On Wilde’s Paradoxical Aestheticism from The Picture of Dorian Gray.doc

On Wildes Paradoxical Aestheticism from The Picture of Dorian Gray从道连·格雷的画像看王尔德的悖论式唯美主义摘 要19 世纪末在欧洲出现的唯美主义思潮是最直接提倡 “为艺术而艺术” 的文艺思潮。奥斯卡·王尔德是唯美主义的最积极鼓吹者, 也是唯美主义文学的身体力行者。奥斯卡·王尔德的长篇小说道连·格雷的画像从故事情节、人物塑造和叙事手法等方面,反映出王尔德唯美主义文艺观的丰富内涵。王尔德并不是一个彻底的唯美主义者,一方面他希望建立美的乌托邦,使美独立于功利和道德说教,希望人们通过对至高无上的美的膜拜得到救赎。另一方面他的大部分作品中自始至终蕴含对社会人生的思考与关怀以及对当时维多利亚虚伪道德的揭露与批判。他的美学思想与创作实践中的确存在着矛盾性,然而并不能说因此而削弱了其艺术思想及作品的价值。通过对其美学探索历程的深入分析,我们可以更为准确了解及和评价王尔德及当时的唯美主义。关键词：王尔德；唯美主义；道连·格雷的画像AbstractThe trend of thought in aestheticism that advocated the idea of “art for arts sake” which appeared at the end of the 19th century .Wilde was the most active advocator and also the earnest practitioner of aestheticism, based on textual analysis of the plot, characterization, and narrative method of Wildes novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, explores the connotative meaning and implications of Aestheticism advocated by Wilde for literary creation. Wilde is not a downright aesthete. While making his effort to separate art from utilitarianism and preaching of morality and help people seek redemption by paying homage to the ultimate beauty, he also made attempts to discuss life and morality and reminded people of the hypocrisy of Victorian morality and the flimsy illusion of decent virtues in most of his literary creation. Although there are contradictions in his aesthetic theory and artworks, we can not say the value of his exploration and creation is hereby impaired. Through the analysis of his pursuit of aestheticism in depth, we will understand and evaluate Wilde and the contemporary aestheticism.Key words: Wilde; aestheticism; The Picture of Dorian GrayContents摘 要 . iAbstract . iiIntroduction . 1Chapter 1 The Biography of Oscar Wilde . 31.1 The Life of Oscar Wilde . 31.2 Social and Culture Background . 5Chapter 2 Detailed Analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray . 7 2.1 An Introduction of the Novel . 72.2 Symbolism of Characters 10Chapter 3 Wildes Philosophy on Morality 153.1 Aestheticism Embodied in Wildes Work . 153.2 The Paradoxical Aestheticism . 17Conclusion. 22Bibliography. 24AcknowledgementsIntroductionAs one of the greatest writers in Victorian Age, Wilde also is the famous spokesman of English Aesthetic Movement. His aestheticism plays an important role in English literature. That was undoubtedly better known in his lifetime for his scandalous lifestyle than for his literary theories and their execution in his dramas. Oscar Wilde believes that “art is supreme” in his pure artistic theory, thinking that art is higher than nature and life, not related to ultra morals, but a pure “form”. For him, reality means falsehood, ugliness and vulgarness. Therefore, he advocates the transformation of life into art to create an independent and pure aesthetic world outside reality. Opposed to his contemporary realist ideas, he uses his aesthetic beauty of individuality love to fight against the ugly world. Aestheticism has always been criticized for its inconsistency between the practice and theory. The problem was originated from the contradiction with in its idea. This contradiction, however, was not because of the writers' lack of logicality but an unconscious reflection of its contemporary society. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel written by Oscar Wilde .It is also a highly symbolic novel. From the perspective of the character-portraying and the plots-developing, this thesis explores how Wildes aesthetic art is embodied, and probes into the implied viewpoints on morality, art and lifestyle in the novel. The three main characters in the novel respectively symbolize the various aspects of aestheticism. In the masks of Henry, Hallward and the once innocent Grey whose values are conflicting, Wilde conduct a sober analysis of himself and the social surroundings, which show his moral concerns and his seriousness in discussion of moral anarchy. So it might be helpful and necessary that we re-evaluate Wildes aestheticism and his work The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wildes theory of aestheticism, being part of his “art”, remotes art from life so successful that he himself cant separate his life from his aestheticism. Although the paradise of art momentarily provides such shelter, Wilde indulges himself too much in this world that finally he cannot tell life from art. Chapter 1The Biography of Oscar Wilde1.1 The Life of Oscar WildeOscar Fingal O Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 30 November 1900) was an Irish wit, dramatist, and poet. The son of Dr. William Wilde, an eminent surgeon, and Jane Francesca Elgee, well known under the pen name Speranza. Wilde studied classics at Trinity College, Dublin (187174), and then at Magdalen College, Oxford (187478). As a spokesman for aestheticism, in the early 1880s he gave a lecture tour in the U.S. and established himself in London circles by his wit and flamboyance. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays; and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity and beauty into his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely, combined with larger social themes, and drew Wilde to writing drama. He wrote Salome (1891) in French in Paris which was later adapted as the libretto of R. Strausss opera. His other plays, all successes, include Lady Windermeres Fan (1893), A Woman of No Importance (1893), and An Ideal Husband (1895). Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London. However, for he challenged the Victorian moral systems with his radical viewpoints and flamboyant lifestyle, he was severely punished for his homosexuality, which was illegal in his time and led to his imprisonment and miserable downfall of reputation. In prison he wrote De Profundis, a long letter which discusses his spiritual journey through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. Upon his release he left immediately for France, never to return to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life. He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six.His quaint style of dressing, trenchant wit and eloquence, aesthetic belief of “art for arts sake” and sexual orientation make a mystery of him. In public eyes, he belonged to “the alternative society”. And many years after his death, his mystic resplendent charm began to assert itself and gained increasing admiration from more open-minded generations. He was the consummate performer, that just as he brought dramatic characters into being for the stage, so he staged his own personality for various people, at various times, in a variety of ways. Like his novels antihero, Dorian Gray, Wilde does not understand identity “as a thing simple, permanent, reliable, and of one essence” but as a succession of masks and guises to be put on and taken off as he desired. 1. 2 Social and Culture BackgroundEvery writer is definitely influenced by the time he grows up and lives in. Wildes whole lifetime was spent in the Victorian Age, one of the most powerful and influential periods in English history. Although writing from different points of view and with different techniques, writers in the Victorian Period shared one thing in common, that was, they were all concerned about the fate of the common people. By this time, romanticism gradually gave way to realism. During the Victorian Age the novel gradually became the dominant form of literature. And it was characterized by strict moral rules. Therefore taking a look at the historical back ground should help us understand Wilde better. The rising capitalist who benefited from such virtues as earnestness, obedience, rationality, and self-restraint canonized them. However, when pushed to the extreme, the moral culture became cruel and inhuman. Thus the lower class turned indifferent to “the hard and fast rules” while the upper class develops its own hypocritical way to cope with them. At the end of 19th century, with the Industrial Revolution and the progress of science, gradually social skepticism towards religion grew and the standard of Victorian solid virtues became less convincing. The dissatisfaction with the society seeks expression in art and literature. The Victorian moral was challenged by social reformers like the Fabians, the avant-garde of artists and intellectuals. Wildes aesthetic philosophy was developed in such a social surrounding. As a staunch advocate for the aesthetic movement which developed in Britain during the late nineteenth century as a protest against the prevailing industrial emphasis on “the useful” or utilitarianism, and to the perceived ugliness. Aesthetic movement that centered on the doctrine that art exists for the sake of its beauty alone. J. M. Whistler, O. Wilde, and S. Mallarme raised the movements ideal of the cultivation of refined sensibility to perhaps its highest point. The movement became extravagant and was doomed not to persist as it had begun, for it was approaching the evil in an unhelpful manner. And into it came Wilde, a young man with many talents and in particular a very great talent for histrionics. Wilde was the figurehead of the aesthetic movement, in which the main doctrine was “art for arts sake”. He impresses the world primarily with his amazing power of language in presenting his aesthetic thoughts and theories. He adopted various thoughts from different schools, and developed his own aesthetic philosophy and embodied successfully in part of his works. Chapter 2Detailed Analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray2. 1 An Introduction of the NovelOscar Wilde as one of the most distinguished aesthetes overpowers the English world with his scintillating address and writing on aestheticism. Especially in “the picture of Dorian Gray”, the only novel in his lifetime, Wilde paints a picture in which his brilliant aesthetic creeds find their full expression. The Picture of Dorian Gray , sensational at its very publication, notorious once for quite a period, the first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was published as the lead story in the July 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, along with five others. The novel begins as Gray's portrait is being completed by the painter Basil Halhvard, and he talks with the libertine Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Hallward, who has a curious influence on him. Lord Henry Wotton persuaded the youth to take up a life of sensual indulgence. When Gray, who has a “face like ivory and rose leaves”, sees his finished portrait he breaks down, distraught that his beauty will fade, but the portrait stay beautiful, the plot parallels the Faustus legend. Like Faustus who is controlled by curiosity for forbidden knowledge, Dorian Gray has, in effect, sold his soul to the devil for everlasting youth. For the next eighteen years, pushed by Wottons malign influence Dorian seeks pleasure and experience, and seeks out to satisfy his hunger for a life of sensation, and finally commits murder. However, his moral lapses and growing degeneracy leaves no trace elsewhere but on the painting. During this time the portrait, hidden from view in Dorians attic, mysteriously ages and become repulsive, reflecting the effects of Dorians excesses, while Dorian himself remains unchanged, which becomes more and more frightful with each evil conduct Dorian commits. He feels unrest at the thought of the revealing painting and grows to abhor it and its creator as well. In a fit of irrational rage, he killed the artist. Then to get rid of the corpse, he blackmails his former friend, a chemist, into disposing the body to conceal his crime. His ultimate attempt to destroy the painting results in his own death; the portrait then resumes its original appearance, and the hideous corpse found lying before it is only with difficulty identified as that of Dorian Gray. For Wilde, the purpose of art would guide life if beauty alone were its object. Thus Gray's portrait allows him to escape the corporeal ravages of his hedonism; Wilde sought to juxtapose the beauty he saw in art onto daily life.