An Analysis of Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde’sThe Picture of Dorian GrayBy。
A thesis presented to the Foreign Languages Department of。
Universityin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree ofBachelor of ArtsJune 4, 2013Class:Advisor:浅析《道林·格雷的画像》中王尔德的唯美主义摘要：奥斯卡·王尔德作为西方唯美主义的代表人物，他的的很多作品都体现了其唯美主义的主张。
王尔德于1890年创作的《道林·格雷的画像》是他短暂一生中唯一一部发表的小说，也是其唯美主义主张最好的诠释。
该小说不仅呈现了十九世纪九十年代唯美主义运动的精神,而且体现了唯美主义的追求及其唯美主义这一思潮的内在特征。
虽然这本书自出版以来就成为当时社会的众矢之的，但不可否认，王尔德的唯美主义始终贯穿于这部小说的始终。
通过唯美主义视角分析《道林·格雷的画像》，其唯美主义主要体现在“艺术与美超越一切”，“生活模仿艺术却远不及艺术之美”，“艺术是非功利的”，以及“艺术超越道德”等四个方面。
来具体阐述唯美主义在小说中的体现。
通过对小说的研究与分析，读者可以更好地了解小说中的唯美主义艺术，欣赏小说的文学特征。
关键词：唯美主义；艺术；道德；功利An Analysis of Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde’sThe Picture of Dorian GrayAbstract： As a representative of aestheticism in the west, Oscar Wilde, makes many of his works reflect aestheticism. The Picture of Dorian Gray completed by Oscar Wilde in 1890 is the only published novel in his short life, which is the best interpretation to his aestheticism. The novel not only presents the spirit of the aestheticism movement in the 1890 s, but also embodies the pursuit of aestheticism and the ideological trend of the inherent characteristics of the aestheticism. Although this book became a lightning rod for criticism of society at the time there is no denying the fact that Oscar Wilde's aestheticism runs through the novel.The Picture of Dorian Gray can be analysed from the following four parts to illustrate the reflection of aestheticism in the novel: “Art and beauty above all else”; “Life imitates art, but not as good as art”; “Art is no utilitarian”; and “Art beyond morals”. Through analysis of the novel, the reader can better understand the aestheticism of art of the novel, and appreciate it‟s literary characteristics.Key words：aestheticism; art; morality; utilitarianTable of Contents1. Introduction (1)2. Aestheticism and Oscar Wilde‟ The Picture of Dorian Gray (2)2.1 The Definition of Aestheticism (2)2.2 The Connection between Aestheticism and The Picture of Dorian Gray (3)3 The Aestheticism Presented in The Picture of Dorian Gray (4)3.1 Art and Beauty Above All Else (4)3.2 Life Imitates Art, But Not as Good as the Beauty of Art (5)3.3 Art is No Utilitarian (7)3.4 Art beyond Moral (9)4. Conclusion (10)Works Cited (12)1. IntroductionOscar Wilde, a greatly disputed person, is one of the most popular writers in the England modern literary history. He is not only a good playwright, but also a great poet and critic. He has been famous for his advocating the slogan of “art for art‟s sake”. Even though in his whole life he has got more scolding than praise, he is remembered for his literary works. And he is signed with sadness at his imprisonment, and his early death.In the 19th century, the European aestheticism and the dispirited principle idea have had the widespread influence in the literature domain. As the main spokesmen for the western aestheticism, Oscar Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities. He developed and practiced his idea of aestheticism in his whole life. As the readers can say, most of his literary works are the best annotation of his aestheticism.Among his countless works, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the only published novel in his short lifetime, is a classic of his aestheticism. Even though this book has got a lot of criticism in that society, Oscar Wilde‟ aestheticism still runs through the story. Through this book, Oscar Wilde presents his excellent personality and aestheticism perfectly and indirectly.Oscar Wilde made a great contribution to the world literature by inheriting and developing aesthetic views in his literary creation. His aesthetic views involve not only the literary theory but also the literary creation. In practice, Oscar Wilde never ceases to work for the beauty of his literary art. He advocates the massive use of symbols and the correspondence among words, colors and music. In theory, Oscar Wilde reconsider s the relation between art and life. Inheriting Gautier‟s‟ view “art for art‟s sake”, he advocates that life is the imitation of art, which can be seen in the preface of his book The Picture of Dorian Gray a s “All art is quite useless”.The Picture of Dorian Gray, where Oscar Wilde‟s aestheticism has got a stage to act out. If people want to understand Wilde‟ aestheticism, they should read the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray first.2. Aestheticism and Oscar Wilde’ The Picture of Dorian Gray2.1 The Definition of AestheticismAestheticism (or the Aesthetic Movement) is an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.It appeared in England in the late 19th century and it roughly develops from 1868 to 1901. Aestheticism claims that art should be independent of all philosophy, and art can only be judged by its own standard (Wikipedia 8). It was put forward in the eighteenth century by Immanuel Kant, who spoke for the independence of art: “Art exists for its own sake, for it s own essence or beauty.”(Song 2). Some writers and artists who are keen on aestheticism movement put up the idea“The mission of art is to provide humans with sensory pleasure, rather than passing some kind of moral or emotional information”. Esthetic thou ght that art should not have any preaching factors, but the pursuit of pure beauty. They were fascinated to pursue of the art of "beauty", and they think "beauty" is the essence of art. They also argue that life should imitate art.Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that studies the principles of beauty especially in art. Aestheticism is the collection of all the fruits of aesthetics. “The word …aesthetic‟ was first found in Aesthetica, appearing as a Latin word, which is the name of two books written by Alexander Baumgartner, 1714---1762.”(Williams 31). Baumgartner believes beauty can be defined as aesthetic, but when it is related to art, the most important part of Baumgartner‟s translation of beauty is that beauty is not abstract but can be felt by people through their senses. This translation is the same as the Greek word “aesthesis”, the original meaning of which is the power of uniting mentally the impressions conveyed by the five physical senses.Aestheticism emphasizes the independence of art: Art exists for its own sake, for its own essence or beauty. Oscar Wilde was a dramatic leader in promoting the movement of aestheticism. He advocates freedom from moral restraint and the limitations of society. He develops and practices the aestheticism in his whole life.2.2 The Connection between Aestheticism and The Picture of Dorian GrayDorian Gray is a literary image created by Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray, he is a young man in London's aristocratic. He looks very beautiful and virtuous.As the description in the book: “Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, and his crisp gold hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth's passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world”(Wilde, 11). Basil Hallward paints a fantastic portrait for Dorian. Influenced by the painter‟s friend Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian Gray makes a frivolous wish that he will be forever young but the portrait will grow aged and bear all the misery and evil.When it comes ture,Dorian Gray‟s picture grows aged and corrupt while he continues to appear young and innocent. After Dorian drives a young actress named Sibyl Vane, the one who he loved,to suicide, he is surprised to find nothing falls on his head but the picture become ugly. Being seduced by Lord Henry, the incarnation of evil, Dorian Gray can‟t resist the temptation and makes his life worse. He does a series of evil things. He kills Bail for keeping his secret. Alan Campbell commits suicides because of his commitment of disposing Basil‟s body. To decrease his sense of guilt, Dorian Gray begins to collect things to anaesthetize him in the pleasure of sense. His eternal beauty is realized at the cost of sacrificing of the beauty of the picture. The decades of sinful life leaves remarks on the picture and ruins the beauty of it. He feels guilty when Sybil‟s brother finds him and swears to kill him. His forever young looking keeps him from being killed by Sybil‟s brother James Vane, but at the end of the story, he can no longer endure his sinful memory. He slays the decaying portrait, the record of his guilt, to erase his sins, but at his slaying, he kills himself and the picture returns to its original beauty. He is dead as a withered old man lying on the floor in front of the shiny picture.At the beginning of the book, we can see Dorian Gray is a pure and charming young man. He is the beauty in reality. The portrait Basil paints for Dorian is fantastic. It represents the eternal art. After Dorian changes soul with the portrait. When he dose evil things, he keeps handsome, but the portrait decays. The beauty still exists. At the end of the story, Dorian throws the knife to the portrait, and then he becomes old andugly at one moment. The portrait reappears beautiful. The aestheticism runs through the story. It is the striking literary characteristic of The Picture of Dorian Gray.3 The Aestheticism Presented in The Picture of Dorian GrayThere are some protagonists related to Wild e‟s aestheticism in the book. Lord Henry, worldly and utilitarian, with a high social status, is a representative of the ugly forces in the capitalist society; Hallward, a just and tendery painter, looking art as his life, represents the intellectuals "art for art's sake"; Dorian Gray, is pure kind at first,but later he can't withstand the temptation of Lord Henry's hedonism philosophy and towards the path of sin. Sibyl, a beautiful girl, who is a symbol of art in the book. Portrait represents people's spirit and soul, and Dorian Gray is a symbol reprents that beauty and evil exist side by side, is also the symbol of aestheticism. The aestheticism which Oscar Wilde devotes a large space in the book can be summarized from four aspects.3.1 Art and Beauty Above All ElseIn The Picture of Dorian Gray, Sibyl is the figure who can reflect Wilde‟s aestheticism views. She is a pretty actress with beautiful voice. She has played many roles. And in each role play, she fully displays her artistic charming. Sible is the embodiment of art. What Dorian worships and loves is the beauty of art, rather than Sible herself. When she fall in love with Dorian in real life, her artistic charm become pale and turn out to be illusory. Finally, Dorian disappointed, and he lambasted Sibyl for destroying the beauty in his heart. When life conflict with art, it is only to fail. Sibyl‟s death represents the failure and the end of life.Sibyl meet Dorian is a turning point. She is a stage actress. When Dorian saw her performance, he falls in love with her. But, in fact, he only loves the figure in Shakespeare‟s masterpiece who Sibyl has played. He falls in love with her and he describes her beauty to Henry with passion. He tries his best to praise for herperformances, which are consistent with his aesthetic dimensions of the ideal pursuit of perfect art. Sibyl also happens to be his pursuit of "beauty" reflects in the reality. Dorian appreciates Sibyl‟s beauty on the stage. When Sibyl returns to reality, her beauty immediately began to fade. Dorian also immediately perceive its fall to changing attitudes and preferences. Her acting becomes "artificial"and"clumsy", Dorian even ruthlessly abandoned her. Sybyl‟s death is the result of her returning from art to reality. As Oscar Wilde believes that: all bad art is regression of life and nature, and they are the result of the will for ideal life and the natural rise. Sibyl, as the embodiment of art, although she is aware of the reality of life, she dose not realize the selfishnesss and ruthless under Dorian‟s attractive appearance. So she deviated from the art, and she will live up to the ideal which let her love burst into the bubble in the real life. When she doesn't have the feature of art, she will disappear naturally from Dorian‟s life. This is Oscar Wilde‟s view: “art is above all else”. Dorian loves Sibyl just for she is a symbol of art and drama, and because her charm on the stage is the beauty of art. Dorian worships and falls in love with Sibyl for artistic beauty, rather than herself. As she says, before she meets Dorian, acting in her life is the only real thing. After know Dorian, she realized that the stage is artificial and tacky. She rebells against art, and regards the art as worthless things. She abandons her artistic embodiment of beauty, and then come to the real life. She never think that she has killed Dorian‟s love to her by herself. Sibyl‟s death is the resaut of boosting life above art and the returning from art to reality. In Wilde‟s aestheticiem, art and beauty is above all else. When life confront art, life can only make room for art.3.2 Life Imitates Art, But Not as Good as the Beauty of ArtDorian gray is a pure and beautiful noble youth. After seeing the portrait which Basil Hallward painted for him, Dorian is attracted by his own youth and beauty. And under the influence of Lord Henry, he wishes to the portrait: ". . . If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that--for that--I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!"(Wilde 17 ). Dorian obtained the eternal beauty like an art. The portrait will take all of his age and evil, and it willrecord the ugly and ferocious aspects of the real life. The portrait is to Dorian is what art is to reslity. In the end of the novel, Dorian daggers to the portrait. The picture of Dorian hang on the wall looks so young and handsome as it was finished at the first time. It means that all the ugly and evil things will disappear while the beautiful and elegant things will be left in the life. He illustrates that art is over life, and the real beauty of life is the moment when art is eternal.Dorian, the role Wilde wanted to be, is the most important one to annotate Wilde‟s aestheticism. It includs the relationship between art and life, art and morality, art and time. It aspires to beauty. It is mainly showed in the relationship between Dorian and the portrait. Hallward reappears of Dorian‟s youth and beauty in the portrait which is filled with his noble feeling about art and beauty. However,after Dorian is aware of his beauty and under the guidance of Lord Herry,he becomes evil. With the growing of his evil and desires,the portrait becomes more and more old and ugly. The portrait is a reflection of Dorian which implied that art is a reflection of life. When the portrait changes with Dorian‟s change,it illustrates the damage an d distortion which life made to art. Just as the portrait is more and more ugly because of Dorian‟s misdeeds, the change of the portrait is a symbol of Wilde‟s ideal burst. It reflects art is irreconcilable with morality. Because Dorian sells his soul for the eternal beauty. The picture is just the symbol of conscience. At last Dorian want kill the conscious, on the country, he killed himself. This is another contradiction or the author‟s thought about moral and beauty.Dorian Gray, as a typical character of the aesthetic works, is attractive but dangerous. He is a half devil and half angel. In fact, he is a symbol of the combination of art and life. At the beginning of the story, he is an innocent and beautiful young man, knowing nothing about the evil life. He loves beauty and pursues beauty. He wants to stay young and loves a girl who is the symbol of art. During this stage, he symbolizes art, whose nature is beauty. “I turned half-way round and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious sensation of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself. I did not want any external influence in my life”. (Oscar Wilde 4). It is Basil‟s impression when he comes across with Dorian firstly. Dorian is born as an art, his beauty and purity attracts the painterto get close to him. When the beautiful creation of art is reduced to ugliness, he represents the evil life dominated by irresponsible morality. He imitates the evil life, which ruins his original beauty of art. He is no longer a symbol of art, which is beautiful and unstained, but a symbol of life, which is ugly and evil. “When they entered, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was”. (Oscar Wilde 134). Dorian kills himself when he slays the ugly picture of him. After his death, the picture resumes its beauty. When art imitates life, it is doomed to death for the decaying life ruins the beauty of art. The image of Dorian Gray shows that if art imitates life, it will ruin its beauty and end up in death, which proves the validity of Oscar W ilde‟s aestheticism that life should imitate art. Obviously, the fact that Oscar Wilde finally will be upside down turn back to express his aestheticism view: “life imitates the art, far and art imitates life.”(Wilde 122).3.3 Art is No UtilitarianOscar Wilde is firmly opposed to any utilitarian purpose of artistic creation. He emphasizes the independence of art. He said: “The tenet of art is art itself.”[Wilde, 28] The artist is the creator of beautiful works. And he put forward that art is pure and it is amoral in the relation between art and morality. Beauty is amoral. And art has its own pursuit, that is beauty. So art is amoral, and it has nothing to do with morality. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the painter is a typical aesthetes. He enjoys all beautiful things. When he first see Dorian, he is shocked by the beauty of Dorian. He feel that the entire soul and the art itself will be he devoured by Dotian‟s beauty. He thr ows himself into the creation and records the beauty in his works. This is the refraction of Wilde‟s aestheticism. Oscar Wilde believes that art is a utilitarian. It dose not mean that art does not make sense, with no value. But it means that art should not be used. So Hallward does‟t want the picture to be displayed, and he does not want to exchange it for fame and wealth. He gives it to Dorian as a gift. He pays attention tothe form of beauty, and devoid of moral relation. The portrait is a reappearance of Dorian‟s beauty. Dorian sell s his soul in pursuit of the eternal beauty, which means that beauty opposites morality. Hallward is the only a positive figure in the story, he always maintain the ethical and moral values. He is the embodiment of moral. Due to the excessive pursuit of beauty, and he can't resist the temptation of beauty, although he knows the depravity of Dorian, he still lives in a world of fantasy where the moral strength can save Dorian. He was eventually killed by Dorian, and becomes the victim of beauty. He cann't finish moralizing, and saves Dorian 's soul. His death suggests that moral was defeated by the beauty. The portrait always remind Dorian erosion life of soul. Eventually Dorian can‟t endure the ugly picture,so he take s a sword and stab to the portrait.Oscar Wilde advocated that aesthetic is no relate to gains and losses. So he puted forward the beauty is not related to the beauty. Beauty is amoral, beyond utilitarian. It refers to another point of view of Wilde's aestheticism, it is the relationship between artistic and moral: art is not moral. He once said that the artists are the creator of beautiful things, they only seek the beauty. If a book written well, and it can arouse the aesthetic feeling of people, that's a good book. What he means is that the art does not depend on moral, and it not only for the moral service. It has its own aspire of art, that is beauty.Hallward, as the god of art or the creator of art, is the Trinity. He can also be considered as Jesus Christ who is a teacher and prophet aiming to save the world of art at the cost of sacrificing his life or a martyr who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce the principle of art creation. He paints the portrait of Dorian Gray, the perfect painting in his life, but he gives it to Dorian Gray for free and refuses to sell it for a fortune. It is a symbol of his insistence that utility should be banned the world of art. His whole life is devoted to the art --painting. His efforts to pursue the purity of art at the cost of sacrificing his life show the determination of Oscar Wilde to enhance aestheticism, which elevates the whole novel.Hallward does not want to put the portrait on display because he think that art is utilitarian. He doesn't want to use art in return for money and fame, and give it to Dorian as a gift. So Hallward only pays attention to the "form" or moments of beauty, and it has nothing to do with utility.3.4 Art beyond Moral19th century in Britain society is the transition to capitalism. The Victorian filled with moral hypocrisy, pan, and utilitarianism. Wilde stands in line on all this critical position,and practice the aestheticism. He thought that "in this era of turmoil and chaos, in this dispute and terrible moments of despair, only worry-free paradise and beauty can make people forget, and make people happy. Why don't we go to the beautiful paradise?"(Wilde,198) The temple of beauty and aestheticism is another ideal kingdom. He often wore a collar of loose, with black velvet doublet, and filament socks and velveteen knickerbockers. And in the society, he won the attention of the crowd by his wise and humorous language. We can see that Oscar Wilde is rebel against the society in his unusual way. Oscar Wilde is a real “Lord Henry”, and he is also against the bourgeois in the same way.Lord Herry is an important figure in the novel. Though the story we can get a general picture of Lord Herry. What he impress us mostly is his fancy language and the cynical attitude to life. In relationship between beautiful young Dorian and Herry, he plays a role of waking up"evil". His humorous paradox and counterarguments are imbued with a theme - the pleasure principle. When he first see the portrait, although he thinks it is beautiful, he hold the view that the portrait is just a beautiful creature without thinking. He thinks the portrait is not full of vigour, because it hasn‟t soul. That is to say, the portrait only reflects the shape and appearance of models, but do not reflect the essence. So Henry begin to guide Dorian. He said that the purpose of life is self-development and full performance of a person's nature. And it is the purpose that we living in this world. Herry also thinks that if everyone can live at ease, show their feelings, say anything they want to say, achieve any dream they have dreamed, the world will be full of vigour. He thinks the most important thing in life is to be happy, and the purpose of life is to fully meet their nature requires impulse and desire. Herry once said:" Nothing can treat the soul wounds,except senses; similarly, sensory hunger can only be relieve by the soul."(Wilde 202) So he showed an purely anti-traditional attitude in the society. And it makes a lot of traditional and conservative people feel fresh and unusual. The rationality in their minds is a result of the era‟s nobiditied p ursuit and false ideas.When he sees Dorian is so pure and without impurity, he spares no effort to get him as his new hedonism subjects. He tried his best to mobilize Dorian‟s instinctive desire, to inspire his emotional desires, and to make him into a maze, and finally become a victim of conflict between spirit and human body. Herry makes Dorian‟s body finally died and the spirit was also suffering in self-examination. Only the portrait on behalf of the art in the secular elutriation bully unchanged, and this is another manifestation on Oscar Wilde‟s aestheticism of art contend against times.Therefore, art has nothing to do with morality. Wilde also claims simplified to a famous saying: All art is immoral. "Immoral" here is a moral, specifically, that is not designed for moral service.Lord Henry, is Oscar Wilde in other people‟s eyes. Henry and Wilde were often used for comparison by people. There is no doubt that Lord Henry is an aesthete. At the end of the story, only the portrait does not change. It just confirms that Wilde's aestheticism view: Art is amoral4. ConclusionOscar Wilde, the representative of the aestheticism, does not lead the aestheticism to another way, which is as evil as the critics recognized. On the contrary, he keeps the road the former aesthetes advocates and improves it to a wild scope. Being misunderstood by so many people, Wilde tries so hard to practice his opinion of understanding of aestheticism. The picture of Dorian Gray, was not only a novel, but also a work of explaining personal nature. In fact, there is another Oscar Wilde in the novel that we can hardly see by our eyes but by our heart. The novel is a proof of his passion to his aestheticism, just as his preference to Gray. So we see, what in his aestheticism must be dangerous, but it is not harmful. His aestheticism is something his heart demands, just like Dorian Gray, who tried to gain it, for art‟s sake.To sum up, through analysis of the three major male characters and a female character, we can see the outline and the connotation of Wilde's aestheticism. He doesn't think art imitates life, and it can overcome the ugliness in life; Art is no connection with moral, it beyond morality; Art contend against era, and art does notmanifest age, but only manifest itself, and art is the opposite to the spirit of the time; Finally, art is in pursuit of "form" as its goal.We can see that the four characters are all with shadow of aestheticism. They are only different on the emphasis. Through the interwoven of relationship, it construct the theory of aestheticism.Works CitedBristow, Joseph. A Complex Multiform Creature: Wilde's Sexual Identities.Cambridge: CUP, 1997: 198.Denial, Margaret. "Wilde the Writer." Palgrave Advances in Oscar Wilde Studies //Frederick S. Roden. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.Denney, Colleen. At the Temple of Art: the Grosvenor Gallery, 1877-1890. Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 2000 .Ellmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1988.Fargis, Paul. The New York Public Library Desk Reference .Macmillan General Reference: 261.Harris, Frank. Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions. New York: Covici Friede Inc., 1950: 105.Kaplan, Morris B. Sodom on the Thames: Sex, Love, and Scandal in Wilde Times.New York: Comell University Press, 2005: 228.Pearson, Hesketh. The Life of Oscar Wilde.New York: Penguin Books, 1985. Renier, G. J. Oscar Wilde. New York: D. Apple Century Inc., 1933: 95.Rosanna Elkland. The evil in Dorian Gray: a psychoanalytic study of the protagonist in the picture of Dorian Gray. 2007.Webster‟s third new international dictionary, 1993.Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1994. Wikipedia. Aestheticism. /wiki/Aestheticism.Wikipedia. Oscar Wilde. /wiki/OscarWilde.Wikipedia.The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray./wiki/The Picture of Dorian G-ray.刘茂生，“王尔德享乐主义道德与唯美主义艺术的契合--以小说《道连·葛雷的画像》为例” 《外国文学研究》，第6期，2005。
