The Decay of Lying

This term plays a central role in the essay as it is juxtaposed with fiction and “lying.” Wilde complains that fact is being guised as fiction due to the Realism movement. However, according to the aestheticist credo, the best art is “delightful fiction in the form of fact” (2). Wilde pits fact against beauty and art and argues that “worship of facts” (4) eliminates the possibility of creating beauty.

Wilde uses the term “imitation” to refer to art that attempts to recreate or copy real life. Imitation can involve a number of techniques, including reproducing “uncouth, vulgar” (7) vernacular speech (which Wilde accuses Shakespeare of doing), regular clothing, and banal aspects of everyday life as these play out in the real lives of people at the time. Imitation is the result of a failure to separate the details of real life from the artistic sphere. Wilde posits that imitation is a behavior intrinsic to European culture. Ideally, life should imitate art, not vice versa.

Wilde describes “the modern English melodrama” (7) as a prime example of the bad art that results from a realist approach. As a