Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray: A Study of His Life, Art, and Infamous Novel, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray: A Study of His Life, Art, and Infamous Novel e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 and died in Paris in 1900. He was one of the most famous playwrights in London and also a celebrity of that time. He studied at trinity college in Dublin and graduated in classical language from Oxford. After graduating, he settled in London where became a dandy for his extravagant wit and way of dressing. Oscar admired Walter Peter, the theorist of aesthetics. In his opinion Aestheticism was a search of beautiful, a science that concerns painting, sculpture and poetry, which are different forms of the same truth. Some famous quotes from Wilde: «I have nothing to declare except my genius», «Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes», «A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her». Among the most famous works by Oscar Wilde we remember: Poems, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, The Happy Prince and other Tales, The House of Pomegranates, The Picture of Dorian Gray, AWoman of no Importance, The Importance of Being Earnest. He was an esthete and said that his life was a work of art and he is a creator of beautiful things through vices. The picture of Dorian Gray: Wilde's most popular novel. It first came out in 1890 and was updated in 1891. This novel was considered immoral and it was set in London in the 19th century. The painter Basil Hallward paints the portrait of a handsome young man, Dorian Gray and the portrait ends up becoming the real Dorian who does not age with the passage of time. Dorian's desires of eternal youth are satisfied because he does not age despite his life full of vices and pains. When his friend Basil scolds him, Dorian kills him and later, gripped by guilt, commits suicide by striking his portrait with a knife. The moral is that there is no escape from reality and we pay for every mistake. The picture, restored to its original beauty indicates that art survives people because it is eternal. ANALISI DEL TESTO Dorian’s Death can be divided in three sections. 1- The first part is referred to the past time. Dorian doesn't blame himself for the death Basil, in fact Basil’s murder did not weigh on his mind because he describes that moment as simple madness. He want that the portrait will show some improvement, but he rejects the idea of confession and got rid of the evidence. One day, he sees his portrait in an ugly way and is sorry for his behavior. He understands that that portrait is the reflection of his soul. 2- The second part is referred to the present time. Dorian is aware of his sins and crimes, which are reflected on the picture and decides to destroy the picture. First there are different step: nostalgia for his boyhood, awareness of his corruption, memory of his pact to keep youth, awareness that his beauty caused his ruin and decision to destroy the picture. 3- The third part is referred to his ruin. Dorian stabs the portrait killing himself. We can say that art is more important than life and art wins in the end, since Dorian dies and his portrait recovers its perfection.