The same play that brought Oscar Wilde renown also brought about his downfall. To his fans he was known for his dark brand of wit and humor, as displayed in his great plays satirizing Victorian upper-crust society. To his detractors – and particularly the Marquess of Queensberry, with whose son Wilde was carrying on – he was known as a “sodomite”: a homosexual. The Importance of Being Earnest achieved much success, which just might have emboldened the playwright to fight the charges leveled at him.

On this day, February 14, in 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest premiered at the St. James Theatre in London. The Marquess was planning on attending, to present Wilde with a mocking bouquet of rotten fruit. Wilde got wind of the plot and barred entry to him.

Against the advice of his associates, Wilde then pressed the matter, charging the Marquess with libel and bringing things to a head in a trial. It did not go his way: using Wilde’s own correspondence with his lover, the judge found him guilty. Wilde was imprisoned for gross indecency and his play closed after just 86 performances. Earnest remained largely forgotten for the better part of two decades and was revived only after his death.