It was later added to the collection Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories, though it does not appear in early editions. This was published in limited edition by Mitchell Kennerley in New York in 1. English edition by Methuen in 1. Vyvyan Holland. H., the enigmatic dedicatee of Shakespeare's Sonnets. It is based on a theory, originated by Thomas Tyrwhitt, that the sonnets were addressed to one Willie Hughes, portrayed in the story as a boy actor who specialized in playing women in Shakespeare's company. This theory depends on the assumption that the dedicatee is also the Fair Youth who is the subject of most of the poems. The only evidence for this theory is text of number of sonnets themselves (such as Sonnet 2. 1977 Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime. 1975 Time & Time Again. 1955 When we are Married. TV ANTHOLOGIES and DRAMA. Sting of Death w/ Boris Karloff. Erskine had learned the idea from one Cyril Graham, who had tried to persuade Erskine of it based on text of sonnets, but Erskine was frustrated by the lack of external historical evidence for Willie Hughes's existence. Graham tried to find such evidence but failed; instead, he fakes a portrait of Hughes in which Hughes is depicted with his hand on a book on which can be seen the dedication from the sonnets. Erskine is convinced by this evidence, but then discovers the portrait to be a fake, a discovery that leads him to yet again doubt the existence of Willie Hughes. Graham still believes in the theory, and to prove it, shoots himself. Erskine recounts these events to the narrator, who is so struck by the Willie Hughes theory that he begins his own research and further fleshes out Graham's findings until he is without a doubt that Willie Hughes was real and was the subject of the sonnets. He presents the evidence to Erskine but then finds himself strangely divested from it and loses faith in its basis in reality. Erskine's belief, however, is renewed; he sets off at once to try to find a trace of Willie Hughes. But like Graham, he finds nothing. The narrator maintains that there was nothing to be found . Lord Arthur Savile (Character) on IMDb.
Erskine sends him a letter, in which he tells him that the truth is in front of him and, as a sign of complete faith in it, is now twice stained with blood. His friend goes to his hotel in Cannes and finds Erskine dead. He assumes Erskine committed suicide like Graham, but the doctor tells him the real cause was a lingering illness that Erskine had known about for some months; he had come to Cannes specifically to die. He left his friend the portrait of Mr. The portrait now hangs in his home, where many comment on it, but he does not tell of its history. He sometimes wonders to himself, however, if it might be true after all. Influence. Edit. It is not known whether or not Wilde himself subscribed to the theory presented in the story. His lover Lord Alfred Douglas states that he did believe it. He believed that he may even have been a kind of symbol to Shakespeare for his own creative genius. Best says that Wilde's theory is . Best identifies Hughes with Shakespeare himself, a mistake quickly corrected by the Quacker librarian. Viereck's novel My First Two Thousand Years, the protagonist, the Wandering Jew, watches a performance given by Willie Hughes, who is . He learns that Shakespeare had dedicated his sonnets to the boy- actor, but when he meets him he discovers that the boy is actually a girl in disguise. Shakespeare knew this, and the girl blushingly admits that this is why he called her . Hart- Davis, R., Oxford University Press, 1. G. Wilson Knight, The Mutual Flame: On Shakespeare's Sonnets and the Phoenix and the Turtle, Methuen: London, 1. Rollins, New Variorum, 1. Ulysses, 1. 92. 2, 1. James Joyce, Ulysses, 1. Julian Green, Personal Record, trans. Godefroi, 1. 93. 9; 6. New Variorum, 1. 1, 1. Hyder Edward Rollins, The Sonnets, New Variorum Shakespeare, vol. II, Lippincott, 1. External links. Edit.
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