Scarica Oscar Wilde e il ritratto di Dorian Gray e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! OSCAR WILDE Born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin His dad was a famous doctor, William Wide (worked for Queen Victoria) and his mother, Lady Jane Francesca, was a poetess and a journalist Brilliant student, clever and witty person Famous for his aphorisms, epigrams and paradoxes 1884: married Constance Lloyd (not love but interests) → 2 sons 1895: theatrical masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest (built on dialogues, puns and paradoxes + satire) Affair with Alfred Douglas, whose father accused him of homosexuality → Wilde decided to accuse him of libel, but this case was rejected, and Wilde was put on trial for “gross indecency” → two years of imprisonment and hard labour (during this time he wrote De Profundis) → his wife changed her surname (“Holland”) and did not allow him to see their children Dandy = man with a strong taste for elegance and an attention to his appearance, often used his wit and spirit to shock other people and to unmask the absurdities of Victorian Age Came out of prison in 1897 as a physically and psychologically broken man Exile in France, where he wrote very little: The Ballad of Reading Goal Died on 30 November 1900 of cerebral meningitis Buried with his first lover Robert Ross; grave in Paris (visitors kiss it until 2011 when it was covered with a glass barrier) Aestheticism (reaction to the utilitarian philosophy of the Industrial Revolution and to Victorian respectability and morals): motto = art for art’s sake: art should be judge on the basis of form rather than morality THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY His only novel First appeared in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890 1891: in book, added 6 chapters and a preface, that is the manifesto of Aesthete Movement: “the artist is the creator of beautiful things” (only object of art should be art itself and the creation of beauty), “There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That’s all” (should not judge a book for his moral aim, only for its aspect), “Art is quite useless” (not moral edifying; hedonism: the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence. In philosophy, the theory that pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of human life) + defence and attack to the critic Many critics denounced the immorality of the story after its scandalous first appearance: the British press labelled it as vulgar, unclean, discreditable, a poisonous book. Some defined it “gothic” or “filthy” The novel seems to contradict the spirit of Aestheticism being indeed a moral, cautionary tale underlining the dangers of giving in to vice and to a selfish pursuit of pleasure + theme of the double (representation of how the literature of the period explored Victorian society and the forbidden desires behind acceptable public faces) Importance of the choice of names ( Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde): o DORIAN GRAY: young, pure, beautiful, shallow, selfish, self-indulgent, self-destructive, insensitive, corrupted, immoral. His physical beauty is associated to inner goodness but here it is only a mask. The Dorians were Hellenic people known for their love of beauty, which links Dorian to ancient Greek culture, the highest point of human civilization for Lord Henry Gray suggests Dorian’s hidden potential for good or evil, black or white, right or wrong o BASIL HALLWARD: skilful painter, in love with Dorian, a good person concerned with good reputation. He creates beauty.
