Riforme sociali nell'età vittoriana, Sbobinature di Inglese

Scarica Riforme sociali nell'età vittoriana e più Sbobinature in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Historical Background of the Victorian Age SOCIAL REFORMATIONS IN THE 19CENTURY The end of the Romantic Age is 1832, the year of the 1st Reform Act, important law which changed the social and political aspects of England, extending the right to vote; or 1837, date when Queen Victoria ascended to the throne, 64 years of the Reign. It’s a really complex period, which it sees the worsening of the gap between the rich and the poor people, because of the development of the industrial revolution and it gave rise to 2nd industrial revolution. This changing affected society, producing a bigger wealth for the upper society classes, and a worsening of the living conditions for the lowest section of society. If on one side, the richest part of the population improved their living conditions, on the other side for the working classes it got worse, and so the gap between the 2 “nations” increased. This brought to the empowering of Britain in the World, which became a leading country from a political and economic point of view, but at the same time this brought to social unrest, because the poorer classes started to protest, asking for reformations. 1832, First Reform Act ➯ This is a law which extended the right to vote to all the male members of the middle classes, indeed before 1832 only the aristocracy could vote the members of the parliament; so with this Reform Act there’s the extension of the vote and a larger part of the population could take part of the political life. Of course, this didn’t stop the social disorder, because still great part of the population couldn’t vote. As we said the working conditions were a problem, so thanks to the request of workers a series of reformations about working started (in particular which regulated working hours): 1833, Factory Act ➯ It forbid the employee of children under the age of 9 in factories and mines; it was the first law which tried to go against child labor because 1833 children where exploited in factories and mines. It also regulated the work of children under 13 to a maximum of 8 hours per day. So children from 9 to 13 could work but they were limited to number of 8 hours, while young people under 18 could work up to 13 hours. This is the first act that tried to give rules to the working hours and employment, in particular of children. Also during the 1833, there was for the first time, in Britain and its colonies the abolition of slavery, the slave trade was abolished earlier, in 1807, but those who already had slaves remain with the usual conditions, but in 1833 they were freed in all the British Empire. 1834, Amendment to the Poor Law ➯ Poor laws were laws enacted by the Parliament since the age of Elizabeth I actually, because the circulation of unemployed poor people had to be regulated in order to avoid begging and crime. The Poor Laws commissioned the Parishes to take care of poor people, giving them shelter and a financial aid. With this Amendment the previous laws were repealed and this way the Parishes didn’t have to take care of the poor and work houses were instituted, where poor people could find a shelter, clothes and food, in exchange for an amount of working labors; in this way they lived in extremely difficult conditions, because even if there were granted, food was not a lot, just a small amount, besides families were also split, because there were different and separated working hoses for men, women and children. The idea behind this law was that poor people had to improve their lives with their own actions. 1839, First People Charter ➯ The working people organized themselves in order to ask for the right to not, and this was rejected and the organization was dissolved. But they influenced the birth of the Trade Unions, that are organized groups of workers who defended their rights and provided health. 1839, Anti-Corn Law League ➯ It’s an organization of manufacturer who were in favor of free trade and actually the Corn Laws were laws which fixed the prices of goods, in particular the one of bread, keeping it at an high rate to protract the privileges of landed lords. But the manufacturer in favor of free trade founded institution of the Anti-Corn Law League which brought to the Repeal of the Corn Law in 1846. This meant the introduction of free trade, which is really important because it means that trade was only regulated by its own rules without the intervention of state laws. 1850s Trade Unions ➯ Birth of this organization that were organizations of workers trying to demand for rights and work reformations. They also provided mutual aid in case of sickness or other difficulties. At first Trade Unions were not accepted, only later they were recognized. Mines Act, 1862 ➯ It was considering the work in mines, and this act stated that no children and women had to work in mines, this was one of the “Factory Act” the first one was in 1832 (there were more of them). Second Reform Act, 1867 ➯ What was rejected in the First Reform Act (1839), was accepted an enacted in 1836; This act extended the right to vote to the town workers, but the mines and agricultural workers were still excluded from both of these acts, only with the Third Reform Act they will have the possibility to vote. Education Act, 1870 ➯ It makes elementary education compulsory. So all the children had to attend elementary school. Trade Union Act, 1871 ➯ The Trade Unions which were born in the ’50 and which were illegal, they now became legally accepted. The Labor Party (one of the most important political party in England today) was born as a Trade Union. Third Reform Act, 1884 ➯ Gives the right to vote to the mines and agricultural workers, so in this way all the male workers could vote. Of course who didn’t have jobs and women were left out, only in 1918 we can talk about a Universal Suffrage, and so all people over 21 years old could vote, included women. The improvement of the situation of the working people is a long process, which started with social reformations in the Victorian Period, which is still characterized by social unrest and in the final years also with economic crisis. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND It is a really long period; from 1837 to 1861 it’s the early (the first part) of the Victorian Age. It’s known as the Victorian age because of the monarch who reigned during the period, which is Queen Victoria and she ascended to the throne 1837; but the date that marks the passage from the Romanticism to the following age, called Victorian, is 1832, the date of the First Reformation a, which is really important because it is the first step for a series of reformations. So usually the Victorian Age starts before Queen Victoria, and it ends 1901 after Victoria’s death. This long period is usually divided in 2 parts: the Early Victorian Age and the Late Victorian Age. The first period starts as we said in 1832 and it ends in 1861, date of the death of Queen Victoria’s husband, Albert. 1st Part, The Early Victorian Age Birth of Trade Unions, then in 1832 there’s the opening of the Great Western Railway, the invention of the Railway completely changed the means of transportation. There are references to Dickens and the Bronte’s sisters. In 1851 there’s the Great Exhibition -> showing of all the technical and scientific advanced of the period. Then there is a serie of wars fought by the Britain to protect the Empire 1861 ➮ death of the queen’s husband 1) The Opium Wars (1840) ⇨ Britain fought two times against China, for the illegal importation of opium. Britain acquired this new market 2) The Crimean War (1854-56) ⇨ Fought against Russia, who was trying to conquer Turkey, which was really important because it was the country which led towards eastern market, and it was also a strategic place. If Russia had conquered it, Britain would have lost most part of the eastern market. Britain won the war, but didn’t acquired territory, it just stopped the expansion of Russia. Important war because a huge number of soldiers lost their lives; to help the wounded soldiers in Crimea, a woman called Florence Nightingale left Britain and went to Crimea, this is how the professional figure of the nurse was born, which also promoted the foundation of the Red Cross. 3) The Indian Mutiny (1857) ⇨ India was one of the most important colony, but the British control was too strict, because they didn’t only exploit the country, but they also imposed the political power and the British lifestyle. Indian resented this and they rebelled against the British rule. The mutiny means the rebellion of the native Indians against the British army. This rebellion was repressed and India became directly under the control of the British crown. Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India (1877). 4) The Boer War (1899-1902) ⇨ The Boers were Dutch people who colonized South People, and England fought this war against the Boers, to conquer new territories which were rich of gold and diamonds. This wars brought power to Britain, but they also costed really much, so they brought a period of internal depression. This depression mainly affected the working classes. Besides there is also an important problem with Ireland, which after famines, asked fo Home Rule, thanks to the intervention of Parnell, but this was rejected. This rejection was the beginning of a conflict between Ireland and Britain, conflict called the Irish Question, solved just a decade ago. All of this brought a great discontent among the intellectuals and writers, who in the second part of the period became more pessimistic, and also the literary production represents all the pessimism of this period. While in the first period there was a representation of a difficult situation of the working classes and lower social classes, in the second period the criticism increased, strong criticism against the institution. LATE VICTORIAN NOVELS Criticism became stronger and novels were characterized by a more evident realism, typical trend in Victorian novels, both in the early and late age, but in the second part it started to be more evident and almost scientific. The main fact is that the writers belonging to the second phase did not accept anymore the victorian compromise and they started to denounce the evil of the society in a harsher way, while in the first period the writers spoke about the evil of society (represented by a polluted environment, difficult living conditions of workers and poor people, the hypocrisy of the middle class, … ), they didn’t question the institution and the criticism was in a way a mild criticism. In the second part of the age the criticism became stronger, this is the period when novels focused on the dark side of the Victorian Age, and it is in this phase that the double side of the Victorian Age is represented through the idea of the duality of human nature, and so the representation of a divided self (for example in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide), two aspects of the same person. Writers of this phase contrasted the optimistic view of man and progress and they adopted a more pessimistic point of view, in the very last decade of the age, the criticism towards the victorian society was represented by the aesthetic escape; aestheticism is a criticism made towards the society made through an escape towards aesthetic vibes. - MAIN TRENDS OF THE NOVEL of the 1st phase: ❐Urbanization, life in towns and cities, which were affected by industrialization; typical setting in the first phase of the age were the industrial cities. After the industrial revolution, in the first decade of the 19th century, the lives in the cities was the main themes was typical theme of victorian authors, and the typical settings was London, because London was the city which had the highest movement of people and it became an overcrowded city, because it became the heart of the new social system with the 2 aspects of the victorian compromise, on one side the aspects of the the progress (for example the railway, the electric lights), and on the other side the difficult living conditions in the slums, which were described in the novels of the first decade of the age. The cities are characterized by realistic description in the novels, so there was an attention to the realistic representation of a town, and so the focus on verisimilitude and this realistic description of the cities insisted on dark colors, monotonous sounds, pollution, and in general the fact that with industrialization, cities and towns became ugly, in fact the most important representation is that of the ugliness of the environment. Industrialization also brought a form of alienation, where people, and in particular factory workers, lost their sons of individuality. So alienation, pollution and ugliness of the environment is always associated to human alienation in the description of industrial towns and cities in this age. ❐The trend of this period is realism represents the fidelity of an artistic representation to real life, so authors in this period try to represent the environment and life as it really was, and this was considered a reaction to romanticism and a stress on positivism (the philosophical trend with characterize the age, faith in the power of science and reason), this is the new European trend of the age, and it is actually peculiar in every country. The author observes the reality and tries to represent it objective and so with detachment. England followed this general trend, but there was what is called mid victorian realism (1st part of the age), which is opposed to the late realism (2nd part of the age), the mid victorian realism is also called mild realism, because authors tried to represents the environment and reality as it actually was, but they referred to social problems of the age without harsh criticism, because novels were addresses to the middle class. Later realism instead is stronger, the general atmosphere was pessimistic, can be compared to what in France is called naturalism. The most writers of the mid victorian realism is Charles Dickens, while the author who represents later realism is Robert Louis Stevenson, with his novel "Dr. Jekyll e Mr. Hyde". Coketown INTRODUCTION OF HARD TIMES, NOVELS BY CHARLES DICKENS The absolute fate in science and technology is represented here; this was linked to another important philosophical trend and attitude with is the Utilitarianism (= only what is useful is important in society, this of course cost a materialistic attitude), here with the word “fact”, Dickens underline the materialism in society, the word represents something objective; creativity, fantasy, emotions and feelings were not important, the most important aspect was useful. In this first part, Dickens relate the text to pollution, which is related through the language of the senses, referring to sight, hearing and smell. And it is characterized by the using of figure of speech: There is also a description of the town (invented town, typical town of the industrial revolution), town characterized by buildings of red bricks, that they were covered by smoke and ashes = pollution. Figure of speech, a simile = “like the painted face of a savage” (savages usually paints their face during war, so this idea is like a violent war). Metaphor = “interminable serpents of smoke”, representing the poisonous of the smoke and the pollution. The colors are important “black canal” ➮ black represents pollution, also the river is polluted, “purple river”, purple also represents pollution, because the color of the water is unnatural. The third figure of speech is ➮ again a simile = “like the head of an elephant in a state of …”, the piston of the steam-engine is compared to the elephant, this is directly referred to the factory; there’s the idea of a monotonous melancholy which brings to madness. • The savage; • The serpents; • The elephant. Are all elements that referred to a wild environment ➮ comparison between an urban environment (=the city) and a wild environment (= the jungle), both characterized by danger and wild creatures. The description goes on and in this second part he talks about the shape of the town and the lives of people: the town has got many streets, and they are all the same and also the people, they are just a great mass which do the same things ➮ idea of monotony; the monotonous work in the factory ➮ mirrored in the shape of the town and the monotonous life of the people. This part is focused on monotony and the loss of individuality. Using of a lot repetition ➮ figure of speech; this conveys the idea of monotony and ALIENATION (which characterized life in industrial towns). Charles Dickens MOST IMPORTANT WRITER OF THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE AGE He had an unhappy childhood ➮ when he was 12 years old, his father was sent to prison, and so Dickens was retired from school and he was compelled to work in a factory. So he actually experimented child labor. This strongly affected his way of thinking and writing. Most of his works are dedicated to children. When his father was released, Charles went back to school, he studied and then he became a newspaper reporter. The fact that he worked for a newspaper helped him writing. He wrote about London people and scenes. The fact that he became journalist ➮ counts for the use of realistic details in novels. Then he started to write autobiographical novels and he had an immediate success ➮ they represents his social criticism. He mainly represented the urban environment and industrial cities, most of them are seated in London, where he picted 3 different social levels: ❐The parochial word of the work houses ➮ the work houses are the institution where workers where sent to live in a really pour conditions, and this represent 2 social levels: the working classes, which lived in really difficult conditions; and the lower-middle classes who were the one who ran the houses, each work house had a “guardian”, someone who ran the house; ❐ Criminal words of murders, … ➮ they lived in the squalid slams; ❐The victorian middle class ➮ they believed in human dignity, they represent the status of welfare. Dickens’s novels finish with a happy ending and his plots are characterized by sentiment. The plots are complex and complicated because they were published in magazines, in installments. He picted the victorian society in all his aspects, he represented both the middle class and the lower class, so his characters are really varied. Dickens created caricature, he represented some of the characters with exaggeration, he underlined the ridicule aspects, of both the classes. This is a typical characteristic of Dickens’s characterization. He is a novelist who belongs to the trend of the mid victorian realism, but there are some aspects that are distant from the effective realism, because of his exaggerate characterization of some of his character, he tried to ridicule some of them. He was obviously on the side of the working class, in particular on the side of working children. Most of the children of his works, start in a difficult situation and end with a resolution of their living conditions. His main aim is social criticism ➮ he believed that literature could help to change the situation. He tried to denounce the social evil of his age, to make his reader aware of them and trying to change the situation. The evils of his society were due to the fact that difficult living conditions to criminality (prostitution, crime, …). He didn’t propose a complete reversal of values and a change of social system, he was asking for more sympathy and help for those who lives int those living conditions. Dickens used: ❐Long and complex descriptions; ❐Repetition of the same words and sentences structure; ❐Exaggeration; ❐The suspence at the end of the novel (due the fact he published novels in installments, so he had to keep reader’s attention). SETTING The background is mainly London, represented by both the point of view of the social classes: we find elegant neighbors, but also poor houses and descriptions of the criminality and prostitution world. We mainly find a criticism against the world of workhouses (in particular, for the fact that, workhouses were founded from the idea that poverty was a consequence of laziness). Another important theme id the criticism against the official of the workhouses, because they caused poor people farther misery, so they were responsible of poor people suffering. This novel is characterized by a happy ending ➔ Oliver finds out that he is the son of a middle class family, so he goes back to his condition, he will be adopted by a rich man and he finds his good condition in society. The happy ending, in a way, show the Dickens’s sentimentalism, and the “weak” part in his works. The main contradiction is that Dickens used to sustain the general trend of his period (= positivism), even if he denounced the difficult conditions of the working classes ➔ he represents a MILD criticism = mid victorian realism. With the writers of the Late Victorian period, the situation changed ➔ realism became harsher and an atmosphere of pessimism started to spread. Bleak House PG. 302 It focuses on the description of the character: Joe. Joe is a child, he’s homeless and he lives in the streets of London. We can notice that there is an Ironi remark at the beginning of the narration, he underlines “lives”, that’s to say that he’s not dead yet ➔ this represents the really bad living condition, because the idea of living is only connected to the fact that he hasn’t died YET, so Joe’s life is not a “real life”, but a kind of surviving from the poor world he belongs to. The first part is the description of the place where he lives ➔ the adjectives “black” and “dilapidated” are negative, and it is avoided to “all decent people”. Joe can’t read or write, he is illiterate ➔ line 6-10 Line 13 ➔ “it means nothing to me”, Joe’s talking, there is a shifting of narration, from an external to an internal point of view. Line 14 ➔ he is “hustled” and “jostled” by everyone, he’s almost invisible, people pass by without even noticing him. From line 14 the child is considering his own miserable condition, there is a 1st person narration. The representation of a small animal (= legacy where he belongs, the miserable people), who himself feels like, instead of the “superior beings”. What does he have in common with Rosso Malpelo? • They seem to belong to the animal world rather than the human one; • They are not considered by the other people; • They are exploited. Both Dickens and Verga belong to the general trend of realism, and they both are concerned with the exploitation of children BUT with 2 mainly differences: 1) Dickens tells his stories with an omniscient narrator who’s obstructive (makes comments and guides the readers through the narration), while Verga is the beginner a new narrative technique, which is the IMPERSONAL NARRATION ➔ the events are told as objectively as possible without any intervention of the narrator; 2) Dickens is concerned with the urban environment, Verga concentrates to the rural and regional life. Look at the “summing up”, pg. 304 Robert Louis Stevenson LATE VICTORIAN REALISM In this second part of the age, writers started questioning the fundamental ideas and materialism which came from this general cultural trend ➔ realism became harsher, and they got a more pessimistic view of life. The denunciation of “evil” in the society is way harsher. Short novel or along short story ➔ The Strange Case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. The Truth about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde PG 318 Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde are 2 characters that are actually in one person, two sides of the same character. The presence of Hyde is due to Dr Jekyll experiment. Dr Jeckyll is a medical doctor, who made an experiment, he drunk a potion and after drinking it he transformed himself into different being ➔ Mr Hyde. This novel has got a complex structure, because in the 1st part is told in 3rd person and it speaks about the mysterious presence of Mr Hyde, that nobody knows where he comes from. The last part is composed by Dr Jeckyll’s letters ➔ shift of narration: from the external to the internal point of view, where the protagonist himself explained what happened and so solved the mystery. This text belongs to the last part is the letter written by Jeckyll where he explains the reasons which brought him to attempt the experiment and the results. And so to explain the mystery under the existence of Mr Hyde. Dr Jeckyll is going to explain his experiment and what his supposes to be the truth, but he doesn’t know all of it ➔ something is left out to the reader, is not a scientific truth but a SPECULATION. The background is the fact that immediately before this text (in the original novel) there emus the description of this transformation = Dr Jeckyll drinks the potion and he transforms himself into Mr Hyde, then he realizes that this creature is smaller than himself ➔ so he tris to give an explanation. So what’s this explanation? Why is Mr Hyde smaller and younger? Because PROBABLY (let’s remind, it is a speculation) Mr Hyde represents the evil side of the human being ➔ side which is not exercised by Jekyll, who always has been virtuous and good person. This follows to the theory that says that what is good is beautiful (➔Dr Jeckyll) and what is evil is ugly (➔Mr Hyde). Even if it should be repulsive, the sensation that the characters feels is of attractiveness, he is attracted by this ugly being, this because they are the same character. He “likes” this new being, despite his ugly appearance. Jeckyll divided his self, the good and the evil part, while “normal people” are mixed. Line 18 ➔ Dr Jeckyll has to attempt a 2nd experiment who has to restore his self and it will have success. Line 23 ➔ “had I approach”, it is an inversion and it stands for an if clause of 3rd type. He’s underlining the fact that the motivation of his experiment was not a good one but he wanted to experiment his evil side, he wants to see what happens without paying the consequences of being evil so he gives this responsibility to a different being which is not himself, but it is Mr Hyde ➔ he tries to find a way to not having responsibilities. He wanted to get rid of the evil side but also he wants to see what he’s going to do without taking the responsibilities of his actions. He organizes a house where Mr Hyde would live, so if sth happened to Jeckyll, Mr Hyde would inherit Jeckyll’s possessions. Going on with the story, Try Hyde will be the responsible of some criminal acts, but he can’t be taken by the police because he always goes to the form of Dr Jeckyll and so the police can’t find him. At a certain point the evil side of Dr Jeckyll starts to grow, so the transformations take place without drinking the potion, so Dr Jeckyll start worrying about it. To stop it he has to destroy himself in order to destroy Mr Hyde ➔ he commits a suicide. This is what he explains in the letters which are read by Mr Utterson. This whole novel is showing the theme of the double ➔ 2 aspects of the same character. Representing what we call the VICTORIAN COMPROMISE ➔ Dr Jekyll represents all the society, while Hyde represents the evil side of the society (= living condition of the lowest society), hidden by the respectable appearance of the middle classes = just like the appearance of Dr Jeckyll which hides his evil side, Mr Hyde ➔ hypocrisy of Dr Jeckyll who wants to be a good person. From a technical point of view is complex ➔ it can be divided in 3 parts, because is narrated by 3 different narrators, the narration is shifting from one character to another, the first 2 parts are told by two external narrators: Mr Utterson and Dr Lanyon, who are two witnesses the mysterious events connected to Mr Hyde. Their knowledge of the fact is limited, so they reported only what they know. It is only in 3rd part that we can find the solution of mystery, given by the protagonist himself, which solves the mystery, through letters, so with an internal omniscient 1st person narration, while the other two parts are told in a 3rd person narrator. This novel is the first example in English literature of a crime, detective story. This is given at first by the title “The Strange Case” = it is a mystery which has to be solved Mr Utterson is a kind of detective who follows the clues to solve the case. There are some gothic elements in the text ➔ represented by the presence of a monster (who commits crime), also by the setting (most part of the events happens at night ➔ connected to the idea of danger, mystery; a foggy London ➔ fog covers the reality and guves the sense of mystery and fear). SETTING It is set in London, in particular there is the representation of Jeckyll’s house, which recalls the division between goods and evils ➔ it is characterized by elegance and then we have the “real” side of the house, used by Hyde, that has a sinister look. This mirrors the distinction between Jeckyll and Hide ➔ theme of the double, which may be connected to the theme of the double we find in Frankestein. CHARACTERS • Mr Utterson; • Mr Lanyon; • Dr Jeckyll; • Mr Hyde. Women represented in the text have secondary roles, represents the fact that the victorian world was a patriarchal one. The relationship between characters is just professional, is not studied by a psychological point of view. Hyde can be considered a representation of a primitive man. He adopted the aesthetically idea in his works and his life, he affirmed that he wanted to make his life like a work of art. He was accused of immorality, in particular with his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, it followed the deeds of someone who looked forward extreme sensation without any moral value. Wilde introduced the novel with a preface, where he stated the role of the artist, the characteristic of art and the function of the critic. In this text he said that the artist is the creator of beautiful things ➔ he wants to underline that this book didn’t have any didactic purpose. And so art has the means used only to celebrate beauty and the sensorial pleasure, while virtue and vice where only employed by the artist as the materials of his art, they were the subjects but not the main aim. The novel first appeared in a magazine in 1891 and it was harshly criticized, it appeared again, extended with the preface, after one year. All art is quite useless PG 323 This preface has nothing to do with the novel itself ➔ it is a text explaining and stating the main ideas of the aesthetic movement, it just wanted to justify the way in which the book was written; so it doesn’t have direct reference to the novel. It is written in an aphoristic style, it is composed of different aphorism (=short sentence revealing a particular truth). It is not an organic work. ◆1st aspect refers to art ➔ idea of the creative power of the artist, “The artist is the creator of beautiful things” is the core of the aesthetic movement. ◆2nd part refers who read the work of art, the critic, the one who interprets the art and gives a judgment ➔ he says that the critic is the one who perceives the beauty of the work of art and interprets it, the mean object of the work of art is interpreted by the critic and translated it into a different language; Art is not objective, but subjective and so the criticism is an autobiography because the critic could match himself when interpreting the work of art. The values of art depends on those who sees and reads it. Those who see ugly meaning in beautiful things are wrong, because beauty has got a value of its own ➔ this is Wilde criticism against the fact he was accused of immorality. Again the object of art is beauty and those who don’t see the beauty in it are wrong. Line 8 ➔ a book has no moral aim. From line 10 to 17 ➔ The artist can express everything, so if an artist represents a character who is devoted to vice (like Dorian Gray), this doesn’t mean that the book is not beautiful and the art is corrupted, as he already stated in line 8. Morality has nothing to do with art. “All art is at once surface and symbol” (line 16), art is made up of two parts: • Surface = the form • Symbol = the meaning When we read a book we follow the superficial story but then we know that it aims at a deeper meaning. Understanding the work of art reading it through its form is not simple, because it depends on the subjective interpretation and also because a work of art can be controversial or problematic, and so it hasn’t got a univocal meaning. If there are different interpretations of the same work of art this means that it is complex, new and vital ➔ a beautiful work of art. When critics disagree, so there are different interpretations, the artist has made a good work. “All art is quite useless” ➔ useless thing are made to be admire, distance from the utilitarianism. It represents the MANIFESTO of the aesthetic movement PLOT of The Picture of Dorian Gray It is set in London, it opens in the studio of an artist Basil Hallward, who makes a portrait of a beautiful young man called Dorian Gray. At Basil’s studio, Dorian meets For Henry Watton, he talks about transience of youth and beauty. Dorian is struck by this thought and a wish, a pledge: he will sacrifice his soul if he can maintain his youth and beauty, while the portrait itself will bear all the signs of the passing of the time. Under Lord Henry’s influence, Dorian leads a hedonistic life of pleasure, sin, crime, corruption and vices. His scandalous lifestyle is hidden by the fact he remains young and beautiful, while the image in the portrait, which is hidden away, becomes old and ugly, bearing all the signs of Dorian’s sins. At the end of the story, responsible for the death of an actress and the murder of Basil, killed in a fit of anger after the artist has seen the disfigured portrait and discovered Dorian’s terrible secret, Dorian stabs the portrait. Dorian is found dead, now transformed into a horrible old man beside the portrait, which has returned to its original beauty. Dorian Gray kills Dorian Gray PG 326 Dorian is at home. The scene just before this one is Dorian seducing a girl, as he always did, but this time he decided to save her and not to completely seduce her, so he thought that this good action would make the portrait look better. In order to see the portrait improving he starts doing good action. So now he goes to see the picture. “Strangely young looking face” ➔ it is “strangely” because he is young because of his wish, so he’s not really young. When he sees the portrait he starts crying (crying of pain) because he sees no change in the way he hope, the portrait slightly changed and got worse. He hoped that the drop of blood that was on the hands of his portrait (that it appeared when he first murdered someone) would disappear, but it looks like it got even brighter, as he committed a new crime. There is a series of questions which represents the fact that Dorian is going to understand that he didn’t want to be good for goodness sake, but just because he could both want experience a new sensation or it was just a sign of vanity. In this particular text the point of view is internal, even if it’s told by 3rd person narrator and it is an internal narrator (the whole novel is told by man omniscient, 3rd person narrator, who is unobtrusive). This series of question give the idea of what was passing inside Dorian’s mind. The repletion of the word “blood” represents that Dorian’s guilt is becoming visible and is underlined by it. He is aware that he has to pay for his crimes, that’s why he doesn’t confess his guilt. Then he starts of thinking about the girl he saved, who should have improved the portrait. He understands that the portrait doesn’t only gain the physical changes of the passing of the time, but it also takes the action that he did during his life. The portrait is like a mirror that shows his soul: vanity, curiosity, hypocrisy, … The portrait made him understand that he didn’t make good actions during his life and he is aware of this now by looking at the picture, which shows his real aspect and his real being. He feels this load on him and he wants to get away from it, but without confessing, because he still wants to live this life, so he decided to get rid of the only evidence of his evilness ➔ the picture. [ This is the same feeling of Dr. Jeckyll ] He felt that he could be free from his past and from his guilt destroying the portrait. When Dorian stabs the portrait there is a horrible cry, which is heard from the people passing by. After a moment of distress and fear, the servants go upstairs seeing what happened. They found the portrait which is restored to his original beauty, while on the ground there is a dead man, which is Dorian Gray, horribly changed, becoming what he actually would looked like, the servants could recognize him from his ring and not from his physical traits. GENERAL COMMENTARY of The Picture of Dorian Gray ❐Narration ➔ the story is told by a 3rd person narrator who is unobtrusive, but the point of view is internal, so the story is told from Dorian’s eyes, even if is told in 3rd person, we actually read his own thoughts. The internal point of view makes the process of the identification of the reader and the protagonist easier, the reader can identify with the character of Dorian Gray. ❐Setting ➔ it is set in London, mainly during night time, because we follow the protagonist in his social events (theatre, night meeting with women, gathering with other people, …). The setting is described with vivid language and in particular with use all the five senses. ❐Characters are introduced indirectly, through what they do or say, or through what other people say, for example we learn that Dorian Gray is a handsome young man through the words of the painter and Watton. ❐The protagonist ➔ Dorian Gray, the typical dandy = elegant, refine, he belongs to the highest section of society, and he is in search of beautiful things which are the only things which makes him happy; the real dandy in this novel is Lord Henry Watton, Dorian is an imperfect dandy. Dorian is extremely individualistic and selfish, he thinks that he should live his life realizing his wishes and dreams, in order to protect his life he is ready to kill people, even one of his friends, the painter, Basil Hallward. He thinks happiness is like to his being young and to his beauty. ❐Meaning of the text ➔ modern version of Dr Faustus, which is a renascence play written by Marlowe, where the protagonist sells his soul to the devil, in exchange for an unlimited knowledge and extreme experience, when he dies the devil takes his soul to hell. This theme is also taken by Goethe, which wrote “Faust”, here the protagonist will save his soul because there would be a process in paradise, where he won’t be commended for his eternal life. Dorian is a new modern version of it, because there isn’t a clear deal with the devil, there is a WISH. The figure of the devil can be evoked by Lord Henry Watton, here. The picture represents the dark side of his soul or his conscious. ❐THEME OF THE DOUBLE ➔ Dorian and the picture are two sides of the same self. They are connected, what Dorian does on his life is shown on the picture, besides when he decides to destroy the picture, he actually kills himself. While in Dr. Jeckyll, he was aware that to destroy Mr Hyde he had to commit a suicide; here Dorian wasn’t aware of it, he wants to destroy the picture for continuing his life without confronting himself with his past actions. The double life that Dorian lives, represents his hypocrisy, he wants to be accepted in society, he wants to fulfill his desires without paying the consequence of his actions. Dorian wants to forget his conscious, in fact he locks the picture in a room in his house, he hides it. The theme of the double represents the double aspect of the victorian society and so the VICTORIAN COMPROMISE = forbidden desires where hidden behind an acceptable public looks. Despite of the way in which the novel was considered at first (=immoral for the excessive life of Dorian), it conveys as a moral novel: • every excess must be punished ➔ Dorian wants to escape from it and he’s going to die for it; • criticism of the victorian society ➔ the horrible picture can be seen as the symbol of the immorality of victorian society.