Oscar wilde and his theory of art for arts sake. analysis of “the picture of dorian gray”.

The second half of the XIX century in England gave rise to a rapid growth of social contradictions. This period was characterized by a crisis in bourgeois culture. Artists, poets, novelists and all the intellectuals hated the heartless and hypocritical bourgeois world. The crisis of bourgeois culture was reflected in literature by the appearance of two trends the one was progressive, the other - regressive. Oscar Wilde belongs to those bourgeois writers whose literary activity contradictory in its nature mirrors the crisis in bourgeois ideology. Oscar Fingal O’ Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854 into the family of a distinguished Irish surgeon and educated at Dublin and Oxford Universities. His mother was a writer of poetry and prose. At school, and later at Oxford, Oscar displayed a considerable gift for art and humanities. The young man received a number of classical prizes, and graduated with first-class honours. His affected paradoxes and witty sayings were quoted on all sides. Under the influence of John Ruskin, Wilde joined the Aesthetic Movement and soon became its leader. He made himself the apostle of “art for art’s sake” and of the cult of beauty. In 1882 he went to America to lecture on the Aesthetic Movement in England. His lecture tours were triumphantly successful.

Wilde proclaimed the theory of extreme individualism but, as has been mentioned, he often contradicts himself. In his tales, he glorifies beauty, and not only the beauty of nature or artificial beauty of devoted love. He admires unselfishness, kindness and generosity (“The Happy Prince, “The Nightingale and the Rose”) and despises egoism and greed (“The Selfish Giant, “The Devoted Friend”). Though in Wilde’s opinion art does not mirror life, the theme of most of his works, even of his tales, is realistic. He shows the contrast between wealth and poverty. Though according to Wilde’s theory an author must be impartial to his characters, that is to say, must not have any likes and dislikes, his own sympathy for poor labouring people is quite evident, as well as his hatred of the rich who live at the expense of the poor “The Devoted Friend”, “ The Young King”. In his plays Wilde gives realistic pictures of contemporary society and exposes the vices of the bourgeois world. In his plays Wilde directs his satire against various aspects of contemporary life: marriage relations, morality and class privileges. In the comedy “An Ideal Husband” the author reveals the corruption of the upper classes of society. He shows the way people can come to power in bourgeois England. The main character of the play is Sir Robert Chiltern, a member of the government, a man of the world, “a personality of mark… deeply respected by the many”. Mrs. Cheveley who knows that Sir Robert wrote a letter to Baron Arnheim, but she was sure he would do anything to avoid the “nasty scandal” which would be the result if he refused her request. In his realistic “comedies of manners” Wilde attacks the bigotry and hypocrisy of bourgeois society, but his satire is not so sharp as that of Bernard Shaw. He does not go deep into the social problems of the age: his chief aim is to entertain people with the sparkling wit of his brilliant dialogue, his aphorisms and paradoxes. We know his comedies “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, “A woman of No Importance”, “An Ideal Husband”, “The Importance of Being Earnest”. The wit and brilliance of these plays helped to keep them on the stage, and they are still occasionally revived. Wilde also wrote poems, essays, reviews, political tracts, letters and occasional pieces on every subject he considered worthy of attention – history, drama, painting “The Soul of Man under Socialism”, “Intentions”. Some of these were serious, some satirical; the variety of themes reflected a personality that could never remain inactive. Of all the evils of society he despised bourgeois morality most of all. His opinion on the subject is expressed in the theory of “immoral aestheticism” in which he glorifies beauty and conveys the idea that it is not at all necessary that books should be realistic and teach morality. Beauty is the only requirement they must satisfy. His only novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is considered his masterpiece. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” describes the life of a young man, Dorian Gray, or to be more exact, his spiritual life. The author touches upon many important problems of contemporary life: morality, art and beauty in particular. At the beginning of the novel we see an inexperienced youth, a kind and innocent young man. Dorian is influenced by two men with sharply contrasting characters: Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. The attitude of these two towards the young man shows their different approach to life, art and beauty. Basil is an artist to the core. He pains Dorian Gray and puts his whole soul into the work. When Lord Henry asks Basil why he does not want to exhibit the portrait the artist says him the reason. Basil is not such a brilliant wit as Lord Henry but he is kind, generous, honest and humane. To his mind art without beauty is shallow. He worships Dorian’s beauty feasts his eyes on him. Basil doesn’t idealize Lord Henry. He doesn’t conceal the fast that he is afraid of Lord Henry’s influence over the young man. Lord Henry is handsome pleasant to listen to. His speech is eloquent and witty full of paradoxes. But at the same time Lord Henry is heartless cynical and immoral. He loves no one, he believes neither in real friendship nor in love. His life is shallow. The thought that he can deprive Basil of Dorian’s company pleases Lord Henry. He knows that he has ruined by his personality gives him pleasure and that is only thing his selfish nature wants. The author shows the gradual degradation of Dorian Gray. At first he is tortured by his conscience but soon after Sibyl Vane’s tragic death he becomes even more cynical and immoral than Lord Henry himself. Basil is aware of Lord Henry’s corrupting influence over the young man. He suffers terribly, but all his attempts to show Dorian how cruel and heartless he is end in failure. The end of the novel shows a certain change in Dorian’s character. After he had escaped the vengeance of Sibyl Vane’s brother, Dorian began to see his life in a new light. He was young and handsome, but not at all happy. Life had suddenly become too hard for him to bear. The end of this book is a contradiction to Wilde’s decadent theory. Dorian Gray’s portrait is symbolic. It shows not only a handsome young man, but also the inner world of the artist who created it, and the spiritual life of the sister.

Glorifying beauty of nature or of devoted love, admiring unselfishness, kindness and generosity O. Wilde proclaimed art for art’s sake. & he was very succeed in it.

Date: 2016-01-05; view: 2747