Sir Henry Maximilian ('Max') Beerbohm's "Oscar Wilde" Caricature

Although not specifically in a satirical magazine, I decided to include this caricature of Wilde by Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm because of a few things that it is doing that have not been done in other cartoons/caricatures, yet are intrinsically related to what those other cartoons and caricatures do. Firstly, there's the specific way this Wilde has been caricaturized; instead of being turned into a beanpole, as he is usually turned into, Beerbohm made Wilde rotund. Based on the way in which this figure is made to be rotund, and based on the pattern of clothes and the length (and curl) of Wilde's hair in the caricature, it's safe to say that this body change has the effect of both feminizing him and making him more exaggerated and theatrical. He limp wrists with one hand (a stereotypically gay thing to do), and holds either a scarf or a jacket in the other. What is especially of note, however, it the flower on Wilde's lapel. This flower appears to be a green carnation, a flower that Wilde made famous in the 1890s. In Sarah Prager's article on JSTOR Daily, "Four Flowering Plants That Have Been Decidedly Queered," after the mention of pansies and The Pansy Craze of the early 20th century, the green carnation is mentioned. Prager states that "[t]he green carnation became a queer symbol in 1892 when Oscar Wilde instructed a handful of his friends to wear them on their lapels to the opening night of his comedy Lady Windermere’s Fan. From then on, wearing a green carnation on your lapel was a secret, subtle hint that you were a man who loved other men." This flower became even more pointedly queer than the sunflowers and lilies and lilacs from before. We have moved on from sexual self-analysis by looking at the beauty of sunflowers and lilies, and we have moved past the innocence of the lilacs: we have moved on to seeking others to join us in our sexual journey. The green carnation symbolizes, then, this movement outwards as a queer person into the world. 

Even though The Pansy Craze occurs after Wilde's passing, it's hard to not relate him and his personality to who would be called a "pansy." Common terms for flamboyant gay men were "daisy," "buttercup," "pansy," and "horticultural lad" as a whole. The lattermost seems to fit Wilde to a T; he sure loves his flowers. We can look at Wilde, then, as a predecessor to the "pansy": a flamboyant gay man who uses flowers to express himself, understand the world, and understand his desires and seek those out in the real world, not just in imagination.

Sources:

Beerbohm, Sir Henry Maximilian ('Max'). "Oscar Wilde." 1894, https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw43531/Oscar-Wilde.

Prager, Sarah. "Four Flowering Plants That Have Been Decidedly Queered (The queer history of the pansy and other flowers)." JSTOR Daily, 29 Jan. 2020, https://daily.jstor.org/four-flowering-plants-decidedly-queered/.

Associated Place(s)

Event date:

circa. 1894