【Abstract】Oscar Wilde as one of the most distinguished aesthetes overpowers the English world with his scintillating address and writing on aestheticism. Especially in “the picture of Dorian Gray”, the only novel in his lifetime, Wilde paints a picture in which his brilliant aesthetic creeds find their full expression. Through the analyses of three main characters involved in the novel, the thesis attempts to explore the essentials of Wilde’s aesthetic theories and offer an easy approach to readers’ further understanding of the Irish wit.
【Key words】aestheticism; hedonism; narcissism; dandyism; cynicism;sensibility; paradox
In public eyes, he belongs to “the alternative society”. His quaint style of dressing, trenchant wit and eloquence, aesthetic belief of “art for art’s sake” and sexual orientation make a mystery of him. In his lifetime, discussion over his literary works and private life remains intent among the reading public. And many years after his death, his mystic resplendent charm, instead of being effaced by the lapse of time, began to assert itself and gained increasing admiration from more open-minded generations. The appeal emanated from within the Irish wit is so enduring that even when Winston Churchill is asked with whom he prefers most to talk if chance permits, the worldly acknowledged master of language offered the name without any hesitation. The name falls on none other than Oscar Wilde.
As a staunch advocate for the aesthetic movement which developed in Britain during the late nineteenth century as a protest against the prevailing industrial emphasis on “the useful” or utilitarianism, Oscar Wilde impresses the world primarily with his amazing power of language in presenting his aesthetic thoughts and theories. Pervading in his literary works are epigrammic wit, amusing irony and paradoxical quotes with humorous skepticism and cynical charm. Especially in “the picture of Dorian Gray”, his only novel, Wilde instills himself and his aesthetic doctrines into the three characters involved in such a tactful way that the book has since become one of his most celebrated works, a brilliant example of his power as a storyteller and of his flamboyant wit as an aesthetic writer. The three characters in question, Dorian Gray, a youth with heart-throbbing physical beauty; Basil Hallward, a painter devoted to art heart and soul; and Lord Henry Wotton, an aristocratic dandy who tempts Dorian Gray into moral degeneration, combine to make a true and complete Oscar Wilde as he himself famously said: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry what the world thinks me; Dorian what I would like to be---in other ages, perhaps.” In this sense, “the picture of Dorian Gray” is not only a picture in which Wilde’s aestheticism is faithfully painted, but also a picture that delineates his inner world.
In the novel that is tinged with mythical color, Dorian, Basil and Henry are all aesthetes respectively representing Oscar Wilde’s aestheticism in their own way. The protagonist Dorian Gray is a youth with stunning beauty, through whose physical charm Wilde presents his aesthetic ideas in two aspects: Narcissism and hedonism.