The Ballad of Reading Gaol Flashcards
Oscar Wilde
What does it show?
“The poor dead woman whom he loved”
Shows a level of possession and also has links to Browning’s poems
What does it show?
“So wistful at the day”
Wilde seems as if he is jealous of Charles Wooldridge’s inner peace and acceptance of his situation
What does it show?
“Such a wistful eye”
The eyes are the keys to the soul - poses the question of whether the killer feels remorse as wistful could be interpreted as sad?
AO3: historical records show Wooldridge deeply regretted attacking his wife, was satisfied to remain in prison until his execution
What does it show?
“Like a casque of scorching steel”
Has connotations of Hell and sin
AO3: homosexuality being a crime in the 19th century
What does it show?
“My pain I could not feel”
It’s as if the world has compressed itself around the reader, he’s trapped in an even greater nightmare. All Wilde can feel is Wooldridge’s pain, his own problems/future slip to the side
What does it show?
“I only knew”
Wilde places his crime in the same category as murder
AO3: shows how society viewed both situations, deeming them both as extremely sinful
What does it show?
“The brave man with a sword!”
Wilde is not condoning what Wooldridge did, he sees it as being braver than cheating and taking no responsibility
What does it show?
“Some strangle with the hands of Lust”
AO3: links with the seven deadly sins, parallels with society at the time
AO4: links with Porphyria’s Lover
What does it show?
“The prison of its prey”
- The prisoners are at the mercy of the justice system
- Prisoners are often watched due to suicide
- Makes them seem innocent
What does it show?
“That the throat may thirst no more”
Is Wilde making the reader feel a sense of pity for Wooldridge as he will be experiencing this?
What does it show?
“Cross his own coffin, as he moves into the hideous shed”
Brutal image of death and ultimately, consequences of actions
What does it show?
“He does not sit…he does not wake…he does not rise…he does not know…he does not bend…he does not stare”
The anaphora shows the extent of suffering that Wooldridge is going through - evokes pity from the readership
What does it show?
“The kiss of Caiaphas”
Sent Jesus to his death. Is Wilde comparing Wooldridge to Jesus?
What does it show?
“With open mouth he drank the sun as though is had been wine!”
The semantic field of contemptment, driving him forward to his death
What does it show?
“And watched with gaze of dull amaze”
All the prisoners, including Wilde are envious/amazed at Wooldridge’s peace of mind
What does it show?
“But grim to see is the gallows-tree with its adder-bitten root”
Symbolic of death as these are used to perform executions, also has links to Satan through the snake imagery
What does it show?
“And wondered if each one of us would end the self-same way”
Wilde suggests he and the other prisoners wonder if they’ll feel like Wooldridge one day
What does it show?
“For none could tell what red Hell his sightless soul may stray”
Is Wooldridge really at peace inside? He committed murder, taking someone’s life into his own hands (playing God - links to Porphyria’s Lover) meaning he is condemned to Hell
What does it show?
“The world had thrust us from its heart”
Social expectations meant that Wilde was in prison and serving his time with murderers. Shows how religious society was in the late 1800s
What does it show?
“Who watched his lest himself should rob”
Prison guards were worried Wooldridge would kill himself - showing his guilty conscience/crime
What does it show?
“The Regulations Act: the doctor said that death was but a scientific fact”
A law that meant there was a limit to the amount of religious expression in public - no emotion shown towards the prisoners whose punishment was death. Treated like animals, inhumane
What does it show?
“And make his face a mask”
Wooldridge perhaps didn’t want to show any emotion? Conforming to gender stereotypes
What does it show?
“We trod the Fools’ Parade!.. The Devil’s Own Brigade”
Shows how the prisoners are viewed - not as human
What does it show?
“Terror was lying still”
Fear of the punishment. The work seems to be a distraction from their impending doom
What does it show?
“With yawning mouth the yellow hole gaped for a living thing”
Death is personified as actually seeking out the prisoners - they cannot escape their fate
What does it show?
“On Death and Dread and Doom”
The triplet emphasises their closed fate
What does it show?
“In a pleasant meadow-land”
Juxtaposition between Wooldridge and the other prisoner
What does it show?
“That endless vigil”
Religious connotations of praying. Ironic as their crimes go against God/The Bible
What does it show?
“Crept by each padlocked door”
Portrays the prisoners like animals. Inhumane
What does it show?
“And each evil sprite that walks by night before us seemed to play”
Shows how Death is mocking and teasing them, they are unable to escape the situation that they are currently in - evokes pity from the audience
What does it show?
“And once, or twice, throw the dice is a gentlemanly game”
Wilde is suggesting how in society, whether you are wealthy/upper-class or not this cannot save you from being punished
AO4: contradicts what Browning implies in his poem “My Last Duchess”
What does it show?
“To those whose lives were held in gyves, and whose feet might not go free”
Suggests that ghosts and spirits roamed and tormented the prisoners - appearing ‘real’ to them, this would have evoked fear among the audience as it questions the idea of religion by adding a supernatural feature
What does it show?
“God’s dreadful dawn was red”
A warning to the prisoners that death is near - connotations of hell through ‘red’ - juxtaposes the concept of God
What does it show?
“For Man’s grim Justice goes its way, and will not swerve aside (…) the monstrous parricide!”
Mankind created the Justice System, the founders, in some respects depicted as the parents of the justice system and now mankind can’t escape the consequences and are being killed which is what “parricide” is (the killing of a parent)
What does it show?
“There is no chapel on the day on which the hang a man”
There is no official way for the prisoners to repent their sins meaning they will be condemned to hell, evoking fear in Jacobean society
What does it show?
“Like ape or clown, in monstrous garb with crooked arrows starred”
The zoomorphism depicts the prisoners as animals as they have been institutionalised (lost their identity due to the system)
What does it show?
“Silently we went round and round (…) Horror stalked before…Terror crept behind”
Shows the monotony of prison life, its a vicious cycle of physical and mental pain with no escape
What does it show?
“Will be sterile and bare”
Showing how no life/foliage will grow over a grave of a criminal as the soil has been taunted by the sin of the prisoner
What does it show?
“They hanged him as a beast is hanged…and hid him in a hole…and gave him to the flies”
Show how inhumane the prisoners are treated - reducing them down to just meat/prey that the animals eat - breaking the societal chain as these men are now places below insects
What does it show?
“I know not whether Laws be right, or whether Laws be wrong”
Wilde is suggesting that the justice system is flawed
