Oscar Wilde's Life and Literary Work: Aestheticism, Dorian Gray, and the Pursuit of Beauty, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Oscar Wilde's Life and Literary Work: Aestheticism, Dorian Gray, and the Pursuit of Beauty e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! BIOGRAPHY (1854 - 1900) Birth: 1854 Dublin Wealthy and important family: -Father prominent ear and eye surgeon of his time -Mother prominent poet and a representative figure of Irish nationalism. He attended Trinity College before eventually moving to England to pursue his literary career => he quickly became an important figure of English Aestheticism In 1882 he went to the U.S. to lecture for 12 months on Aestheticism In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, from whom he had two children. In 1888 he started his writing career publishing short stories similar to fairy-tales like “The Happy Prince”. 1890 THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY (his only novel) => Mixture of English Gothic literature and French Decadence. After that, Wilde wrote a series of theatre plays: 1895: “An Ideal Husband” and “The Importance of Being Earnest” = The author plays with the hypocrisy and contradictions of Victorian society. 1891: first meeting with his future lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. In 1895, he was accused of being a “sodomite” by Douglas’ father and in spite of a brilliant self- defense in court, Wilde was sentenced to two years at hard labor in prison. Here, he wrote the letter De Profundis (pub. in 1905) to Douglas. Last years: -Life in France -1898: He published his last work “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” -Death in 1900. AESTHETICISM Art for Art's Sake “Art exists for the sake of its beauty alone without having political, didactic, or other purpose”. ART = BEAUTY The aesthete should devote every moment to the pursuit of beauty. The artists should make a work of art out of their own life. = Two prerequisites are elegance and class. Main features: => Willingness to reject uniformity and overcome mediocrity of the middle classes (bourgeois). Dandi culture: -Extravagant clothes -Refined language and good manners -Aristocratic self image -Superior mind AIM: => STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD TO MAKE HIS LIFE AS A WORK OF ART 1890 THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY “The Preface” of The Picture of Dorian Gray: -Inserted in the 2nd edition (1891) -Wilde expresses his view on Aestheticism: It consists of a series of aphorisms (=short sentences that transmits a moral) about art and beauty and how they are related to morality. Some aphorisms: “The artist is the creator of beautiful things.” “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” Art and morality are two separate things. = You shouldn't judge a work of art in terms of morality, but only in terms of beauty. “AII art is quite useless.” True art does not serve any purpose and it's not created because it's useful: art exists for art itself. “Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.” “When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself.” A good work of art is COMPLEX because it is able to trigger more interpretations. MAIN CHARACTERS -Dorian Gray He wants immortality to become a living, unchanging and untouchable work of art. He becomes the embodiment of Aestheticism...until it becomes a Decadent. -Lord Henry Wotton, the amoral aesthete. Lord Henry is the symbol of Decadence He is the one that taints Dorian, pushing him to live by his passions and impulses instead of trying to control them. -Basil Hallward, the painter fascinated by the youth and beauty of Dorian Gray. 14) Lord Henry is honest and self confident, also making compliments to the protagonist. He is a close Dorian’s friend. 15) Double revelation that strikes Dorian: YOUTH IS BEAUTIFUL BUT VERY BRIEF AND OLDNESS IS HIDEOUS. Dorian is paralized and enormously scared by this crude awareness. 16) Line 27-29 17) Simile used to Line 30-31 describe his pain “As he thought of it, a sharp pang of pain struck through him like a knife, and made each delicate fibre of his nature quiver.” Metaphor used to Line 31-32 describe his eyes “His eyes deepened into amethyst, and across them came a mist of tears.” Simile used to Line 32-33 describe his feelings | “He felt as if a hand of ice had been laid upon his heart.” PLOT The portrait changes => Dorian looks himself => Dorian realizes his errors and wants to apologize to Sybil => he wants to change his lifestyle. his eye fell upon the portrait Basil Hallward had painted of him. He started back in surprise, the face seemed to him to be a little changed. The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth. The quivering, ardent sunlight showed him the lines of cruelty round the mouth as clearly as if he had been looking into a mirror after he had done some dreadful thing. COMMENT Dorian realizes that his face in the portrait has assumed a different connotation. Now, it shows a line of cruelty as if he had done dreadful behaviors. Then, Dorian sees himself in the mirror and he notices that his mouth hasn't changed. THE FACE HAS CHANGED, FOR SURE. There were no signs of any change when he looked into the actual painting, and yet there was no doubt that the whole expression had altered. It was not a mere fancy of his own. The thing was horribly apparent. DORIAN’S MEMORIES ABOUT HIS DESIRE Suddenly there flashed across his mind what he had said in Basil Hallward’s studio the day the picture had been finished. Yes, he remembered it perfectly. He had uttered a mad wish that he himself might remain young, and the portrait grow old ; that his own beauty might be untamished, and the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins; that the painted image might be seared with the lines of suffering and thought, and that he might keep all the delicate bloom and loveliness of his then just conscious boyhood. COMMENT Dorian remembers that he had expressed a desire to remain young the day of his portrait, whereas it assumed Dorian's oldness and evil. RECOGNITION OF PRAYER'S ANSWERS Surely his prayer had not been answered? Such things were impossible. It seemed monstrous even to think of them. And, yet, there was the picture before him, with the touch of cruelty in the mouth. Dorian tries to blame Sybil for his errors Cruelty! Had he been cruel? It was the girl’s fault, not his. she had disappointed him. She had been shallow and unworthy. His life was well worth hers. Sne had marred him for a moment, if he had wounded her for an age. Dorian reflects about Lord Henry's words Lord Henry had told him that, and Lord Henry knew what women were. Why should he trouble about Sibyl Vane? She was nothing to him now. But the picture? What was he to say of that? It held the secret of his life, and told his story. Yet it was watching him, with its beautiful marred face and its cruel smile. A sense of infinite pity, not for himself, but for the painted image of himself, came over him. It had altered already, and would alter more. COMMENT During Dorian’s portrait: Lord Henry said that women live only for their emotions and better suited to bear sorrow than men. => At first, Dorian starts not to care about Sybil’s feelings but only his portrait that could reveal his corrupted and most hidden secrets. For every sin that he committed, a stain would fieck and wreck its faimess. But he would not sin. He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more, He would go back to Sibyl Vane, make her amends, marry her, try to love her again. Yes, it was his duty to do so. He had been selfish and cruel to her. He thought only of Sibyl Vane. A faint echo of his love came back to him. COMMENT => Then, Dorian realizes his errors with Sybil and desires to apologize to her. He wants to change his bad and corrupted lifestyle. Brief plot of the passage Sibyl — theatre actress with dorian She declares her love for Dorian, who reacts in a cruent way. Then, the portrait changes: a cruent smile appears on Dorian's face. This happens because he has behaved rudely with Sybil without having good reasons. => Dorian regrets his act and wants to ask for forgiveness. But it is TOO LATE: Sybil has committed suicide. Dorian reflects about the importance of his act and he is completely confused. He doesn't know if he should care about the portrait's changes. 2 CHOICES: 1. Regret and change his lifestyle 2. Continue with his lifestyle Lord Henry persuades Dorian to continue his corrupted and vicious life. MOST IMPORTANT PASSAGES Poor Sibyl! what a romance it had all been! She had often mimicked death on the stage, and at last Death himself had touched her, and brought her with him. COMMENT Sybil is a theatre actress and has always simulated her death. But now, she has died in her real life. DORIAN’S THOUGHTS ABOUT SYBIL When he thought of her, it would be as a wonderful tragic figure to show Love had been a great reality. A wonderful tragic figure? Tears came to his eyes as he remembered her child-like look and winsome fanciful ways and shy tremulous grace. He wiped them away hastily, and looked again at the picture. PORTRAIT AND DORIAN He felt that the time had really come for making his choice. Or had his choice already been made? Yes, life had decided that for him,— life, and his own infinite curiosity about life. Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secret, wild joys and wilder sins, —he was to have all these things. The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame: that was all. PORTRAIT’S CHANGE A feeling of pain came over him as he thought of the desecration that was in store for the fair face on the canvas. Once, in boyish mockery of Narcissus, he had kissed, or feigned to kiss, those painted lips that now smiled so cruelly at him. COMMENT Dorian feels pain while reflecting about his changed face in his portrait => Now, his lips have a cruel smile because Dorian has killed Sybil Then, he admits to have kissed himself on the canvas (he is a complete narcist). DORIAN’S CONFUSION AND FEARS: PREVIOUS OR NEW LIFESTYLE? For a moment he thought of praying that the horrible sympathy that existed between him and the picture might cease. It had changed in answer to a prayer; perhaps in answer to a prayer it might remain unchanged. And, yet, who, that knew anything about Life, would surrender the chance of remaining always young, COMMENT Dorian is CONFUSED.