FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. DINING ROOM - MORNING
Having breakfast with KAJI, the family pet, PETER checks phone notifications.
PETER (V.O.): Here's an answer request concerning Oscar Wilde. He says there're two tragedies in life: One is not getting what you want. The other is getting it.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One of the first things I learned from logic was that: don't appeal to authority.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Appeal to authority is a form of argument in which an opinion of a supposed authority is used as evidence to support an argument.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Lines are well written or badly written. That's all. They don't necessarily represent any truism.
Pausing.
PPETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): While studying English Literature in my teens, I heard about Oscar Wilde. Perhaps, I should learn more about him now.
Act 2
INT. DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Peter is glued to the small prints on his phone screen.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, he was born 100 years before me and died when my grandpa was born.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O) (Cont'd): He came from a well-off Irish family and studied at Magdelan College, Oxford.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 2019, while accompanying our younger daughter to her university, we did sight-seeing in Oxford.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My wife's pupil master was from Magdelan College. We took a few photos. Now I know that Oscar Wilde went there in the 19th C.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I can't agree with his observation that life is necessarily tragic in not getting a want and in getting it.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I can falsify Oscar Wilde's hypothesis with my experience.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've my life goals and have made them come true. And their coming true have made me as happy as I've hoped.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Nothing tragic or comic at all. For me, and possibly many others, life isn't dichotomous as he described or experienced.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 1895, Oscar Wilde initiated a private prosecution against somebody for criminal libel. The accused alleged that Oscar Wilde had committed the crime of sodomy.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, some of the testimonies made by Oscar Wilde during the libel trial have been documented.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The accused tendered evidence to prove that his allegation was true in substance and in fact.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As the court so declared, the accused was acquitted. Oscar Wilde had to pay legal costs to the other side, making him bankrupt.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Later, Oscar Wilde was arrested and charged for sodomy and gross indecency.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In his own trial, Oscar Wilde's defence testimonies simply reinforced prosecution's case.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's evident that his ability to understand the connections between ideas was limited. He couldn't think clearly and rationally what to say or do.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I haven't read any of his few works. Intellectually, I don't think I've missed anything.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My problem with studying English Literature was that while authors might pose questions and offer observations, I found they weren't rationally satisfactory. So, I turned to philosophy.
Act 3
INT. DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Finishing his breakfast with Kaji, Peter begins to type on his phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oscar Wilde was talking about his own tragedies in life.
Typing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I believe he wasn't content with what he had got.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As he had metaphorically killed his love, he could never get what he wanted.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): So, Oscar Wilde could be completely empty.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Why should people own someone's tragedies as theirs? Have the courage to let that "authority" go!
Peter taps the Post button on his phone screen.
FADE OUT.
THE END
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