Vera

by Oscar Wilde

Mich. No, Father Peter, not yet; 'tis a good three miles to the post office, and she has to milk the cows besides, and that dun one is a rare plaguey creature for a wench to handle. Peter. Why didn't you go with her, you young fool? she'll never love you unless you are always at her heels; women like to be bothered. Mich. She says I bother her too much already, Father Peter, and I fear she'll never love me after all. Peter. Tut, tut, boy, why shouldn't she? you're young and wouldn't be ill-favoured either, had God or thy mother given thee another face. Aren't you one of Prince Maraloffski's gamekeepers; and haven't you got a good grass farm, and the best cow in the village? What more does a girl want? Mich. But Vera, Father Peter- Peter. Vera, my lad, has got too many ideas; I don't think much of ideas myself; I've got on well enough in life without 'em; why shouldn't my children? There's Dmitri! could have stayed here and kept the inn; many a young lad would have jumped at the offer in these hard times; but he, scatter-brained featherhead of a boy, must needs go off to Moscow to study the law! What does he want knowing about the law! let a man do his duty, say I, and no one will trouble him.

Genres: Plays

40 pages, Paperback

Published June 20, 2013

About the author

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

Reviews

[Mariam Abood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really pleasantly surprised by this play. Due to the themes of a girl trying to save Russia from a totalitarian government, you might be forgiven for mistaking this book as a dystopian. But it is actually inspired by events from the past.

I thought this play was actually incredibly ahead of its time considering this play involves a strong female protagonist that all the other male protagonists seem to fear. But to be honest I didn't really expect anything less of the brilliant Mr Wilde.

I would even go as far as to call this my favourite Oscar Wilde play, it's just a damn shame that no one ever seems to appreciate it. I want a film adaptation! Other than that a great read

[Nelli Lakatos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow what an amazing tragedy!
It’s a beautifully written piece, inspired by deeply rooted revolutions in Russia.
Oscar Wilde never disappoint, I always find myself enjoying his works!

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, I couldn't help but picture the court scene with the dukes and princes like drag queens reading each other, and that made it infinitely more entertaining in my mind.
Second, I usually don't mention important plots of a book, because I like my reviews to be mostly spoiler-free, but I need to talk about that ending.
Vera, what were you thinking? What was the plan? Ok, let's say you kill yourself out of love because the Nihilists need to see the bloody dagger in order to believe that Alexis is dead, otherwise they will come in and kill him themselves. So far, so good. Now, you, Vera, die thinking you "have saved Russia". Did you though? What about the morning after? The Czar can't just disappear and hide away. The Nihilists may be fooled for now, but the next morning, when Alexis wakes up and goes to the balcony with a cup of chamomile tea to admire the birds and the snow and the light of his lovely country, they are going to know something's up. The Nihilists are going to see that the Czar is very much alive and then Vera's death was in vain. Right? I feel like this story needs a follow up to explain this situation.
To sum up, I need a sequel and the author is dead.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nihilists attempt to overthrow the tyrannical Czar of Russia, led by Vera. The Crown Prince is on their side, and even the Prime Minister, though he just wants to use them to gain more power for himself. Vera has to balance her love for liberty against her love for the Prince, and things come to a head when the Czar is assassinated and the Prince takes charge. The Nihilists, being Nihilists, just want to go ahead and kill the new Czar even if he is on their side. Vera must make a decision with tragic consequences.

Interesting subject matter with many of Wilde's epigrams throughout. The Prime Minister is particularly witty. Very nice, concise play.