Oscar Wilde was ill, "When you are not on your pedestal you are not interesting." Wilde blamed himself, though, for the ethical degradation of character that he allowed Douglas to bring about in him and took responsibility for his own fall, "I am here for having tried to put your father in prison." The first half concludes with Wilde forgiving Douglas, for his own sake as much as Douglas's. The second half of the letter traces Wilde's spiritual journey of redemption and fulfilment through his prison reading. He realised that his ordeal had filled his soul with the fruit of experience, however
Oscar Wilde bitter it tasted at the time. Wilde was released from prison on 19 May 1897 and sailed that evening for Dieppe, France. He never returned to the UK. On his release, he gave the manuscript to Ross, who may or may not have carried out Wilde's instructions to send a copy to Douglas (who later denied having received it). "De Profundis" was partially published in 1905; its complete and correct publication first occurred in 1962 in "The Letters of Oscar Wilde". Though Wilde's health had suffered greatly from the harshness and diet of prison, he had a feeling of spiritual