OSCAR WILDE

 AESTHETICISM
o ART MOVEMENT
Aestheticism is an ARTISTIC-LITERARY MOVEMENT developed in EUROPE during 19 th
century. It is born to contrast the utilitarian philosophy of the Industrial Revpolution and
the Victorian values (like strict morality, respectability and material utility).

o MOTTO
The motto of this movement was “ART FOR ART’S SAKE”, in fact according to this art has
not moral basis, but it is related to the SEARCH OF BEAUTY, the most important element of
life.

o THE THEORIST
The main theorist of Aestetich movement is WALTER PATER who thought that ART IS THE
ONLY CERTAINTY, so life had to be lived in the spirit of art (with intense emotions)

Moreover the arist had to FEEL SENSATIONS and BREAKUP WITH MODERN SOCIETY.
Peter influenced OSCAR WILDE who believed that ONLY ART COUL AVOID THE DEATH OF
THE SOUL.
 LIFE
o DANDY
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, then he went to London where he became an exponent of
“Art fof Art’s sake”.

He embodies the figure of DANDY, an elegant man who has rafined taste.
DANDIES are people who live in an ESTRAVAGANT WAY, because they have TIME AND
MONEY to do this. In fact they don’t work, their WEALTY COMES FROM THEIR HEREDITY.
Moreover they risk to lose all their money because of GAMBLING.

The dandy often USED HIS WIT TO SHOCK other people and to unmask the hipocrisies of
Victorian moralism.

DANDIES are friends of the BOHEMIANS:

 They had different lifestyle
 But both rejected MIDDLE CLASS LIFESTYLE
o WHAT MADE HIM FAMOUS
Oscar Wilde was famous for his:
 WITTICISM (clever and humorous osservations)
 APHORISMS (short sentences that express a general truth)

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

 THE PREFACE
The preface is considered the MANIFESTO OF THE AESTETIC MOVEMENT. It express some
important aphorisms such like:
“the artist is a creator of beautiful things”
 THE STORY
o A DANGEROUS WISH
BASIL HALLWARD is an artist who painted a PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY, a very handsome
young man. Basil introduces Dorian to his best friend, LORD HENRY Wotton and they
become very good friends. The meeting between Dorian and Lord Wotton will change
Dorian's life.

When Dorian sees his picture HE WISHES IT COULD GROW OLD INSTEAD OF HIM and that
he could remain young for ever.He also says that he will kill himself when he will turn ugly,
for this reason Baski tries to destroy the portrait, but Dorian saves it and takes it to his
home.

o SYBIL KILLS HERSELF

Dorian begins to frequent the theatre where he meets SYBIL VANE, a young girl who fell in
love whith him, however he cruelly rejects her. When he returns home, he noticed that his
portrait had a new expression, a cruel expression. He understands that he has been too
cruel to Sybil, so he tries to say sorry, but she had alreay killed herself.

o NEGATIVE INFLUENCE OF LORD HENRY

Lord henry had a negative influence on Dorian Gray, in fact he starts to devote his life to
the SEARCH FOR PLEASURE rejecting morality and even HUMAN FEELINGS.

In fact he kills BASIL HALLWARD, because he saw his portrait and understands Dorian’s
secret.

o DORIAN’S DEATH
At the end Dorian understands his horrible actions and decides to destroy the portrait to
begina new life, but doing this he KILLS HIMSELF. Dorian’s body becomes old and portrait
reaturn to its original condition.

 THE EXCHANGE OF ART IN LIFE

o PROLOGUE AND STORY
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” begins with a dialogue on the NATURE OF ART: art Is not
related to MOARLITY, but he is based on AESTETICH, BEAUTY.

After the prologue the story starts: it moves from comedy to a Gothic horror, because
Dorian makes a FAUSTIAN PACT with devi:
 His LIFE became a WORK OF ART
 His PORTRAIT became the MIRROR OF HIS REAL INNER SOUL

Thi split between APPEARANCE AND REALITY represents the NUCLEOUS OF THE NOVEL.

o LORD HENRY’S INFLUENCE

Lord Henry gives Dorian a copy of an UNNAMED YELLOW BOOK that influenced the IDEAS
AND TASTES of Dorian. It induced him to EMBRACE EVIL DESIRES AND PASSIONS, including
MURDER AND HUMAN SACRIFICE.
 o WILDE’S PHYLOSOPHY
Dorian embodies many aspects of Wilde’s own philosophy, in particular his REJECTION OF
THE UTILITARIANISM.

o ORIGINAL CONDITION
At the end the picture returns to its ORIGINAL FORM, but in reality we don’t know if it is
the same of the original one, because a work of art, unlike a life, is not a history but a
MISTERY.

 STYLE
o NARRATOR
he story is told by a THIRD - PERSON NARRATOR, but all the characters reveal themselves
through WHAT THEY SAY or what other people say of them, a technique which is typical of
drama.
 THEMES
 HEDONISM (live in order to get as much as pleasure as possible)
 NARCISISM
 DOUBLE (Dorian’s good part, picture is the evil part)
 IMMORTALITY (art can give immortality)
 MORAL
If you live a life of pleasure, but you don’t care if you hurt people, in the end you have to pay.
Dorian paid with his life.

 COMPARISON DORIAN GRAY AND DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

Both works want to overcome HUMAN LIMITS:
 DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE: with the experiment againt the law of nature
 DORIAN GRAY: because he sells his soul to the devil in exchange of the ETERNAL
YOUTH AND BEAUTY.