La Sainte Courtisane by Oscar Wilde: the path to faith

La Sainte Oourtisane or The Woman Covered in Jewels is a little-studied dramatic text of Oscar Wilde that has come down only in fragments. The author considers the problem of faith that interested him since his youth. The play is a typical story of the late 19th century literature that describes a courtesan seducing a hermit. The surviving fragments of La Sainte Oourtisane do not tell exactly why Myrrhina strives to meet a hermit. Perhaps she was attracted by rumors about his youth and beauty or by his reluctance to see women, however, it can be definitely said that the issues of faith bothered her even before she met Honorius. Myrrhina's interest to God and faith becomes even more apparent when she mentions a "sophist from Cilicia'' who preached on market-place that there exists only one God. Supposedly, a ''sophist from Cilicia'' in Wilde's play refers to Apostle Paul. There is no direct evidence for it, yet indirect evidence can be found in Wilde's philosophy. Having passed through terrible ordeals, Paul becomes a Christian apologist. The words of the ''sophist from Cilicia'' seem to sink into Myrrhinas' heart. When she meets Honorius, she, like Paul, finds her God, her faith in life, not death. Honorius lives in a cave. In accordance with the mythopoetic tradition his habitat shows his remoteness from the ordinary earthly life, his involvement in the mysteries of the world incomprehensible for the common man. Honorius lives in the cave once inhabited by the centaur that disappears when he sees the hermit. Similar scenes can be found in Wilde's previous works. Jokanaan's prophecy (Salome) states that when the Lord came, centaurs fled in rivers and sirens hid in forests. Wiled believes that there is no soul in a pagan, pre-Christian world inhabited by folklore and mythological creatures disappearing when a holy man comes. Wilde's works contain a lot of ideas originated from Seneca or Epictetus. The later tragedies say that the Stoic wisdom is that God is in everybody's soul, and one should listen to his voice to avoid many troubles. La Sainte Oourtisane is to be viewed in the context of all works by the writer, and, first of all, together with Salome, as they are linked by common themes. Wilde shows that it is hard for a common man to believe in something immaterial, intangible. His symbolist tragedies indicate that the attitude of his contemporaries to faith is comparable to paganism. Forgetting Christ and worshiping mammon (as Wilde assessed the current situation), the humanity is rapidly approaching its death. In this sense his tragedies can be seen as warning plays.

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