The Billing Trial: The Postmortem Condemnation of Oscar Wilde
The Billing Trial: The Postmortem Condemnation of Oscar Wilde:
The Cult Of Wilde
In the mid 1910’s, during the midst of World War I, London was rife with political and social tensions. It has been twenty years since the infamous trial of playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, convicted for acts of sodomy and “gross indecency.” A figurehead of the Aestheticism movement, Oscar’s legacy was etched into the very bowels of English society- even after his death in 1900, the supposed “Wildean Cult” emerged: A society of young homosexuals, artists, and poets. The youth of England, caught between a never-ending war and the changing roles of men and women, found self-expression through the ideals of Wilde. Hedonism as an art was in full blossom. But along with this faction of illustrative youth, there grew a puritan influence in the politics of Britain. Wilde’s name was demonized, his works seen as disgusting, unholy, dirty, and completely lacking in moral character, and there was a growing concern over homosexuality both domestically and militarily. There emerged an ingrained belief that because of homosexuals, the very safety of the nation was in jeopardy. People who committed acts of sodomy or lesbianism were seen as easily susceptible to German blackmail. In 1918, this fear was weaponized during the publication of an article titled Cult of the Clitoris, an attack on Canadian dancer Maud Allan. The author was Pemberton Billing, a member of parliament, and self proclaimed crusader against the “threat” of homosexuality. He portrayed Allan as a contributor to the growing danger of sexuality and depravity among her audience. She had famously portrayed Salome in Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name. Her portrayal became the fire-starter for persecution and critique. What started as an attempt to stir up discourse over the ongoing war on Germany, became a sensational attack against Oscar Wilde, now dead for over 18 years. Maud Allan sued for libel, and Billing was taken to court. During the ironically laughable trial, new allegations and investigations arose concerning Wilde’s Salome. Despite being mere dust and bones, his memory was now being held in perhaps even more contempt than it had ever been before.
Salome
Salome was published in French in 1893. The tragedy is one act, following the seduction and beheading of Jokanaan (John the Baptist), under the influence of Salome, stepdaughter of King Herod. Salome as a character was biblically portrayed in the New Testament, and generally believed to have been only 12 or 13 years old historically. Her stepfather King Herod asks her to dance for him, and when she is finished, he will give her anything she asks for, whether it be riches or the kingdom of Judea itself. And she most famously requests the head of John the Baptist. Wilde’s version goes deeper into the sexual natures of the characters; Herod has a lust for his stepdaughter, Salome desires Jokanaan. Her dance of the Seven Veils is a symbol of the dark (and in Wilde’s view, dangerous) powers of the female sex, as well as the twisted sexual desires of man. When Jokanaan’s head is brought to Salome, she kisses it joyfully and with a sick passion, for which she is immediately killed under the order of her stepfather. The entire play is a masterful work that illustrates the baseness of desire and how lust itself can destroy people: the suicide of a soldier who can’t have Salome for himself, the execution of Jokanaan, and the murder of Salome. Almost foreshadowing his own fall from grace, Wilde sets up this macabre work with a deep understanding of sexual intentions. Salome is a woman self-aware of her libido and influence, hypersexualized to a visceral point. But it isn’t debased- Wilde does not condemn women to be harlot or saint. To him, the expression of sexuality is an art, in which women excel.
The Prosecution
It can't be forgotten that Billing was the one on trial here. One of his main defenses was that his article (Cult of the Clitoris) was not evidence of libel in anyway. It was his belief that he was merely warning the public to the sheer vileness and dangerous of Wilde's play, and the dangerous of female sexuality. Even more unbelievable was his statement that "he had never known what the name actually meant" and that the mere fact that Maud had taken offense to a medical term proved her guilt (of lesbianism.) There was a whole day dedicated to the investigation of the term clitoris and how Maud's kiss of the dead lips of John the Baptist symbolized a female orgasm. Certainly, Billing and witnesses claimed, this was Wilde's intention. The sadistic pleasure wrought from pain inflicted on others. The claim supporting their argument that no libel had occurred, and the play itself was a danger to the public was that Maud's dance and the play itself triggered an audience to fall victim to this perverted sexual act, meaning that the females attending experienced orgasm and were prey to the ideals of Wilde. Sadism, necrophilia, and just downright evil. Cult of the Clitoris, in modern view, can't be anything but humorous. But in that time, it was clear slander against Maud, something that she had to take to court in order to clear her name. Can she be blamed?
It was not seen as such to the middle-class society of England, especially Pemberton Billing. He accused Maud Allan of advertising to the mentally ill and perverted Wildean faction, her dance and associations furthering the cause of homosexuality throughout the country. Maud had portrayed Salome as Wilde would see fit, with an artistic sexual beauty that was powerful and off-putting. She was famously noted for her lack of full dress, donning a sheer skirt laced with pearls and wearing nothing but a beaded top. Billing and his witnesses discussed the play itself as “an open representation of degenerate sexual lust, sexual crime, and unnatural passions, and an evil and mischievous travesty of a biblical story.” One such witness was Lord Alfred Douglas, famous “Boise” and Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Grey. Douglas vehemently discredited Wilde, calling him the greatest evil that had overtaken Europe in almost four hundred years. (He was probably referencing the Protestant Reformation- Boise had converted to Catholicism and married after Wilde’s death.) He further criticized Salome as a sadistic play that fed on Wilde’s own fantasies and lack of moral character. Odd, since Douglas had praised Salome years earlier; he had been the one to originally translate it to English. Another witness, Dr Serell Cooke, went as far as diagnosing Wilde as being a depraved sadist who even (at the age of 12) experienced sexual attraction to his younger sister who died in childhood. These outlandish claims were rooted in a new age investigation on mental illnesses. The witnesses at the trial came to the consensus that homosexuals were mentally disturbed, and should “be locked up.” Wilde himself was degraded, amounting to nothing more than an evil man who influenced the youth to sinful acts, and who had no literary talent beyond flowery speech. In the eyes of those present, Oscar was vilified to a disgusting level. Salome was an open display of these invented tendencies. Wilde was accused of necrophiliac and sadistic fantasies, the action of Salome kissing the lips of her dead lover as evidence. Allan was painted a sort of artistic prostitute, the witnesses claiming that any woman who could portray such a sick role was sick in the head herself. It was a depraved action and through the very showing of the play, it promoted the “vileness” of homosexuality and perverted sexual acts.
The trial itself was littered with political references and targets; Maud’s close friends were deemed dangerous to the country, and any trace of German allegiance or minor association meant social persecution. Billing succeeded in turning the case against him to a downright attack on Maud Allan and the homosexual underground that littered London’s streets. Billing was ultimately declared not guilty by the Jury, who had been disgusted by the portrayal of Wilde’s play and his sodomite legacy. The fervent xenophobia, homophobia, and sexism seen in this “trial of the century” was a result of budding political tensions between parties that advocated for continued war on Germany and a party of mostly elites that advocated for peace. Billing used homophobia and sexuality, even drug use, as weapons to debase power opponents and threaten them. Almost central was the feud between Alfred Douglas and Robbie Ross, two of Wilde’s most famous lovers. Ross did not participate in the trial, but he and Douglas had for years gone back and forth between threats, lawsuits, and articles. In 1912, Douglas had entered a party and lunged for Ross across a table, and chased him, shouting claims that Ross was a blackmailer. This was all an obsessive hate against Ross, who had remained loyal to Wilde’s legacy and worked to preserve his name and works. Douglas tried to have him arrested many times, turning Robbie’s open homosexuality against him. The two men were leading figures in the years leading up to the trials, and their social influence wrought connections ranging from street prostitutes to members of royalty.
Aftermath
Maud herself was virtually destroyed as a result of the trial. It was on account of her artistic career but more heavily rooted in her past, which Billing exploited to his advantage. Her brother, who had been executed for the murder of young women years before, was declared insane, having been accused of incest with his own mother. The witnesses of the trial claimed that it was an inheritable disease, this perversion of sexual nature, and Maud was a carrier. Her portrayal of Salome, as well as her personal sex life as a supposed lesbian tarnished any hope of a successful future career. The rumors of sapphism came from her continued friendship with Margot Asquith, wife of the Prime Minister. Evidence points to them being sexually involved. Asquith paid for Maud’s apartment during the later years of her life and Maud even lived with the Asquith’s before and after the trial. Maud was subject to heavy scrutiny by both her critics and audiences, her life never kept private. She was later known to have taken up a relationship with her secretary Verna Aldritch, twenty years her junior. The mystery involving her past and the fact that a lot of information had never been disclosed added fuel to the fire of this “dangerous” homosexual rise, and the mere evils of perverted sexual acts.
Oscar Wilde himself was a victim; this trial and subsequent fear surrounding the gay community in London was all a result of his besmirched legacy; it was an accumulation of political rivalries, religious revival and distaste for the Edwardian sex life, and growing concern over the First World War. Buried nearly twenty years before, Wilde still caused an uproar in English society- something he probably would've preferred to being forgotten. His ideals of hedonism, art, love, and decadence all contributed to a growing number of individualists: There were people who revered him as a martyr, and in the eyes of his followers, he remained as a symbol of unconformity and pleasure. The Billing Trial would fail to remove his mark on society. Although his name would remain stained in following generations, Wilde is perhaps the greatest example of an artist who lived for art itself and suffered as a victim of societal prejudice. Many who opposed and turned on him lived free, but their names are not as remembered.
Sources
Iglikowski-Broad, V. (2019, February 14). LGBTQ+ history: Maud Allan and ‘unnatural practices among women’ - The National Archives blog. The National Archives Blog. https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/lgbtq-history-maud-allan-unnatural-practices-women/
Maud allan. (n.d.). The National Archives. https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/maud-allan/
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