Oscar Wilde, author and main works, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Oscar Wilde, author and main works e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The aesthetic movement The Aesthetic movement was one of the many reactions of intellectuals against the Victorian puritanism. In this period, there is a fracture between the Artist and the Society. In fact, the artist does not recognize himself in the world around him because that world is conventional and mediocre. So, He turns to a world that is opposed to reality, a world of refined, unusual and precious beauty. The Aesthetic Movement developed in England at the end of 19th century; French 19th century poets, especially the Théophile Gautier, influenced the British aestheticism. The aesthetic movement reflects the reaction of the artist against a conventional and mediocre society. So the artist redefines the true role of art that is exemplified in the slogan “Art for Art’s sake”. This Slogan express the idea of beauty in itself, and an equilibrium of interior and exterior beauty. Another reaction against the monotony and vulgarity of middle class life is the behavior as “Bohémien” of the writers, that is to say, an existence against conventions and rules. The father of the Aesthetic movement is considered Walter Pater. He was a philosopher and an intellectual, but he wrote an important novel, that is considered the first aesthetic novel. In fact this novel is also a kind of manifesto of the movement, in which are listed the principles of the movement. The novel is Marius the Epicurean. When it was released, it created so much scandal, because the main character, Marius, was an epicurean, and so he lives the pleasure of life, not only in material field, but also in intellectual field. So he lives without limits. In this novel we can found the most important principle of aesthetic movement: “Art for art’s sake” So this novel is opposed to the Victorian Puritanism. The religion is refused and art becomes the only way to stop the time and to live every experience with emotional intensity. So the consequences of the Aesthetic movement in the artistic and human field are: • Excessive attention to the “self”, an attention to the subjective experience over standard codes of behavior. • Hedonistic and sensual attitude. • Detachment from the mass society, that is to say the perversity of arguments. • Evocative use of language. Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He studied at Oxford and he became a disciple of Walter Pater, the theorist of Aestheticism in England, accepting the theory of “Art for Art’s Sake”. After Oxford he settled in London where he became famous for his extraordinary wit and his dress as a dandy. In 1881 he edited Poems and he was engaged for a tour in the USA. On coming back to Europe he married Constance Lloyd. In 1891 he had a homosexual affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, called Bosie, and for that he was sent to prison where he wrote De Profundis, a long letter to Bosie. When he was released his wife refused to see him so he went into exile in France. He died in 1900 and his last work was The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Wilde lived in the double role of rebel and dandy. The dandy is a bourgeois artist, who, in spite of his obvious unconventionality, remains a member of his class. The wildean dandy is an aristocrat whose elegance is a symbol of the superiority of his spirit. The picture of Dorian Gray Plot Dorian Gray is a fascinating and lovely young man, whose beauty fascinates an artist, Basil Hallward, who, one evening paints him in his office where the story starts. Infact in the office Dorian meets the cynic and charismatic Lord, Henry Wotton, that reveals him the sense of beauty, that is the highest aspect of the genius, it is the biggest thing of the world, it is extraordinary but also temporary, so urges him to live his youth intensely. Driven by Wotton’s words Dorian, gives himself up to the search of unbridled passions and pleasures. Dorian doesn’t tolerate to gets old while the pictures of his friend Basil will not change. So Dorian expresses the wish of the eternal youth and magically the sins of the age, experience and vice appear in the portrait. Dorian continues to live only for pleasure, making use of everybody and letting people die because of his insensibility as his lover, a actress, that kills herself because Dorian doesn’t manage to love her, and Basil Hallward that he considers responsible of the ugliness and kills. In the meantime the picture has the sins of the age and Dorian the sins of his moral corruption and decay and his picture become the mirror of his soul. Later Dorian wants to free himself of the portrait, witness to his spiritual corruption, and stabs it, but he mysteriously kills himself. In the very moment of the death the picture returns to its original purity, and Dorian’s face becomes “withered, wrinkled, and loathsome”. The yellow book Lord Henry gives Dorian a copy of the yellow book as a gift. Although he never gives the title, Wilde describes the book as a French novel that charts the outrageous experiences of its pleasure-seeking protagonist (we can fairly assume that the book in question is Joris-Karl Huysman’s decadent nineteenth-century novel À Rebours, translated as “Against the Grain” or “Against Nature”). The book becomes like holy scripture to Dorian, who buys nearly a dozen copies and bases his life and actions on it. The book represents the profound and damaging influence that art can have over an individual and serves as a warning to those who would surrender themselves so completely to such an influence. James's Gazette, that Dorian Gray “is a story with a moral. And the moral is this: All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment” (Wilde 248). Aestheticism does well to condemn the renunciation of desires, but it is an excessive obedience to these desires that is subversively dangerous. The supremacy of youth and beauty The first principle of aestheticism, the philosophy of art by which Oscar Wilde lived, is that art serves no other purpose than to offer beauty. Throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray, beauty reigns. It is a means to revitalize the wearied senses, as indicated by the effect