Oscar Wilde, appunti, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Oscar Wilde, appunti e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! OSCAR WILDE LIFE Oscar Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin, he was the son of a famous doctor. He was immediately recognized as a brilliant student so after school he was sent to Trinity College where he won a scholarship to Magdalen College where he studied classics. He went to London where he published his first collection of poetry, the next year he left for a lecture in America then England an Ireland. When he went to the United States, he arrived at the custom and at the question “Anything to declare?” he answered with “Nothing but my genius”. All of this helped Oscar to became famous as leader of the aesthetic movement. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd who gave him two sons. In 1888 he published The happy prince of other tales, a set of stories for children. Two years later he published is only novel, a masterpiece, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde was attacked for this work because of immorality, he answered in the preface of the novel saying the famous aphorism “art for art sakes”. His first play was staged in 1892 and he was a huge success and the critics encouraged him to devote himself to theatre. He wrote several successful satirical comedies with very little social criticism. One of these is The importance of Being Earnest. In his peak of success, he was involved in a legal case that let him to his ruin. Wilde was homosexual and the father of his lover accused him of homosexuality. Wilde decided to take the father to court but, in the end, Wilde was put on trial for “gross indecency”. He was condemned to two-years imprisonment. When he came out of prison, he was physically and psychologically broken, he lived in exile in France, and he wrote very little things. A significant ballad of that period is The ballad of reading Gaol that described his experience in jail. He lived the highest peak but also the lowest bottom. Oscar Wilde died on 30 November 1900. He wrote poetry (The ballad of reading Gaol), novels (The Picture of Dorian Grey), plays (The importance of being Earnest) and aphorism (“I resist anything but temptation”) THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY PLOT This novel is about a rich and beautiful young man who has his portrait made by Basil Hallward. In the painter studio, Dorian meets Lord Henry that talks about the transience of beauty and youth. Dorian is struck by this thought and he will sacrifice his soul if he can maintain his youth and beauty. Under Lord Henry’s influence, Dorian leads a life of pleasures, sins, crimes and corruption while he remains young and beautiful and the image in the portrait become old and ugly bearing all of Dorian’s sins. In the end, responsible for the murder of Basil because of how the portrait became, Dorian stabs the portrait. He is found dead and transformed into an old mine while the portrait has returned to its original beauty. THE THEME OF THE DOUBLE When the novel was published it was criticized because during the Victorian age the purpose of art was education and moral enlightenment. In this novel, beauty is the only purpose of art and life. Even thou the novel has a moral lesson in the end because Dorian’s sins and life of pleasure lead to his own destruction. Despite his hedonistic life, Dorian appears as a beautiful and innocent guy, the portrait is the witness of his real life. STOLE AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE The novel combines elements of Gothic novel with French fiction. It is told by an unobtrusive 3rd person. Wilde uses dialogues to reveal characters’ personalities. The setting is described in great detail. The main element is the portrait that represents Dorian’s conscience and his real self. AESTHETICISM AND THE CULT OF BEAUTY Aestheticism was an art movement according to which art exists for the sake of beauty it doesn’t have any moral or ethical purpose. Wilde can be considered the father of aestheticism. In the preface of the picture, he wrote the famous line “art for art sakes”. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST PLOT Jack is a young man who has a double life, he lives in the countryside and he invented a brother in London called Earnest. In London Earnest, who actually is Jack, falls in love and proposes to Gwendolyn, cousin of his friend Algernon Moncrieff. Gwendolen wants to marry him also because of his name because is a respectable one. When Gwendolen’s mother finds out about the real life of Jack and she won’t permit the wedding until Jack produces at least one parent. But Jack was abandoned in a handbag at a station. In the second and third act we are in Jack country house. Algernon arrives and pretends to be Jack’s brother Ernest and he falls in love and propose to Cecily who accept the propose for the same reason as Gwendolen. At a certain point, Jack comes back to join them and says that his brother Ernest died. The truth comes out, when Lady Bracknell arrives she recognize Cecily’s governess who had worked for her sister long time ago. And the governess had lost a baby, Lady Bracknell’s nephew, in an handbag at Victoria station. They found out that Jack is actually Breacknell’s nephew and Algernon’s elder brother, Ernest. There is an happy ending in which the two couples got married. A SATIRE OF VICTORIAN MANNERS AND VALUES This masterpiece is based on the hypocrisy of contemporary society. It’s a comedy of manners that attacks the moralism of the rich worlds. One of the central theme is the marriage and if that’s a question of business or pleasure: for Lady Bracknell is a questions of business that’s why she asks so many questions to Jack. Being “earnest” means accepting the conventions, the oppressive Victorian Morality but it’s also a satire as we discover that earnest characters are actually hypocrites.