Le portrait de monsieur W. H.

by Oscar Wilde

"Le portrait de monsieur W. H." by Oscar Wilde is a story first published in 1889. It explores an attempt to uncover the identity of Mr. W. H., the mysterious dedicatee of Shakespeare's Sonnets. The narrative follows characters obsessed with proving that the sonnets were addressed to Willie Hughes, a boy actor in Shakespeare's company. Through forgery, research, and tragic conviction, the story examines how belief in an elegant theory can consume those who pursue it, even without concrete evidence.