Content Warning: This section references institutionalized anti-gay prejudice.

Wilde’s essay frequently contrasts physical force with ideological authority. Which does he suggest is worse, and why?

George Bernard Shaw, an important Irish socialist and literary critic, said of the essay after it came out: “[I]t was very witty and entertaining, but had nothing whatever to do with socialism” (Belford, Barbara. Oscar Wilde. Random House, 2000). How does this critique speak to the tensions between art and politics in the broader culture, which Wilde was attempting to reconcile?

Is there a tension between Wilde’s defense of socialism and his disdain for much of the public at large? How does Wilde’s depiction of “the people” compare to that of other socialist writers?