浅论奥斯卡·王尔德的唯美主义思想的论文

王尔德童话《夜莺与玫瑰》中的唯美主义Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde’s FairyTale The Nightingale and the Rose摘要本文从形式和内容入手，探讨了王尔德《夜莺与玫瑰》童话中的唯美主义体现，从而揭示了王尔德“为艺术而艺术”，“艺术高于一切”的唯美主义价值观。

在形式上，分别从修辞、意象入手，分析了童话在文字层面上精巧华丽的美以及作者构造奇幻图画的写作技巧。

在内容上，从更深层次的讽刺、象征、人物刻画、死亡与悲剧之美以及二元对立等方面分析，表现了作者强烈的情感，对爱与艺术美的追求，对善的颂扬以及对恶的摈弃，并从中反映了艺术与当时社会现实生活的关系。

关键字：唯美主义，修辞，意象，对立ABSTRACTFrom the aspects of form and content, this thesis will analyze the embodiment of Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde‘s The Nightingale and the Rose, in order to manifest his aesthetic values of ―Art for art‘s sake‖ and ―Art is superior‖. From the aspect of form, the paper argues from rhetoric and image to analyze the writing methods to construct fantastic images and magnificent beauty on the literal level. From the aspect of content, the thesis analyzes from irony, symbol, depiction of characters, beauty of anticlimax and binary antithesis of two specific elements, expressing the authors‘intense emotion, pursuit towards art and beauty, glorification of goodness, and critique towards vice.Keywords: Aestheticism, rhetoric, image, antithesisContents1 Introduction (1)2 Previous Studies (4)3 Embodiment of Aestheticism in form (5)3.1. Beauty of rhetoric (5)3.1.1 Use of repetition (5)3.1.2 Use of antithesis (5)3.1.3 Use of synaesthesia (6)3.1.4 Use of personification (6)3.2 Beauty of image (7)3.2.1 The combination of movement and stillness (7)3.2.2 Converting between concrete and abstract images (8)4 Embod iment o f Aestheticism in co ntent (10)4.1 Beauty of rhetoric (10)4.1.1 Use of sarcasm (10)4.1.2 Use of symbol (11)4.2 Beauty of imagery (12)4.2.1 The nightingale (12)4.2.2 The student (14)4.2.3 Beauty of anticlimax (death and tragedy) (16)4.2.4 Binary antithesis of two specific elements (17)4.2.4.1 The binary antithesis of poem and reality (17)4.2.4.2 The binary antithesis of deep and shallow emotion 185 Conclusion (19)Works cited (20)1IntroductionOscar Wilde (1854—1900) is a famous dramatist, novelist and poet in the 19th century‘s England. He has a great deal of accomplishments in nearly every field of literature. His novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray, comedies Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance as well as The Importance of Being Earnest all created sensation when they were published. With gifts of language, Wilde was once acclaimed by Y eats: ―I never before heard a man talking with perfect sentences, as if he had written them all overnight with labour and yet all spontaneous.‖（吴伟仁，2006）In the 19th century in England, industry developed rapidly. Following the development of industry, the principle of materialism infiltrated into every status of the society. Wilde thought that in the age he lives ―to be practical is everything‖, in his words: ―Present people‘s life has been entirely affected by business.‖As English female writer V erginia Woolf wrote in her later observation: ―Behavior of human-beings have been changed tremendously.‖（章安祺，2003)In intellectual sphere, people generally feel the shortage of culture and loss of beauty. Thus aesthetic movements developed in the universities and intellectual circles in the last decades of the 19th century. It reflected artists‘ sense of frustration and uncertainty against materialism and restrictive moral code of bourgeoisie. Because of this, artists withdrew from political and social stage, and escaped into aesthetic isolation. Wilde is the main representation of the aesthetic movement. His aesthetic opinion can be summarized as ―Art is superior.‖In detail, Wilde‘s aestheticism can be related in several aspects below: He advocates the pure artistic theory. ―Art for art‘s sake‖–Art has independent life, which is far away from the real world, not related to ethics. All excellent works of art pursue pure art effect. So, ―the only beautiful thing is that irrelevant to us.‖―Artists should neither have any purposes of utilitarianism, nor be restrained by ethics.‖He emphasizes ―the admiration of form‖ He considers that art has one highest principle, the principle of form. As he once said: ―You needn‘t have superb rationalimagination, deep satire towards life, even excited emotion.‖―Form is all you need.‖About the relationship between life and art he thought, ―Life imitates art much more than art imitates life.‖ Art is always ahead of life. It‘s not art reflecting the reality but the reality reflecting art. The real society is ugly and vulgar. Only ―beauty‖has perpetual value. ―Art is superior to life. Life is dull and disorderly. But art can satisfy our emotion need of love and resent, joy and pain.‖He believes art superior to all other things. ―In order to pursue entertainment and beauty, one can disregard and sacrifice anything.‖―Art is life itself. It is ignorant of death, which is absolute truth, ignorant of facts.‖ (Ellmann, 1988) Here art has its broaden meaning, which includes beauty entertainment and joy. Here beauty is some kind of free beauty which is sublime epicurean and irrelevant to utilitarianism; joy is not purely sensory enjoyment, but coming from life, creation and love.The fairy tale The Nightingale and the Rose is chosen from his The Happy Prince and Other Tales,1888. His another book about fairy tale is A House of Pomegranates. They are regarded as works of superior quality among the world‘s creation of fairy tales. The famous Chinese writer ZhouZuoren said that: ―The two books are purely poems…In my opinion their feature is the plentiful words and wit of spirit.‖(王开林，2002)These fairy tales extol love beauty art and kind heart, satirize selfish and cruel behavior and show sympathy to the insulted weak. ―The different elements of narration provide social satire, comedy of manners, moral allegory and a commentary on aestheticism for the cognoscenti.‖ (Varty, 2005) In The Nightingale and the Rose, the theme is also around above topics. A student wept sadly, for the reason that the girl he loved promised to dance with him if he got a red rose. But he can‘t find one in his garden. A nightingale saw and was moved by the student. Regarding him as a true lover, she decided to find a red rose for him. Disregarding some insects‘ query and sneer, she flied over the garden, from white rose-tree to yellow rose-tree, and then finally found a red rose-tree. The tree answered it wouldn‘t have any rose that year, but if she wanted a red rose she must sing all night long with her breast against a thorn. The thorn must pierce her heart and her life-blood must flow into tree. Death is a great price to pay for a red rose.But the nightingale believed love is more precious than life. Thus she did what the red rose-tree told her to do. She died and a rose as red as ruby was produced. The student discovered the red rose in his garden. He was so excited for he had never seen any rose like it. However, when he hopefully brought the rose to the girl, she refused, because she wanted to dance with the Chamberlain‘s nephew who had sent her some real jewels. Angrily the Student threw the rose and a cart-wheel went over it. He thought love silly and went back to read books again.This fairy tale praised the nightingale kind-hearted, selfless, and persevering in the pursuit of love. It also criticized the girl ungrateful superficial. Rodney Shewan claimed this fairy tale to be ―the most concise social critique‖. (Shewan, 1977) Through the whole story, Wilde‘s views of Aestheticism are manifested themselves. In the following paragraphs, I will analyze them from the aspects of form and implied meaning, to reveal how Wilde‘s Aestheticism is embodied in this fairy tale by more specific and detailed analysis on the aspects of rhetoric and imagery. Thus we can have deeper understanding of the writer, his Aestheticism and his works.2 Previous StudiesPredecessors have ever since researched this fairy tale and have already made profound achievements in some aspects.They analyzed and eulogized various kinds of beauty, from superficial level of diction and sentences to deep level of theme and emotion. They wanted to probe the inner spirit of the fairy tale, Wilde‘s individual temperament and style, and connect them to the aesthetic purpose of Wilde‘s creation and the whole social background. Wilde once wrote to a friend that the tales were ―meant partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy, and who find in simplicity a subtle strangeness.‖(Beckon, 1970) which I think may be his main purpose to write these fairy tales. He wanted to bring people simple joy and made them ponder in the seeming simplicity.Otherwise, they also probe the usage of various writing methods, such as peculiar imagination, humorous irony combined with philosophy, and the changing of characters and readers‘emotion. Wilde‘s friend Alexander Galt Ross (1860—1927) wrote: ―One of the chief functions of the true fairy story is to excite sympathy.‖ (Beckon, 1970)Wilde is the representative of aestheticism and decadent literature. Some people criticized his aesthetic works to be decadent; while others thought him to be writer of real art and beauty. In his works, we realized the antithesis of dream and reality. He took art beauty and love as his ideal, having the sense of justice. On the other hand, he was extremely individualistic.Since a long time ago, Wilde‘s theory of ―Art for art‘s sake‖has been considered disadvantage outweighing advantage, because he overstressed literary beauty, letting the relationship between art and life upside down. Especially in the domestic art sphere, where artists paid more attention to life, their social responsibility was stressed. Aestheticism was condemned having messed people‘s course of recognizing things and induced writers into the concept of ―Form is everything.‖3 Embodiment of Aestheticism in form3.1 Beauty of rhetoricWilde is best adept at visual refined language abounding in color and sound. Rhetoric is one aspect of the beautiful language. Repetition, contrast, metaphor, personification and synaesthesia are often used in this fairy tale. The seemingly simple rhetoric has polished the fairy tale a lot.3.1.1 Use of repetitionThe rhetorical effect of sentence repetition varies with individual cases, but most writers use it to add force and emphasis to their statement.（冯翠华，1995）―Give me a red rose,‖ she cried, ―and I will sing you my sweetest song.‖（奥斯卡·王尔德，1996）This sentence appears three times in the fairy tale. It indicates the nightingale‘s eager mood to find the red rose. It was a long process. She failed to find a red one the first and second time, but didn‘t give up. She insisted on her seeking and at last achieved her expect. From the repetition we can see the hardship in finding a red rose. Facing continuous failure, the nightingale maintained a resolute and positive attitude. The repetition transfers to us a shock and more intense emotion.3.1.2 Use of antithesis(contrast)Antithesis is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve force and emphasis. The form of the expression is very important for effect, for the force of the emphasis, whether for profundity of judgement, for humor or for satire, depends chiefly on the juxtaposition of direct opposition, of glaring contrasts.（冯翠华，1995）Wilde has used several contrast to manifest a kind of beauty that exist between two opposite things or two opposite aspects in one thing. For example, the death of the nightingale and the blossom of the red rose forms striking contrast. The exhaustion of nightingale leads to the blossom of the rose. Nightingale‘s crimsonblood dyes the rose red. As nightingale pressed closer to the thorn, ―Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song‖ (奥斯卡·王尔德，1996) The marvelous rose grew from white to pink then to crimson. It was the nightingale who let her life-blood and energy ebbed away from her and transferred to the red rose. The red rose was the fruit of nightingale‘s death, also the bitter price of the nightingale‘s pursuit of love.3.1.3 Use of synaesthesia―the mixing of sensations; the concurrent appeal to more than one sense; the response through several senses to the stimulation of one‖（文军，1991）Wilde is good at describing a scene with various blended senses, and makes the readers as if be present at the scene.Take examples, ―It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to watch the Sun in his chariot of gold…Sweet is the scent of the hawthorn.‖ Here from visual sense and sense of smell Wilde described the pleasure and bright of life. The brilliant Sun with chariot of gold and the crystal Moon with chariot of pearl enhance each other‘s beauty in the sky, forming a splendid spectacle. While fragrance of flowers floats far and near, making people refreshed in mind and heart.―…blossomed a marvelous rose, petal following petal, as song followed song.‖―Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song.‖ (奥斯卡·王尔德，1996) From visual sense, sense of hearing and sense of pain, the heroic scene of nightingale‘s sacrifice reappears before readers.3.1.4 Use of personification―attributes human qualities and abilities to inanimate objects, animals, abstractions, and events.‖(Bander, 1978)Unlike in other stories, personification is widely used in this fairy tale which becomes an outstanding feature of it. Every animal and plant has been personified, from big sun and moon in the sky to little insects on the ground. Their language is lively and vivid. Each character has distinctive personality which makes the story touching. For example, the offish attitude of the Green Lizard the Butterfly and the Daisy reflects the general attitudeof the English in those years.3.2 Beauty of imageBeautiful language is an outstanding feature of this fairy tale which produces many exquisite images that constantly emerge in the fairy tale. ―An image is a literal and concrete representation of a sensory experience or of an object that can be known by one or more of the senses. It is the means by which experience in its richness and emotional complexity is communicated.‖(Holman & Harmon, 1986) Light and shadow, color and smell, sound and shape, quality and movement, the multitudinous image interweave with one another, constructing poetic imagery. And in these images, we can find out some special writing methods.3.2.1 The combination of movement and stillness―but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal upon his brow.‖(奥斯卡·王尔德，1996) Sorrow is originally a kind of static state which presents itself on people‘s face. But here it comes into a movement. It climbs up on the boy‘s face. That is more vivid than just stating the fact.―And a delicate flush of pink came into the leaves of the rose‖ (ibid) Here we can feel the process how the color of the rose changes. It changes little by little from delicate to dark.―Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.‖ (ibid) Here the author describes the nightingale‘s last song with movement. Like a deliver, it fluctuates and spreads far away, and brings message and blessing to all creatures.3.2.2Converting between concrete and abstract imagesIn this fairy tale, when describing abstract things, the author likes to use some concrete images to deepen their value and impression in readers‘hearts. Otherwise, when describing concrete things, the author sometimes use abstract images to create a romantic and hazy atmosphere.For example, when describing color, the author uses concrete images a lot. They can avoid the monotony of using simple color words. White is drawn as ―pale ivory‖, ―the foam of the sea‖, ―the snow upon the mountain‖, ―pale as the mist that hangs over the river‖, ―pale as the feet of the morning, and silver as the wings of the dawn.‖Y ellow is drawn as ―the hair of the mermaiden who sits upon an amber throne‖, ―the daffodil that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes with his scythe‖ And red is drawn as ―the feet of the dove‖, ―the great fans of coral that wave and wave in the ocean-cavern‖, ―crimson like the rose of the eastern sky‖, ―crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.‖ (奥斯卡·王尔德，1996) When describing the value of love, the author wrote like this: ―It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of the merchants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold.‖(ibid) After comparing with concrete precious jewelry, this sentence indicates that love is priceless. It can‘t be substituted by money or material in reality.The nightingale‘s voice is described like ―water bubbling from a silver jar‖(ibid). From the concrete simile, we can feel the sweet of the voice as if we have heard the bump of water in dear silver container.When referring to the image of a true lover, the author wrote like this: ―Flame- coloured are his wings, and coloured like flame is his body. His lips are sweet as honey, and his breath is like frankincense.‖ (ibid) The image of a lover is originally hard to definite, but here the author describes it with concrete elements. Being emphasized on body lips and breath, the lover mingles with flame honey and frankincense, like an angle with wings. With the image, readers can image keen and beautiful passion in love.Moreover, Wilde also used some abstract images to describe concrete things. For instance, ―As the shadow of a rose in a water-pool, so was the rose that blossomed on the topmost spray of the Tree.‖―She swept over the garden like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed through the grove.‖ (ibid) In these two places, description of a rose turns to its shadow in a water-pool, and description of the flyingnightingale also turns to its abstract shadow. The rose becomes hazy and romantic while the nightingale‘s quick movement and slender figure is revealed thoroughly, as if both of them are living in two artful pictures.4Embodiment of Aestheticism in content Through the contrast of beauty in visual world and frightfulness in real world, Wilde has used beautiful images to embody abstract beauty in his aesthetic opinion. His purpose is definite, that he wanted art not be constrained by materialism and restrictive moral code in the society. He wanted to create a world of art, which should be imitated by the real life. He tried to rectify evils in the world with beautiful art, providing an ideal mode for people‘s life.4.1 Beauty of rhetoric4.1.1 Use of sarcasmThere is much sarcasm used in this fairy tale, from which ingeniously mirrors Wilde‘s hatred towards the money worship and gang of philistine in the English society at that time. He wants to use the ―beauty‖ of art to resist the ―ugly‖ in vulgar reality.For example, ―Why is he weeping?‖asked a little Green Lizard, as he ran past him (the student) with his tail in the air. ―Why, indeed?‖ said a Butterfly, who was fluttering about after a sunbeam. ―Why, indeed?‖ whispered a Daisy to his neighbour, in a soft, low voice. ―He is weeping for a red rose,‖said the Nightingale. ―For a red rose?‖they cried, ―how very ridiculous!‖and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic, laughed outright. (奥斯卡·王尔德，1996)Above is the conversation between the nightingale and other animals and plants. The Lizard represents some arrogant person. They have no sympathy towards others. Like cynics, they often laugh at others‘misfortune or disadvantage, building their happiness upon others‘ sadness. The butterfly represents one kind of people who like flattering. They don‘t judge things themselves but depend on others. The Daisy represents some coward people who have concern towards others but dare not show this concern directly.Towards the three types of people Wilde showed his sarcasm. These people are the miniature of partial people existed in the society in that era, who were foolishvulgar indifferent and snobbish. When principle of materialism infiltrated into the society, they didn‘t comprehend love and art, but doubted and criticized Wilde‘s aestheticism.The other sarcasm exists in the conversation between the student and the daughter of the Professor at the end of the story. But the girl frowned. ―I am afraid it will not go with my dress,‖she ……went into the house. (ibid) Facing the red rose which was gotten after great hardships, the girl went back on her words. Her attitude was so indifferent and merciless. She‘s a person full of vanity. What she pursuits is money and status. So she looked down upon the student and received the invitation of the Chamberlain‘s nephew who had sent her some real jewels. She‘s the representation of utilitarian people who were the targets Wilde hold displeasure and complaints in that society.4.1.2Use of symbolIn literature, a symbol is a thing that refers or suggests more than its literal meaning. Often symbols we meet in fiction are inanimate objects. In a broad literary sense, a symbol is such a trope that combines a literal and sensuous quality with an abstract or suggestive aspect.（钱坤强 & 袁宪军，2004）Some seemingly simple things or scenes may transfer Wilde‘s profound implication.Such as, ―But the winter has chilled my veins, and the frost has nipped my buds, and the storm has broken my branches, and I shall have no roses at all this year.‖ (奥斯卡·王尔德，1996) Here we can see, the tree of red rose has been broken by the winter, the frost and the storm. The sentence also implies cruelty of reality. It‘s like a person who has encountered adversity and numerous setbacks, depressed and feeble. This is the impediment ahead of the nightingale on her way to get the red rose. It also implies that Wilde‘s way to pursue art is not smooth. There exists much impediment, such as not understanding and critique of the sphere of intellectuals then.However, Wilde decided to insist on his proposition, even if he would sacrifice what he owned. We can see it in the fairy tale from the nightingale‘s attitude. ―Thereis a way,‖ answered the Tree; ―but it is so terrible that I dare not tell it to you.‖―Tell it to me,‖said the Nightingale, ―I am not afraid.‖(ibid) These sentences imply Wilde‘s determination. The solution is hard, while the future is rough. But in order to achieve her target, bravely and firmly, the nightingale is ready to cope with her challenge.At last the nightingale succeeded. The song she sang when she pressed her breast against the thorn symbolizes the process of passion between a couple, from ―birth of love in the heart of a boy and a girl‖ to ―the birth of passion in the soul of a man and a maid‖ to ―flush in the face of the bridegroom when he kisses the lips of the bride‖to ―the Love that is perfected by Death, the Love that dies not in the tomb‖. (ibid) The passion experiences the process from naive to mature, from mild to beautiful and ardent.―Press closer, little Nightingale,‖ cried the Tree, ―or the Day will come before the rose is finished.‖ (ibid) It symbolizes the dark before the dawn. That time may be the most crucial moment, when the leading role will often go through the most difficult trial. And the nightingale was also experiencing her most painful moment before the rose was finished.From the beginning to the end, we can feel a kind of persistent and dauntless spirit of the nightingale, which symbolizes Wilde‘s attitude towards art. That is, regardless of hardship and impediment, be brave enough to pursue.4.2Beauty of imagerySeveral characters have appeared in the fairy tale, the nightingale the student the girl and other animals and plants which are all personified. Each of them symbolized one kind of crowd in the society at that time. From them, we can find some of Wilde‘s aesthetic opinion.4.2.1 The nightingaleThe nightingale is the protagonist of this story. Even though she is feeble in figure and energy, with extreme courage, she has done great thing for strangers that in this aspect she even overpasses those wise and strong people. We can take thenightingale as the symbol of Wilde, for they share similarity in some aspects. Wilde always eulogizes love as the eternal theme in his fairy tale. Love is also the nightingale‘s pursuit all through her life.She‘s a typical idealist. In her mind, love is the most valuable thing in the world. ―Surely Love is a wonderful thing. It is more precious than…nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold.‖ (奥斯卡·王尔德，1996) She even sacrifices her precious life for seeking of sincere love. Love is powerful supreme and holy. It can neither be influenced by social conventions nor by fame and money in reality. ―Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty.‖(ibid) All these are the reflection of Wilde‘s Aestheticism, for Wilde once said ―In order to pursuit comforts and beauty, one can disregard and sacrifice everything.‖Love here is what he said comforts and beauty. However, in the era when Wilde was living ―practice is every thing‖, what people pursued was money power and status. Selfless love was not welcomed in the reality. So she was destined to have a tragic finale.She‘s warm-hearted and always ready to help others. All of these originate from her universal love to the world. She has ardent love for life, ―Life is very dear to all. It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to watch the Sun in his chariot of gold, and the Moon in her chariot of pearl. Sweet is the scent of the hawthorn, and sweet are the bluebells that hide in the valley, and the heather that blows on the hill.‖ (ibid) Life is happy and bright in her mind. She has ardent love for others and sympathy to the student. Though she knew the student not, she was willing to sing of him and tell his story to the stars night after night, and selflessly devoted her life in helping the student to find a red rose. Finally even though her flesh and blood exterminated, the spirit of love she having expressed was imperishable.In fact what she has done and said reflected the inner hope of herself. She wants to fulfill her own wish. For in her values, love is of the first importance. It‘s pure and lofty. It‘s the objective of her living. By helping others to obtain love, herself can also obtain inner-heart‘s satisfaction. ―she sat silent in the oak-tree, and thought about the mystery of Love.‖―Love is better than life.‖―All that I ask of you in returnis that you will be a true lover.‖ (ibid)She longed for and pursued love, regardless of some opposite features in her surrounding. In fact she just lives in the beautiful dream she made for herself. Even though the student didn‘t comprehend her intention; other animals and plants failed to understand or even sneered at the nightingale as an idealist, she never changed her mind. ―In an age of turmoil, in the horrible moment of disputes and despair, only the palace of beauty makes us forget and merry. Where shall we go if we don‘t go there?‖（王尔德，1988）Above reflected Wilde‘s aesthetic philosophy. Love symbolizes comforts and beauty, in other words, art. Her opinion that love is superior to all other things in the nightingale‘s values actually means that art is superior to all other things. It breaks away from the real life to a certain degree. For in reality, not everyone agrees with the values. Many people take material and money as their pursuit, like the daughter of the Professor. The student thought love stupid at the end of the fairy tale. Even more people can‘t comprehend it. So actually the opinion of ―Love is superior to other things‖ (ibid) just lives in the nightingale‘s mind which is her beautiful dream. ―Art has its independent life.‖―It‘s irrelevant to reality, ……‖ (ibid)4.2.2The studentHe is also a performer of Aestheticism. But at the same time he is ignorant and stubborn. He has no difference with other animals and plants. So his pursuit towards Aestheticism is destined to fail.He‘s also an idealist, because he is still dreaming of love and tortured by it. ―But with me she will not dance, for I have no red rose to give her.‖ (奥斯卡·王尔德，1996); and he flung himself down on the grass, and buried his face in his hands, and wept. He was indeed an infatuated young man.Another aspect of the student as a performer of Aestheticism is his complete dependence on books. Even when encountering problem, he expected to find solution from books. ―I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.‖。

十九世纪，“为艺术而艺术”思潮弥漫欧洲。

唯美主义是“为艺术而艺术”思潮的主流。

王尔德是唯美主义的代表人物，他认为美是至高无上的，具有绝对的价值，艺术本身就是目的。

因此，在王尔德看来，艺术是一种“撒慌”的技巧。

是生活摹仿艺术，而不是艺术摹仿生活。

奥斯卡·王尔德（Oscar Wilde，1854年10月16日—1900年11月30日），出生于爱尔兰都柏林，19世纪英国（准确来讲是爱尔兰，但是当时由英国统治）最伟大的作家与艺术家之一，以其剧作、诗歌、童话和小说闻名，唯美主义代表人物，19世纪80年代美学运动的主力和90年代颓废派运动的先驱。

唯美主义的真正代表是奥斯卡·王尔德（1856-1900），他是唯美主义创作的实践者，又是唯美主义理论的倡导者。

就艺术与现实的关系上说，王尔德认为，艺术应该超脱现实，游离人生。

“现实的事件都是艺术之敌。

一切艺术的坏处都是从实感产生。

自然就是明白，明白就不是艺术。

”一切拙劣的艺术都是从复归自然的描写和客观地描述人生而产生的。

因此，认为凡是“回到生活和自然”的艺术都是坏的，艺术越远离现实、超脱现实越妙。

唯一美的事物，就是与我们无关的事物”。

对于艺术对生活的作用，王尔德认为，不是艺术再现生活，而是生活模仿艺术。

艺术不是人类社会生活的镜子，生活仅仅是艺术的学生，艺术是至高无上的。

有人认为，这就从根本上否定了社会存在决定社会意识的历史唯物主义的观点。

也有人认为，王尔德并未全盘否定社会存在决定社会意识，只是社会意识具有相对独立性罢了。

社会意识有可能先于社会存在而变化发展，且艺术作为一种先进的社会意识，对社会存在具有能动的反作用，对社会发展起积极的推动作用。

唯美主义是指主张艺术哲学应独立于所有哲学之外，西方现代文艺思潮之一，流行于19世纪末的欧洲。

否定艺术的社会性和功利性，认为艺术本身就是目的，是所谓“为艺术而艺术”。

唯美主义起源于19世纪后期出现在英国艺术和文学领域中的一场组织松散的运动，十九世纪末在英国形成。

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。

摘要: 奥斯卡·王尔德的童话故事《快乐王子》从形象、情节、语言三方面, 反映出王尔德唯美主义文艺观的丰富内涵。

王尔德的文学创作并非都是/ 为艺术而艺术0, 《快乐王子》既是唯美主义又具有现实批评主义性质, 是两者的巧妙融合。

关键词: 王尔德; 快乐王子; 唯美主义; 现实批评主义王尔德一生中出版了两部童话集, 即1888年的5快乐王子及其他故事6 (The Happy Prince and Other Tales) 和1891年的5石榴之家6 (The House of Pomegranates)。

共收集童话9篇。

正是这两部故事集的出现, 使得王尔德真正步人文坛, 人们才将其归入具有影响力的作家之列。

亨特生在5人生与现代精神的解释者6中说: / 九篇都是空想的童话, 中间贯穿着敏感而美的社会的哀怜, 恰如几幅锦绣镶嵌的织物, 用一条深红的线坚固地缀成一帖。

0王尔德对英国唯美主义思潮及创作的作用是重大的, 比尔伯姆就诙谐地说: / 美存在于1880年以前, 但王尔德使它问世了。

作家的作品是其文艺思想的载体, 王尔德也不例外。

不过与他那些相对来说是/ 纯艺术0或/ 纯社会批评0作品略有不同的是, 《快乐王子》既是唯美主义的, 也体现对现实社会的批评, 它所反映出的对现实社会批评的成分不容忽视。

一《快乐王子》中唯美主义的体现王尔德首先是个唯美主义者, 唯美主义的文艺观在《快乐王子》中得以充分体现。

( 一) 《快乐王子》中唯美的形象由于唯美主义强调灵肉合一, 只有心灵美才是真正的美。

心灵因为至爱而至美。

《快乐王子》中的王子和燕子, 因为至爱至善而变得至美的形象, 体现了王尔德追求理想艺术的初衷, 无愧为这位/ 为艺术而艺术0之始祖的佳作。

像这样一尊美丽的雕像, 所有的人都投以赞许的目光,先是市议员对他的欣赏, 而后有聪明的母亲以快乐王子为榜样教育自己的孩子; 失意的人渴望像快乐王子一样快乐;孤儿院的孩子把它想象成天使。

简析王尔德的唯美主义思想莫姮【摘要】Oscar Wilde is the incarnation of the aestheticism,a literary movement in the 19th century of England,which exerts a profound influence on the European literature of the 21st century,even on the literature of the whole world.This paper interprets Wilde＇s tragic aestheticism from five aspects： independence of art,initiative ofart,eternity of art,transcendence of art,and art＇s expressiveness and introspectiveness.%奥斯卡·王尔德是十九世纪英国唯美主义的杰出代表,对二十一世纪欧洲文学乃至世界文学影响深远。

文章从艺术的独立性、艺术的主动性、艺术的永恒性、艺术的超越性、艺术形式的绝对性和艺术的内省性六个方面来解读王尔德的悲情唯美主义思想。

【期刊名称】《无锡商业职业技术学院学报》【年(卷),期】2012(012)001【总页数】3页(P98-100)【关键词】王尔德;艺术;悲情唯美主义【作者】莫姮【作者单位】无锡旅游商贸高等职业技术学校,江苏无锡214045【正文语种】中文【中图分类】I106奥斯卡·王尔德（1894—1900年）是英国著名的作家、诗人、戏剧家、艺术家，是英国唯美主义思潮中最杰出的代表。

他博采众长，形成了自己独特的唯美主义艺术观，可以说他的一生都是与“为艺术而艺术”紧紧相连的。

以追求艺术的纯美来映照现实生活的丑陋和凡庸，是这位要么一飞冲天、要么一落千丈的天才至死都不曾放弃的理想与信念。

论王尔德的唯美主义内涵唯美主义思想产生于英国维多利亚时代,是当时流行于英国的资产阶级文艺思潮。

所谓唯美主义就是以艺术的技巧美、形式美作为绝对美的一种艺术主张。

唯美主义者认为艺术不应具有任何说教的因素, 追求单纯的美感, 认为美才是艺术的本质, 才是艺术的真谛。

这种思想主张为艺术而艺术, 强调超然于生活的所谓纯粹的美, 颠倒艺术和社会生活的关系, 一味追求艺术的技巧和形式美, 反对艺术上的功利主义。

王尔德深受罗斯金的美术观点及佩特唯美主义的影响, 最终成为英国美学运动的领袖人物，他对美的主张不论何时都是奉行不悖。

他的唯美主义思想主要包括以下几个方面。

第一、生活模仿艺术。

现实主义者通常认为, 艺术来源于生活, 艺术是生活的反映。

但王尔德认为,不是艺术反映生活,而是生活模仿艺术。

这是王尔德最具独创性和悖论性的思想之一。

他说生活模仿艺术的程度,远远超过了艺术模仿生活的程度。

在他看来,生活往往要借助艺术才能更完美地表现自己, 或者说人们往往是通过艺术才能更好地认识生活。

例如，自然界中的花的存在对我们来说没有任何意义，我们并不认为它很美，但是当它被艺术描绘或渲染后，人们在头脑中就有了花原来是这样美的印象，人们才懂得了花是有实实在在的意义的也就是它很美。

通过这种艺术加工的方式培养了人们的审美感受，从而使人们能够感受到花的美丽，体现了生活对艺术的模仿。

第二、艺术应该脱离人生，艺术不应该模仿人生。

王尔德对英国社会的市侩哲学和虚伪道德深恶痛绝, 他认为人生是不完美的、丑陋的，因此他要用艺术的“美”来同鄙俗现实中的“丑”相对抗。

但是他并不是完全否决人生和生活，他认为在某种情况下，艺术是可以把生活作为一部分原料的，但是必须经过重新加工再创造。

例如，莫里哀最著名的代表作《伪君子》中有塑造了各种各样的人物，既有像答尔丢夫那样的虚伪无耻的教徒，也有像奥尔恭那样的愚蠢可笑的资产阶级，更有像桃丽娜那样机智灵敏的仆人。

《伪君子》中的人物有很大部分是对现实人物的映射，达到了对现实社会批判的效果。

王尔德美学思想的哲学探索摘要：王尔德作为英国唯美主义运动的代表，其艺术思想由于其鲜明的反抗性以及维护艺术独立性和纯洁性一度为世瞩目，而在这一独特的美学思想背后，又有其深刻的文化、哲学背景。

本文试图通过哲学上的追源和探索，更好地理解其唯美思想的实质及它的影响。

关键词：唯美主义王尔德美学哲学奥斯卡•王尔德（1856-1900），19世纪后期英国唯美主义代表作家，名噪欧美的诗人，剧作家，小说家，文艺批评家，英国唯美主义运动代表人物。

诞生于爱尔兰北部都柏林，王尔德从小好学深思，显示出与众不同的性格，青年时代就读于都柏林三一学院，之后进入牛津大学，深受在此讲学的著名批评家佩特和罗斯金的影响，开始文学活动，后来便于伦敦专业写作学的。

王尔德有一套唯心主义思想体系。

他承认资本主义社会不合理，认为改造社会的唯一出路是加强人们的审美修养。

这一观点使他逐渐形成、提出并阐述了超越道德的所谓为艺术而艺术的唯美主义主张：真正的艺术和现存的社会制度根本抵触；生活已失去希望，人类已毫无出路，唯有艺术最真实，唯有艺术最真实，唯有这道永恒的光才能给人希冀，且断言艺术的发展一般不依赖生活，尤其不受道德约束，艺术不带有任何功利主义目的。

他说：书没有道德不道德的，书却有写得好的和写得糟的，仅此而已。

他反对艺术中的现实主义，认为不是艺术反映生活，而是生活追随艺术; 并强调创作要绝对自由，艺术家的个性不应受到任何压抑。

尽管王尔德的唯美主义主张是在特殊的历史背景下，在19世纪末维多利亚时代陈腐风尚及工业艺术虚伪道德对人们理想精神和创造才能造成压抑而提出的思想，反抗讥讽上层社会的虚伪和陈腐。

在这动荡和纷乱的时代，在这纷争和绝望的可怕时刻，只有美的无忧的殿堂可以使人忘却，使人欢乐。

我们不去往美的殿堂还能去往何方呢？只能到一部古代意大利异教经典所说的gitta divina（圣城）的地方去，在那里一个人至少可以暂时摆脱尘世的纷扰和恐怖，逃避世俗的选择。

[内容提要]英国19 世纪唯美思潮是西方美学和文艺学中不可忽视的话题,尤其是运动的主将王尔德更是一位富有争议性的人物。

本文主要论述了王尔德的文艺美学思想,分析其“唯美”概念的内涵,以及被人们指称为“颓废”的原因,提出对西方历史上的唯美思潮以及王尔德的文艺思想应作重新的考量。

[关键词]唯美主义;为艺术而艺术;形式至上;颓废运动曾经有人如此妙评19 世纪英国牛津大学的教授、著名的文艺理论家佩特如此热忱培育的“唯美之花”:它显得过于娇嫩了,即使对艺术的内行来说也是如此,娇嫩得叫人碰不得(威廉·莫里斯语) 。

其实他的弟子王尔德之于美的态度更是有过之而无不及。

如果说瓦尔特·佩特仅仅满足于在牛津大学的讲堂上宣讲他的美的圣经,那么,其弟子王尔德则无论如何不会甘于寂寞。

他四面出击,制造声势,把英国的唯美主义运动搅得风生水起,他本人也成为一时间闻名遐迩的人物,连当时的威尔士王子也感叹道:不认识王尔德先生就是不为人所知!很难说奥斯卡·王尔德(Oscar Wilde ,1854～1900) 是天使,还是恶魔。

对我们这个主张文化多元化的世纪来说,他那点“嗜痂之癖”算不了什么,但在他那个年代这点嗜好会让人蒙受牢狱之灾,声名扫地。

为此,王尔德后半生的寂寞与潦倒只能说明他生错了时代。

不过笔者认为真正导致王尔德不幸的是他骄傲的性格和对美的钟爱。

对王尔德来说,生活中最微小的细节,都深富美学的意味。

有人说王尔德是“颓废”的,笔者不以为然,他是有特别兴味的人,象一位高明的调酒师。

他出身于地位高贵、条件优越的家庭,风平浪静地成长着,与波德莱尔的成长环境相比,要顺风顺水得多。

波德莱尔对美与丑有着入木三分地认识,而王尔德文艺观念的形成则多少是受了时尚的影响。

不过,王尔德的确有特殊的才能,他也是一个天生的乐天派,一个快活地享乐主义者,如果命运继续让他体面而优雅地渡过他的后半生,那么,他应当是一位温和的保守派,一朵无刺的玫瑰。

浅论奥斯卡·王尔德的唯美主义思想的论文浅论奥斯卡·王尔德的唯美主义思想的论文本文从网络收集而来，上传到平台为了帮到更多的人，如果您需要使用本文档，请点击下载按钮下载本文档（有偿下载），另外祝您生活愉快，工作顺利，万事如意！论文摘要：奥斯卡·王尔德是英国最著名的唯美主义代表作家。

他博取名家之说,融会贯通前人思考的成果,逐步形成并确立其独特的唯美主义思想。

他的“以什么为美”的主要思想及其文学作品对现代产生了深远的影响。

论文关键词：王尔德唯美主义《道连·葛雷的画像》奥斯卡·王尔德(1854—1900)是出生于爱尔兰的英国著名的文学家,同时也是英国唯美主义运动的代表人物。

他的写作涉及到戏剧、诗歌、小说、童话、散文、论说文等,几乎每一种体裁都给世人留下了佳作,堪称唯美的经典,体现了其对于纯粹美的执着追求和把握艺术美的非凡能力。

本文尝试探讨王尔德的唯美理论和实践及其影响。

19世纪的欧洲,各种文学思潮迭起,流派纷呈。

而唯美主义以其鲜明强烈的艺术个性、一反常规的美学主张和特立独行的生活姿态引起了一阵不小的轰动。

唯美主义把美作为最高理想,崇尚“为艺术而艺术”。

《道连·葛雷的画像》的自序包含着王尔德对美根本看法的议论,他认为“艺术除了它自身之外,不表现任何东西。

它和思想一样,有独立的生命,而且纯粹按自己的路线发展。

”生活和自然具有不完美性,必须经过艺术的加工。

一切坏的艺术都是返归生活和自然造成的,并且是将生活和自然上升为理想的结果。

生活和自然有时候可以用作艺的部分素材,但是在它们对艺术有任何真正用处之前,它们必须被转换为艺术的常规。

艺术一旦放弃它的想象媒介。

也就放弃了一切。

作为一种方法,现实主义是一个完全的失败。

每一个艺术家应该避免的两件事是形式的现代性和题材的现代性……生活比现实主义跑得快,但是浪漫主义却总是在生活的前头。

(杨东霞,杨烈,译356-357)通过对其作品的分析,张介明(p43)筛选出四点王尔德的“以什么为美”的主要思想:第一,是“以感性为美”。