A Florentine Tragedy; La Sainte Courtisane
Two fragments of ancient sensuality, written in French during Wilde's final productive years and never staged in his lifetime. "A Florentine Tragedy" unfolds in a single night of Mercato Vecchio, where a merchant named Simone returns home to find his wife Bianca in the arms of the nobleman Guido Bardi. What follows is a claustrophobic descent into jealousy, blade-work, and devastating irony: the husband discovers he has been cuckolded not by a rival, but by a man of higher birth who offers gold for the privilege. The dialogue crackles with Wilde's most savage wit while veering into genuine tragedy. "La Sainte Courtisane" is more fragmentary, more enigmatic: a courtesan named Myrrhina encounters Honorius, a young hermit who has fled the desert to find God. Their encounter becomes a haunting duel between flesh and faith, each trying to convert the other. Neither wins. Both plays reveal Wilde interrogating his own aesthetic philosophy to breaking point, asking what happens when beauty is pursued without redemption, or with it too late.
Editions
X-Ray
“The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.””
— Oscar Wilde
“It is not wise to find symbols in everything that one sees. It makes life too full of terrors.””
— Oscar Wilde
“How pale the Princess is! Never have I seen her so pale. She is like the shadow of a white rose in a mirror of silver.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Salomé, Salomé, dance for me. I pray thee dance for me. I am sad to-night. Yes, I am passing sad to-night. When I came hither I slipped in blood, which is an evil omen; and I heard, I am sure I heard in the air a beating of wings, a beating of giant wings. I cannot tell what they mean .... I am sad to-night. Therefore dance for me. Dance for me, Salomé, I beseech you. If you dance for me you may ask of me what you will, and I will give it you, even unto the half of my kingdom.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Neither at things, nor at people should one look. Only in mirrors should one look, for mirrors do but show us masks.””
— Oscar Wilde
“The long black nights, when the moon hides her face, when the stars are afraid, are not so black. The silence that dwells in the forest is not so black. There is nothing in the world so black as thy hair.””
— Oscar Wilde
“I am athirst for thy beauty; I am hungry for thy body; and neither wine nor apples can appease my desire. What shall I do now, Iokanaan? Neither the floods nor the great waters can quench my passion. I was a princess, and thou didst scorn me. I was a virgin, and thou didst take my virginity from me. I was chaste, and thou didst fill my veins with fire . . .””
— Oscar Wilde
“Look at the moon! How strange the moon seems! She is like a woman rising from a tomb. She is like a dead woman. You would fancy she was looking for dead things.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Ah! thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan. Well! I will kiss it now. I will bite it with my teeth as one bites a ripe fruit. Yes, I will kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan. I said it; did I not say it? I said it. Ah! I will kiss it now . . . . But wherefore dost thou not look at me, Iokanaan? Thine eyes that were so terrible, so full of rage and scorn, are shut now. Wherefore are they shut? Open thine eyes! Lift up thine eyelids, Iokanaan! Wherefore dost thou not look at me? Art thou afraid of me, Iokanaan, that thou wilt not look at me?””
— Oscar Wilde
