Oscar Wilde
The main character of this letter is the writer himself, Oscar Wilde. He talks about his inner troubles that came with being put into prison and his spiritual awakening while being there. At first he was filled with anger and rage but as the time progressed he became calmer and instead of looking at the events that happened to him as something horrible and unjust he started to see them as a path to his self-discovery and individualist perfection. He mentions some of his celebrated works and themes that were engraved into them. He also talks about Christ as a perfect individualist and the magnitude of how the story of Christ influenced art.
Christ
Wilde talks about thinking about Christ and the life of Christ while in prison. He talks about Christ in connection to art and Christ leading a true life of an artist. He tells that those who live a life that share similarities to that of Christ that they are fully and absolutely themselves. He sees Christ as a complete individualist that has a place among poets and that his interest lies in the soul of man.
Wilde's audience
This letter could be seen as Wilde's confession to his audience. Often times in his letter he self-consciously reveals that he only lived for comfort and pleasures of life and gives some insight into the main motifs and themes of some of his famous works. At the time of writing the letter, he is a changed man, completely aware of himself and having a strong grip on his own soul. Wilde's audience is what made him famous but it is also his audience that will bring a lot of difficulties when he gets out of prison. He compares himself to an unknown prisoner contemplating that the unknown man will be able to escape from the memory of prison but he won't because of his fame and audience. Nevertheless, he has faith in himself and in his art, and that through his art he will be able to reach his audience again.
