hearted assertion that human relationships do not need to conform to society. A
Wilde completely staggered by life now sees all human relationships as evil and asserts that however pure a love may have
begun it will end in a break between the two hearts, one will go on in their life probably forgetting the other whilst the
other will waste away and probably grow to resent the one they loved. The entire poem also deals with this by creating the
character of the inmate who is so ambivalent about his crime and his fate. In Parts II-V the inmates actions are described,
he is nonchalant about his doom because his love is dead and he feels no need to live. Ironically, instead of fearing his
punishment and trying to escape it like is expected he is the prisoner least upset by what is going to happen to him while
the other prisoners pity him and wish for his relief.
The theme of man's natural inclination towards evil while
being addressed heavily in Wilde's earier works and being the cornerstone of The Picture of Dorian Gray is best brought
home in a poem that stresses that every single person no matter their age, sex, race, social class, or intelligence is bound
to kill what is most dear to its heart. Whether the evil the person engages in is violent, like the inmates, greedy, lustful,
even if the love simply dies away through time or is killed with a cruel word it is evil. Wilde argues that no matter how
the crime is conducted murder is murder and to kill something as flawless as love is the worst kind of murder. Therefore,
whether you are a murderer, adultress, or simply tire of a lover, you have become as evil as a human soul can become.
Two themes discussed on the previous page are not found
in "The Ballad of Readung Gaol" and they are the famous aesthetic cornerstone of "Art for Art's Sake" and the homoeroticism
found in earlier works. The belief Wilde once cherished in both of these themes had been killed by the time he wrote "Gaol",
he was a completely different person from the dandy who delighted British society through the 1890s. Wilde no longer saw anything
as beautiful, writing "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" was--GASP!--useful to him int he sense that it allowed him to release his
recent pains through art. As for homoerotic undertones, it may seem common sense that Wilde should steer clear of the
theme that got him inprisoned but because his dirty laundry was out in the public he did not exclude homoeroticism to shy
away from controversy, he simply felt no longer that any kind of love existed, homoerotic or otherwise.
