Construct a well thought-out essay of 1200 words in response to the following statement:
We began the semester with a consideration of Wilde’s well-known works, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray, but much of our attention for the first half of the semester has been focused on how Wilde’s early work built his reputation leading up to the 1890s, when his well-known works were published. Reconsider The Importance of Being Earnest or The Picture of Dorian Gray in this light. Using one of Wilde’s early works, show how one of the themes or concepts in an early work laid the foundation for Wilde’s use of this theme or concept in The Importance of Being Earnest or The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Your essay must include detailed analysis of one “early” work (“Grave of Keats,” “Garden of Eros,” “The Burden of Itys,” “Helas!,” “Personal Impressions of America,” “The House Beautiful,” “The Happy Prince,” “The Nightingale and the Rose,” “The Devoted Friend,” “Mr Whistler’s Ten O’Clock,” or “The Decay of Lying”) and one “late” work (The Importance of Being Earnest or The Picture of Dorian Gray).
Your essay should have a complex thesis and specific examples from the relevant texts to support the thesis. You should have a fully developed introduction, which presents your argument in an interesting manner, and fully developed conclusion, which does more than simply summarize your argument (e.g., discusses the implications of your argument for understanding the relationship between the two works you discuss in the body of the essay).