Sotheby's put Oscar Wilde's questionnaire from 1877 out, which means there's a high quality and readable version of this image out.

i think my issue with the idea that in jane eyre, jane ends up as rochester’s “perfect little housewife” is that it’s a fundamental misread of the story, as in not only does it disregard the shift in power that’s happened between the two of them but it also denies jane her agency, both in a narrative and a material sense. it also disregards the pretty masterful narrative reversal that charlotte bronte executes. 

like rochester has been almost literally gelded by narrative karma in the end. all the symbols of his power have been stripped from him. his ancestral family manor, a symbol of his wealth and class privilege, has been burned to the ground. he’s lost a hand (remind you of anything?) and his eyesight, while his looks, which were his “weak” point to begin with, have only been made worse. one can argue over whether or not he’s been sufficiently punished for his crimes, but the fact is that he has been utterly humiliated and significantly weakened.

enter jane who, since she left rochester, after a whole odyssey of her own, now has her own independent wealth, a family/community who she knows will support her, knowledge that she is at least somewhat desirable to others besides rochester, and, most importantly, a newfound confidence, self-possession, and contentment. whereas before rochester held all the cards in the relationship, now jane does. by the standards of the time, this woman has options. 

one can speculate as to the reasons that she goes back to rochester (if, for whatever reason, you don’t buy the idea that she actually loves him,) but the fact is that by the end, she has about as much power over him as a woman could be expected to have over her husband at that time and place. she quite literally controls what he sees, where he goes, what he knows about the outside world, and she could absolutely leave him at any moment (and he knows that, as is evidenced by some of their conversations at the end of the book.) 

like…..you can say whatever you want about jane’s taste in men etc. but the fact is that, by the end of the story, this woman is completely in control of her own fate. 

reader, i married him.

No one gets Dorian Gray the way this picture gets Dorian Gray.

The picture of Dorian Gray

inclusivity win! the artist who painted that cursed portrait of you which shows all the innermost corruption of your soul in gradual decay is gay!

‘We know that a socially conditioned, deep and destructive self-loathing is still often suffered by those who grow up knowing that to be gay, queer, trans, bisexual, or anything other than heterosexual, has historically been seen as evil and wrong. What I have found time and again in the archives, is incredible evidence of queer lives being lived throughout the centuries. 

In the 1880s, science and medicine perfected pathologising sexuality and defined anything outside heterosexuality as a mental disease. But before this, sex, love and identity were very much individual choices. Shelley’s admission that she turned to women for sexual gratification shows us that to her, and many like her, sexuality did not fit the binary boundaries we have projected on to those in the past – and ourselves today. 

Acknowledging Shelley’s sexuality is very important for bi-visibility, something we still struggle with. But bi-history is everywhere, and now it has a new icon. Long may she reign.’

*GROSS SOBBING AT HOW UNBEARABLY BEAUTIFUL THESE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE*

From Bernie Wrightson’s Frankenstein

the mortifying ordeal of being earnest

I apologize for the harshness of my words, Miss Bennet, but your family is just so cringe

not mine but hilarious

me: what, you egg! [stabbing lord henry.]

Sjbdjsjfbs omg I didn’t realize this was in my inbox until now IM SORRY

But yes, please stab Lord Henry.

@ Oscar, why did you have to make Basil the stabbed one?? I just wanna talk

Mary Shelley really told Percy “I know a spot” and took him to her mother’s grave

hi! :) (same anon as before) i’ve finished the book and i hope lord hemorrhoid chokes on his entire bowl of rosewater

me: *writes a sequel but doesnt even touch the fact that dorian’s corpse is old and ugly as fuck and people are probably confused, i just want to make lord dickwad suffer*

i’ve just begun to read tpodg (i’m on the first chapter) and i have to say,, lord hanky gives me gross vibes and i hate him xoxo

Oh yeah, unfortunately he will continue to give those vibes.

It’s ok though, once you’re done you can come back here and I will be happy to complain about lord bitchass for the rest of time.

Happy reading!!! Good luck trying not to punch your book whenever lord fuckface so much as opens his goddamn mouth (which is....... often)

I always thought my life was a tragedy, but now I realize it’s a cringe compilation.