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Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray

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Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Antonia WIELAND am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter: O.Univ.-Prof. Mag.art. Dr.phil. Werner Wolf Graz, 2021 Acknowledgments Thank you to my father, who has supported me through all these years without pressuring me. I want to equally thank my brother and my sisters for their advice, motivation, and love, especially when I was struggling with doubts. Thank you for raising me to be my best self. I also thank Gusti, who made me feel at home and gave me a place to rest while working on this thesis. Thank you, as well, to my dearest friends, who with their brilliant minds helped finding solutions where I thought were none. And finally, a thank you to my mother, who sadly is not around to see me finishing my studies. I want to thank her for being such a great example of a dedicated teacher. II Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 2 EXISTING LITERARY RESEARCH ON OSCAR WILDE ......................... 3 3 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXTS ............................................ 12 3.1 AESTHETICISM AS A EUROPEAN MOVEMENT ........................................................ 12 3.2 THEORIES ABOUT BEAUTY ................................................................................... 18 3.3 DANDYISM AND VICTORIAN SOCIETY .................................................................. 22 3.4 INFLUENCES ON OSCAR WILDE’S WRITING .......................................................... 26 4 ANALYSIS OF OSCAR WILDE’S THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY .. 32 4.1 THE PREFACE AS A MANIFESTO OF AESTHETICISM ................................................ 32 4.2 AESTHETICIST ELEMENTS IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY ............................. 34 4.2.1 The dandies of the novel ............................................................................. 34 4.2.1.1 Lord Henry Wotton ............................................................................ 34 4.2.1.2 Dorian Gray ........................................................................................ 46 4.2.2 Sibyl Vane from an aestheticist point of view ............................................. 55 4.2.3 Art as a central symbol ............................................................................... 60 4.2.4 Aestheticist elements in Oscar Wilde’s writing style .................................. 65 4.3 NON-AESTHETICIST ELEMENTS IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY ....................... 70 4.3.1 General contradictions to aestheticism and related concepts .................... 70 4.3.2 The novel as criticism of Victorian Society ................................................ 71 4.3.3 Dorian’s downfall, and poetic justice as outstanding non-aestheticist elements .................................................................................................................. 73 4.4 IMPLIED NORMS, AND WORLDVIEW, AND THE CRITICAL FUNCTION OF THE NOVEL WITH RESPECT TO AESTHETICISM ......................................................................... 87 4.5 RECEPTION AND CRITIQUE ................................................................................... 92 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 97 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 99 III 1 Introduction Oscar Wilde's only novel can without any doubt be considered one of the most influential and controversial novels of the 19th century. It was rather unusual for Wilde to sit down and write such a lengthy text, as he always appreciated texts that could be read in one sitting. However, the aestheticist perspectives he had gathered over the years and the people he had met inspired him to sit down more than one night to write this fascinating novel. The first publication of The Picture of Dorian Gray in Lippincott's magazine in 1890 did not have the effect Wilde had hoped for. Victorian Britain was not yet ready for Wilde's ideas and rejected the first publication. After facing severe criticism of his work, Wilde decided to add a preface and six additional chapters to his text. This introduction to the text turned out to be a praise of aestheticism and an explanation of his writing style. The novel, like every good text, as Wilde would argue, is a mixture of many different influential authors and works that preceded The Picture of Dorian Gray. Mostly French writers and artists were of great importance to Wilde, and he made no secret of referring, implicitly or explicitly, to their works within his novel. As a result, The Picture of Dorian Gray offers a wide range of aestheticist perspectives. Of course, it would not be a text by Oscar Wilde if there were no controversies and even contradicting perspectives. The primary focus of the present thesis will be to analyse how aestheticist ideology is realised within the novel and how Wilde transmitted ideas about aestheticism into his text. Furthermore, contradictory elements and passages of the text will be highlighted and closer analysed with the regard of the various influences that contributed to it. This thesis is divided into two main parts. First of all, relevant contexts of the novel. The aestheticist movement and its realisation by different artists and writers, theories of beauty that influenced aestheticist writers and gave them a philosophy and the immediate local and spatial influences on Wilde's writing. Second and mainly, a detailed analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray with a particular focus on aestheticist and non-aestheticist elements within the text. To cover all aspects of aestheticism, this final part will be divided into several sub-chapters to give a more structured overview of the complex novel. 1 Oscar Wilde was already a famous character during his lifetime. He always made sure to be well known and noticed by his chosen circle of artists, leading to an extensive amount of bibliographical writing, even shortly after his death. Additionally, his work has fascinated many literary critics, leading to enormous research and papers on him and his work. I have tried to include as many articles and research as possible and included a chapter on existing research that shortly summarises what aspects of Wilde's life and work, writers have been interested in ever since. Aestheticism and Wilde have always been perceived as very closely connected. Many critics have analysed his texts according to this philosophy. I have tried to bring as many perspectives as possible and my own analysis into this thesis to provide a good overview, however, as this thesis has its limitations the collection of mentioned papers is still very restricted. 2 2 Existing literary research on Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde undoubtedly has touched many lives throughout his lifetime and ever since. Especially for Victorian society Wilde’s life was unusual and exciting so naturally comments, papers and even books are written on him and his work. The perspectives of these texts and comments could not be more different and the opinions on Wilde change from year to year and from country to country. Wilde corresponded with many artists and friends of the English and French literary community. These letters give insight on many of Wilde’s personal habits and even more insight on what people he enjoyed being around. Many of these writings are saved in a collection named The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde, which was edited by Rupert Hart-Davis and Merlin Holland, the latter being Oscar Wilde’s only grandchild. It was first published by Hart-Davis in 1963 and republished 2000. The collection covers letters to his former lover Lord Alfred Douglas, but also includes many letters that show Wilde’s wit and eloquence. It is undeniable that Wilde left a significant imprint on England’s literary history and many writers of his time mentioned him in several texts and articles. Wilde was known for his extravagant style and his beautiful speeches. Irish poet William Butler Yeats emphasized Wilde’s interesting speeches in his autobiography. He states that he had never heard someone talk as Wilde did. It was as if he had prepared all his speeches and sentences overnight. Yeats was very impressed by Wilde as an eloquent speaker. (cf. Ellmann 1969: 9) During his lifetime, Wilde was mainly known for being an extravagant aesthete. He loved the public’s attention and was eager to make many contacts that provided him with this attention. He was especially eager to make literary contacts in France, where he felt most comfortable and accepted. His reputation in Paris and France in general, derived mostly from his own self-representation and what the media made of him. Being an aesthete at that time helped Wilde to gain attention and put attention on his writings, as they were gradually translated into French. Russian journalist and writer Téodor de Wyzewa, who was living in France at that time, made an interesting comment on Wilde’s early reputation in France: “Before the month of December 1891, when Mr Wilde came to Paris, the English, his compatriots, did not know how to appreciate him.” (Wyzewa 1892: 423) Texts and reviews of Wilde were 3 regularly published in French daily papers and these articles often focussed on his aestheticist philosophy and his dandyism. (cf. Evangelista 2010: 65)
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