English 021 Creative Reading

Weblog - Category - 1 Wilde
down to the wire ...
1 Wilde
by jhoffman

On the surface, Willie Hughes appears to be a literary theory that offers a sublimely perfect solution to a great mystery of literature, emulating in its comprehensiveness the tyrannies of authorship so detested by Roland Barthes. Yet Barthes is vindicated by Cyril Graham’s dependence upon a forgery to prove his...
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February 03, 2005, 02:43 PM
Religious allegory
1 Wilde
by jmurray

Devotion to a cause lacking basis in fact is fatal in any case. Cyril’s faith in the theory of Mr. WH is akin to that of someone completely devoted to a religion. But while religion nourishes, his obsession only drained. Cyril sought immortality through his own religion, and believed he...
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February 03, 2005, 02:25 PM
Fatal/ Fated/ Death?
1 Wilde
by began

Upon first glance, it appears preposterous to think that believing in Willie Hughes is fatal. However, Oscar Wilde, known for double (or triple) meanings and tricky dialect in nearly every sentence he writes, uses the word “fatal” to provoke his reader to delve deeper. The first thoughts that the...
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February 03, 2005, 02:06 PM
The Portrait of Mr. WH
1 Wilde
by rmccally

In Oscar Wilde’s story “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.,’ the character Erskine entreats the narrator not to take on the task of proving the existence of Willie Hughes because he "believe[s] there is something fatal about the idea...." (p. 195). Whether or not this is true is a riddle the...
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February 03, 2005, 01:51 PM
Wilde Blog
1 Wilde
by oradwan

Willie Hughes walks hand in hand with death throughout Wilde’s story, yet I do not believe that Willie Hughes is a fatal idea. Rather, I believe Willie is an aphrodisiac for the mind—he creates manic devotion to a theory (whether the afflicted believes the theory or not does not...
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February 03, 2005, 01:45 PM
1 Wilde
1 Wilde
by kmcqueen

The beauty of open ended literature allows the reader to interpret and formulate their own ideas towards the stories meaning. As with the Death of the Author, Oscar Wilde’s The Portrait of Mr. W.H., writing seems to escape the author, leaving him less authoritative and transcends power from author to...
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February 03, 2005, 12:49 PM
A Fatal Set-Up
1 Wilde
by aahearn

With his portrait besmirched by blood and his name mentioned in two suicide notes, Willie Hughes seems to be connected with fatality, as Erskine implies. Yet, only two of the three men who research him end up dead and one of these deaths stems from a natural case of...
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February 03, 2005, 09:08 AM
Cyril: the man behind, and in front of, the myth
1 Wilde
by kparker

The Willie Hughes theory proved to be fatal because of Cyril Graham. Cyril is the reason why the two men are so compelled to delve into the Sonnets to prove Willie Hughes as Shakespeare’s inspiration. It is evident that Cyril Graham created the Willie Hughes forgery in order to insert...
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February 03, 2005, 07:10 AM
People die...it's a part of Life
1 Wilde
by jsimpson

“You never believed in it yourself. If you had, you would not have committed a forgery to prove it.” In this statement to Cyril, in the mist of ironically contradicting himself, Erskine manages to prove the antithesis of the statement in question. “There is something fatal about the idea”...
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February 03, 2005, 05:06 AM
To believe In W.H. Is Fatal
1 Wilde
by sstewar2

The characters of Oscar Wilde’s “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.,” ponder about the identity of Shakespeare’s muse and whether his existence was made concrete through the makeup of Willie Hughes. As the characters became enveloped in the enthusiasm of the Willie Hughes theory, their biggest flaw took shape as they...
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February 03, 2005, 03:25 AM
Erskine is a Nutcase
1 Wilde
by bellwang

Erskine’s lugubriousness, which becomes ever more apparent as “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” progresses, makes me hesitatant to agree with any statement he “gravely” (195) proclaims. After all, he holds such ridiculous statements like, “it is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is...
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February 03, 2005, 12:35 AM
The Immortality of W.H.
1 Wilde
by acathcar

Throughout Oscar Wilde’s short story The Portrait of Mr. W.H., characters question and debate the existence of the enigmatic Willie Hughes. Yet, the mere idea of Shakespeare’s muse continues to endure and inspire. For each person introduced to him, Willie Hughes immediately becomes a “spiritual presence, an ever-dominant personality” (209)....
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February 03, 2005, 12:16 AM
The fatal method of criticism
1 Wilde
by pdecoste

Believing in Willie Hughes is fatal because of the manner that Wilde, Cyril Graham, and Erskine all conduct their criticism of Shakespeare’s sonnets. These men cannot distance Shakespeare from his sonnets and due to this fact their criticism is fixated on attempting to find, as Wilde says, “the perfect...
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February 03, 2005, 12:13 AM
It was personal.
1 Wilde
by kanders2

In the world created for us in The Portrait of Mr. W. H., there is an undeniable link between believing in Willie Hughes and death. Cyril Graham believes in Willie Hughes and kills himself in demonstration of “how firm and flawless his faith in the whole thing was” (195). Erskine,...
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February 03, 2005, 12:03 AM
The Freedom to Interpret
1 Wilde
by jsese

There is nothing fatal about establishing beliefs on an incomplete web of information; after all, that method is called interpretation. In literature, especially open literature, things are left unexplained. Despite the author’s intentions, the reader will most likely “misinterpret” the story. However, this misinterpretation is not a misinterpretation at all....
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February 02, 2005, 08:39 PM
fatal? yes? no?
1 Wilde
by lcolon

I believe the fatality of the theory of William Hughes stems from a lack of physical proof. Due to this lack, the researchers of this theory are forced to sacrifice their own physicality in search of his. Cyril and Erskine sacrifice their health and lives and, in a sense,...
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February 02, 2005, 07:56 PM
First blog assignment
1 Wilde
by mphillip

Post before class on Thursday, 2/3 "’My dear Erskine,’ I said, getting up from my seat, "you are entirely wrong about the whole matter. It is the only perfect key to Shakespeare’s Sonnets that has ever been made. It is complete in every detail. I believe in Willie Hughes." "Don’t...
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February 01, 2005, 02:35 PM