Yesterday a dialogue from Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’ made headlines from the hallways of the Supreme Court during a decisive hearing. The Apex court quashed the death sentence bestowed upon Moh. Firoz, who was convicted of the rape and murder of a 4-year-old girl from Madhya Pradesh.
The three-member bench comprising Justices UU Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat and Bela M. Trivedi pronounced the order cancelling Death Sentence upon Firoz observing the tents of restorative justice. In its order the SC bench quoted Oscar Wilde, saying, “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future”. The court observed that it is important to give an opportunity to the offender to repair the damage caused and to become a socially useful individual when he is released from jail.
What the judges tried to suggest here was the popular understanding of the lines by Oscar Wilde, often referred to alongside many of his quotes on the internet. Out of the context of Wide’s novel, the interpretation of ‘Every sinner has a future’ referred to yesterday was an understanding that even sinners deserve sympathy, for they can be washed off their crimes after retribution. It came from an idea that no one is a born sinner, and neither his sins should justify his death.
However, looking inside Wilde’s play ‘A Woman of No Importance’ the connotation of the said quote appears different. Lord Illingworth, a powerful and immoral male politician in the play suggests that saints are fools for giving up on material pleasures of life whereas sinners can look forward to such pleasure. Given the flirtatious character painted by Wilde in form of Illingworth, the 19th-century playwright suggested that sinners would hold no bar for being identified for their committed crimes, but unlike saints, they will continue to play up to their whims often contesting against the moral fabric.
Essentially, Oscar Wilde meant that the saint was a fool for giving up on illicit pleasures while the sinners can look forward to such pleasures. In a way, the Court quoted Wilde but gave a message that stands exactly opposite of what he penned. By quoting this line, the Court almost insinuated, albeit unwittingly, that the ‘sinner’ (Firoz, convicted of raping a 4-year-old) did not give up on “illicit pleasures” (in this case, the crime committed) and therefore, still has a life of crime to look forward to.
There are several such quotes from popular literature that have been misunderstood and quoted out of context or with incorrect meaning. Another such quote is “Romeo, Romeo, whereforart thou, Romeo?”. In most school plays, the dialogue is mentioned by a distressed Juliet, with her hands on her brows, looking for Romeo. However, the quote is misunderstood. The word “whereforart” does not mean “where” but “why”. In the play, when Juliet says “Romeo, Romeo, whereforart thou, Romeo”, Juliet questions why fate made Romeo a Montague, her family’s sworn enemy.
‘A Woman of No Importance’ was highly critically appreciated for Wilde’s wit and prose. However, more than the play, it is the ‘Sinner’s future’ that the world today identifies with, perhaps lost in nuance and translation.
