A Wilde Connection: Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde’s Indecency Trials 

Introduction

The Victorian era was a time of intensely strict morals and an artistic overhaul, where visual artists and literary figures often pushed the boundaries of expected societal norms (shying away from the "man and woman in the home" narrative, sexuality in women, etc.) through their creative works. Two iconic figures in history, Bram Stoker and the infamously ever-charming Oscar Wilde, stand out in history for their literary contributions and the complexities of their connection to each other. While Oscar Wilde faced public shame and condemnation during his indecency trials, Stoker published Dracula, a novel teeming with anxiety, fear, and mystery around human sexuality. Examining the historical context surrounding Stoker vs. Wilde's relationship, it becomes clear that Dracula can be read as a reflection of the cultural and historical anxieties that were a reaction to Wilde’s persecution. 

Who was Oscar Wilde?

Oscar Fingal O' Flahertie Wills Wilde (b. 1854-d.1900) was an Irish-born playwright, novelist, and poet. He was best known for his sharp wit, lavish lifestyle, and imagery-heavy writing. His most iconic works include gothic classics like The Picture of Dorian Gray and the farce/satirical plays The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband. Wilde’s own unique way of writing satire/farse poked fun at Victorian society, challenging the historical norms of the era and making sure to hyperbolize the characters and their actions (especially in The Importance of Being Earnest)!

Wilde had a loving wife and children whom he adored around the time that he met Lord Alfred Douglas, (also known as “Bosie”), who was the catalyst to his downfall. He would do anything for Bosie if he asked for it. Bosie demanded a lot of Oscar, and their relationship was a whirlwind filled with passion, lots of petty fights, and an “on-off” dynamic. Both Oscar and Bosie frequented parlors in which there were male escorts in the process. Bosie’s father caught wind of their relationship (and just so happened to have been the man who invented Boxing, the Marquess of Queensbury) and threatened to cut off Bosie’s allowance if he was seen with Wilde again– which he was, many times. While the two were staying in a hotel, the Marquess publicly accused Oscar Wilde of “posing as a sodomite,” and Bosie encouraged Wilde to sue for libel. However, Wilde was found guilty of gross indecency and was sent to prison. He got awfully sick in jail and wrote his awfully depressing and heart-wrenching piece De Profundis as a last letter to Bosie. After being released from prison, he was still ill. He spent the last of his years in exile, hiding himself away whenever he could. He would occasionally see Bosie, but that quickly ended. In his final weeks, he was taken care of by one of his first lovers and--according to Michael Foldy's The Trials of Oscar Wilde: Deviance, Morality, and Late-Victorian Society-- "The three years between his release from prison in 1897 and his death in 1900 were spent living in poverty, shame, and most sadly of all perhaps, productivity" (Foldy, IX.) This was a sad ending to the man who is now seen as one of the most iconic writers of the Victorian era. His books are still taught in schools around the world, and his plays are still performed and beloved to this day. His gravestone (located in Paris) attracted so much contact and attention that they had to build a glass fence over it; even the glass is littered with kisses from fans and devotees from all over the globe!

Oscar Wilde (Left) and Bosie (Right) in 1893.

Bram Stoker's Connection to the Wilde Family

Strangely enough, Stoker and Wilde’s lives were very unexpectedly intertwined. Both were Irish and attended the same college (Trinity College Dublin!). While Stoker was a tad older, they moved within similar social circles and were acquaintances to the point of being comfortable having dinner together. Their families were even in the same social circles in Ireland. However, things were a bit tense between Wilde and Stoker later in life, all because they were vying for the attention of the same woman: Florence Balcombe. (Who later married Bram Stoker.) 
Before Stoker was in the picture (and Oscar married a wife of his own), Florence Balcombe was involved with Oscar Wilde romantically. According to an online article of Balcombe's life from the Women's Museum of Ireland: "Yet there was far more to Florence than beauty alone. Perhaps it was her reputation for being witty and talkative that appealed to Oscar. The often acerbic author Horace Wyndham described her as “a charming woman and brim full of Irish wit and impulsiveness” (Fitzsimons, 2015). Naturally, Oscar was attracted to wit, so the two had an instant connection. Yet, the attraction fizzled when Oscar went to university and they had to resort to a long-distance relationship. Of course, Stoker was first in line to claim her after Balcombe and Wilde had broken up, which hurt Oscar immensely. He had asked her to return a gold cross that he had gifted her to memorialize their love after 2 years together. (He later became friends with her.) Needless to say, Stoker and Balcombe had a very successful marriage.

The Oscar Wilde Trials & (Victorian) Moral Panic

The trials had many different offenses to acknowledge, which went into topics including the Queensbury Libel trial, and other close examinations of his literature (mainly The Chameleon and Picture of Dorian Gray and many of his romantic letters to Lord Alfred Douglas.) Wilde was deemed guilty after multiple male escorts testified against Wilde and proved that they had been wined and dined by Wilde and often times encountered Wilde for sex and romantic outings. Even after the trials, the historical event gripped the citizens of “normal” Victorian society, exposing the hypocrisy that condemned Wilde for loving men while indulging in salacious gossip against him and about his trial. The press specifically made a mockery of Wilde’s persecution and public shaming, and the initial reaction to his trial caused intense fears of deviance against the “man and woman” norm and morals and sexuality. According to a section about the trial in the press in Michael Foldy's The Trials of Oscar Wilde: Deviance, Morality, and Late-Victorian Society, many news sources (like this quote from the Daily Telegraph) tried to forget all about Oscar Wilde and the people who followed his philosophies and read his work: "We have had enough, and more than enough of MR. OSCAR WILDE, who has been the means of inflicting upon public patience during the recent episode as much moral damage of the most offensive and repulsive kind as any single individual would cause...the best thing would be to dismiss him and his deeds without another word to the penalty of universal condemnation" (Foldy, 53). Little did Wilde know that no one would forget about him and that his work would still be celebrated today as classic theatre and classic gothic novels. Of course, Stoker, who often kept to himself and upheld a self-curated public persona, would have (no doubt) been affected by the scandal and would want to retain some sort of semblance of normalcy after someone he once knew was guilty of such a “heinous crime” for the time period.

 Police News Illustration of the Oscar Wilde Trials May 4th, 1895.   

Tying the Trials Back to Stoker's Dracula

The themes of moral decomposition (which is the best way to put it since this story reeks of death) in Dracula reflect Victorian society’s epidemic of morality surrounding Wilde’s indecency trial. The Count's seduction, control, and manipulation of his victims—both being male and female—reflects the frightening threat of sexuality that haunted Victorians everywhere in the 1880s/1890s. Count Dracula was hunted despite being elusive and the Count’s tall looming stature and lonely lifestyle in a rotting castle in exile can even be likened to Wilde, who stood at a staggering–well, staggering for the time– 6’ 3” and spent most of his last years in exile, hiding away from the public. According to Talia Schaffer's "A Wilde Desire Took Me": The Homoerotic History of Dracula: "Dracula represents the ghoulishly inflated vision of Wilde produced by Wilde's prosecutors; corrupting, evil, secretive, manipulative, magnetic devourer of innocent boys" (Schaffer, 559). While some readers and scholars recognize a homoerotic subtext within Dracula, it's also interesting to look at Count Dracula as if he were a Wilde-like figure.

While Stoker never outwardly commented on the Wilde trials, Dracula can be seen as an actual social commentary-masked-as-a-supernatural-tale story, or perhaps Stoker's reaction to the trials in a more creative way. While still holding onto this supernatural aspect, Stoker is able to explore these horrible moral aspects of life while blaming a “Beast” in a way, and still challenging the Victorian reader to come face to face with a physical representation of their moral fears (Count Dracula himself). 

"Oscar Wilde" Napoleon Sarony, 1882. 

Links and Further Reading:

Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 

Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

Salome by Oscar Wilde 

Selected Letters of Oscar Wilde (edited by Rupert Hart-Davis) 

The Man Who Destroyed Oscar Wilde- YouTube

Oscar Wilde’s Turbulent Love Life - YouTube

Importance of Being Earnest (National Theatre, UK) 2025 

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Works Cited and Sources: 

Foldy, Michael S. The Trials of Oscar Wilde: Deviance, Morality, and Late-Victorian Society.

Yale University Press, 1997.

Schaffer, Talia. “‘A Wilde Desire Took Me’: The Homoerotic History

of Dracula.” ELH, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1 June 1994.

muse.jhu.edu/article/11248/summary.

Sarony, Napoleon “Oscar Wilde”, Sarony Studios, New York, 1882. 

 "Closing Scene at the Old Bailey Trials of Oscar Wilde" Police News, London, UK, 1895.

“Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas About 1893” Gilman and Co., London, UK, 1893.

Meldon, Clio. “Florence Balcombe.” Women’s Museum of Ireland, Women’s Museum of Ireland, 7 Nov. 2024, www.womensmuseumofireland.ie/exhibits/florence-balcombe.