Oscar Wilde

1. Life
ome !amous "uotations o! Wilde#s$

I have nothing to declare except my genius. Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her.
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Oscar Wilde, 1889

Oscar Wilde

1. Life
ome !amous "uotations o! Wilde#s$

One should always be in love. %hat is the reason why one should never marry. Art is the most intense !orm o! individualism that the world has known.

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Oscar Wilde, 1889

Oscar Wilde

2. Works
&oetry$ +airy tales$ ,ovel$ &lays$
Poems' ()*( The Ballad of Reading Gaol' ()*) The Happy Prince and other Tales' ())) The House of Pomegranates' ()*( The Picture of Dorian Gray' ()*( Lady Windermeres Fan, ()*Woman of no !mportance' ()*. The !mportance of Being "arnest' ()*/ #alom$' ()*.
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Oscar Wilde

3. Wildes aestheticism
Oscar Wilde adopted the aesthetical ideal$ he a!!irmed %my life is li&e a 'or& of art(. 0is aestheticism clashed with the didacticism o! 1ictorian novels. %he artist 2 the creator o! beauti!ul things.
A contemporary edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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Oscar Wilde

3. Wildes aestheticism
Art used only to celebrate beauty and the sensorial pleasures. 1irtue and vice employed by the artist as raw material in his art$ %)o artist has ethical sympathies* n ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardona+le mannerism of style(.
34%he &re!ace5 to The Picture of Dorian Gray6.

A contemporary edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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Oscar Wilde

4. The picture of Dorian Gray

()*7 first appeared in a magazine. ()*( re ised and e!tended. "t reflects Oscar Wilde#s personality. "t was considered immoral $y t%e &ictorian p'$lic.
A scene from Oli er (ar)er#s Dorian Gray *+,,9-.

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Oscar Wilde

5. Dorian Gray: plot

.et in 8ondon at t%e end of t%e 19t% cent'ry. /%e painter 0asil 1allward ma)es a portrait of a %andsome yo'ng man, Dorian 2ray.
(oster for film Wilde, directed $y 0rian 2il$ert *34, 1995-.

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Oscar Wilde

5. Dorian Gray: plot

Dorian#s desires of eternal youth are satisfied. Experience and vices appear on t%e portrait.

(oster for film Wilde, directed $y 0rian 2il$ert *34, 1995-.

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Oscar Wilde

5. Dorian Gray: plot

Dorian li es only for pleasures. /%e painter disco ers Dorian#s secret and %e is killed $y t%e yo'ng man.
0en 0arnes in Oli er (ar)er#s Dorian Gray *+,,9-.

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Oscar Wilde

5. Dorian Gray: plot

6ater Dorian wants to get !ree from t%e portrait7 %e sta$s it $'t in so doing he kills himsel!. At t%e ery moment of deat% t%e portrait ret'rns to its original p'rity and Dorian t'rns into a withered, wrinkled and loathsome man.
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0en 0arnes in Oli er (ar)er#s Dorian Gray *+,,9-.

Oscar Wilde

6. Dorian Gray: a modern version of Dr. Fa st

A temptation is placed be!ore 9orian$ a potential ageless beauty. 8ord 0enry#s cynical attitude is in keeping with the devil#s role in 9r +aust. 8ord 0enry acts as the 49evil advocate5. %he picture stands !or the dark side o! 9orian#s personality.
8ep%istop%eles appearing $efore 9a'st in t%e 18:; edition of Faust $y <o%ann Wolfgang 2oet%e.

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Oscar Wilde

!. Dorian Gray: the moral of the novel

Every excess must be punished and reality cannot be escaped. When 9orian destroys the picture' he cannot avoid the punishment !or all his sins death. %he horrible' corrupting picture could be seen as a symbol o! the immorality and bad conscience o! the 1ictorian middle class. %he picture' restored to its original beauty' illustrates Wilde#s theories o! art$ art survives people' art is eternal.
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