This thesis explores how the dominant tropes identified in four representations of Oscar Wilde shape Wilde's appearance in each representation discussed. The tropes in question are metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony which, according to Hayden White in his 1978 essay collection Tropics of Discourse, characterize the subjects described in such fields as history, literature, politics, economics and philosophy. In the introduction, the author outlines what she considers to be the essence of White's theory and indicate that she intends to use the model based on this theory to illustrate not only how the tropes flow from and relate to one another but also to show how each of them affects the way four writers of roughly equal experience and education represent Oscar Wilde. The author also notes that although White's theory cannot help me to evaluate how successful a representation is; it can, if she analyzes the representation's language, allow her to isolate its underlying trope and illustrate the way the subject was produced. (Dissertation Abstracts)