November 28, 2011

Oscar Wilde to be protected from kisses...

... on his tomb.

In "A Woman of No Importance," Oscar Wilde wrote about kissing:
MRS. ALLONBY. You think there is no woman in the world who would
object to being kissed?



LORD ILLINGWORTH. Very few.

MRS. ALLONBY. Miss Worsley would not let you kiss her.

LORD ILLINGWORTH. Are you sure?

MRS. ALLONBY. Quite.

LORD ILLINGWORTH. What do you think she'd do if I kissed her?

MRS. ALLONBY. Either marry you, or strike you across the face with
her glove. What would you do if she struck you across the face
with her glove?

LORD ILLINGWORTH. Fall in love with her, probably.

MRS. ALLONBY. Then it is lucky you are not going to kiss her!

LORD ILLINGWORTH. Is that a challenge?

...

LORD ILLINGWORTH. [Sitting down.] Last night was excessively
unfortunate. That silly Puritan girl making a scene merely because
I wanted to kiss her. What harm is there in a kiss?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. [Turning round.] A kiss may ruin a human life,
George Harford. I know that. I know that too well.

10 comments:

traditionalguy said...

A kiss with a magical sensuality is a fact that is hard to resist.

The "scientists" no nothing about that.

traditionalguy said...

Oops. I mean know nothing about that.

edutcher said...

Sounds like women enjoy running after a man who "who didn't show much regard for women".

Was it ever thus.

Saint Croix said...

There was a cultural difference in kissing between England and the U.S., at least in the 1940's. To an English girl, a kiss meant you were practically ready to sleep with a man. To an American, a kiss was nothing. So an American soldier would kiss an English girl, and she would be shocked. And then she would sleep with him, and he would be shocked.

The Crack Emcee said...

I can kiss for hours - but not on somebody's fucking tomb!

People are weird,...

Ralph L said...

And then she would sleep with him, and he would be shocked.
The expression, "In for a penny, in for a pound," takes on new meaning.

Ralph L said...

I thought Wilde died broke. Who paid for that fancy tomb? Royalties?

Guildofcannonballs said...

A weapon might possibly ruin a life other than human.

A kiss might be a symbol.

A bushel of wheat might be more valuable than an Archduke Ferdinand.

Psychedelic George said...

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

-Wilde.

And, remember, though Oscar was wilde, Thornton was wilder.

William said...

I knew an overweight girl named Penny.....What is the motivation behind wanting to kiss Oscar Wilde's tomb? It can't possibly have anything to do with fertility, and his writings are not especially romantic. It seems very perverse.