摘 要

唯美主义运动是19世纪末期的一场艺术运动，它倡导艺术之美，而这种美不含任何功利性的、道德的以及政治上的企图。奥斯卡·王尔德（1856-1900）作为唯美主义运动的真正代表，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来说，王尔德认为，艺术应该超脱现实，游离人生。他的小说《道林格雷的画像》充分体现了唯美主义。本文分为四个部分：第一部分简要介绍小说的内容、唯美主义运动的历史发展以及维多利亚时代的价值观，并且列出相关学者对该小说的批判评价；第二部分介绍作者写作的背景信息并分析小说中三个角色与作者自身的相似处；第三部分提出唯美主义的三个主要原则在小说中的体现：艺术至上、艺术是完全独立的以及艺术是超道德的，并进一步分析了艺术与道德的关系；第四部分是结论，先对每一章节的内容做一个概述，再对文章的中心主旨做一个总结并升华。

关键词：王尔德； 唯美主义运动； 道林格雷的画像

Abstract

Aestheticism movement was an art movement which advocated only the beauty of art, excluding any utilitarian, moral, or political purpose in the late 19^th-century. Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) as the representative of this movement was not only the practitioner of aestheticism but an advocate of aesthetic ideas as well. Considering the relationship between art and reality, he regarded that art is beyond reality and free from the real life. His novel The Picture of Dorian Gray fully embodies his aesthetic values. This paper consists of four main parts: The first part includes the context of the novel, the development of aestheticism movement and the values of the Victorian time. Besides, critical comments from related scholars are also listed in the introduction. The second part contains the background of the novel, including how two literary works influenced the novel and how three characters resemble Oscar Wilde himself. The third part introduces three main principles of aestheticism reflected in the novel: art is supreme, art is independent, and art is irrelevant to morality and further analyzes the relationship between art and morality. The last part is the conclusion of the whole paper, summarizing every chapter and illuminating the theme of the paper.

Key Words: Oscar Wilde; Aestheticism movement; The Picture of Dorian Gray

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 The Background of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray 5

2.1 Writing Inspiration of Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray 5

2.2 The Resemblance between Characters and Oscar Wilde 6

3 Aesthetic Principles in The Picture of Dorian Gray 8

3.1 Supremacy of Art 8

3.2 Independence of Art 8

3.3 The Relationship between Art and Morality 9

4. Conclusion 12

Reference 13

Acknowledgements 14

Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde's

The Picture of Dorian Gray

1 Introduction

Among all the classic books in the literary circle, Oscar Wilde’s only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray has been a wonderful masterpiece over the years. The study on aestheticism cannot be really achieved without mentioning Oscar Wilde as his famous works made him a disputed figure for Aestheticism. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet. Being a spokesman for aestheticism, Wilde had actively participated in a variety of literary activities, such as writing a book of poems, taking lectures in North America and working as a journalist. Wilde’s attitude towards aestheticism was deeply influenced by his college teacher, Walter Pater whose philosophy of life was regarded as a “Golden Book” by Wilde. Oscar Wilde was good at writing poems, plays, and short stories. However, in his whole life, he only wrote one novel, which is The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the novel, there are three main male characters who had different values of life yet shared the same goal: chasing beauty in life. Dorian Gray, a man with alluring beauty, was innocent and naive at first. He was later introduced to aesthetic values by Lord Henry, a wise man with original views of life. The third man was Basil Hallward, an artist who drew an extraordinary portrait of Dorian Gray which changed his entire life.

The novel shows Wilde’s idea of aestheticism. In the 1860s, the aestheticism movement started from a little group of artists who were dissatisfied with the status quo. Those typically included William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The former was an English poet, novelist and socialist; the latter was as well an English poet who founded Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. These young artists found totally different ways of living which against the traditional values of Victorian society. Aestheticism had developed rapidly since increasing reformers involved in this movement for chasing the pure beauty. The sprouting of the aesthetic movement caused a radical impact on that time, meanwhile, the ideas they spread were in dramatic contrast to the Victorian values. French poet Théophile Gautier came up with the concept “Art for art’s sake”, which later was regarded as a battle cry of the movement. Aestheticism movement battled against the traditional values of beauty, art, and lifestyles in the Victorian age. Reformers established the Grosvenor Gallery as their talking-shop in 1877. It was more like a Royal Academy where they expressed original ideas of art. The talking-shop was where Oscar Wilde chose to make his first sensational appearance. Thus, the aestheticism movement gradually altered to performance art. One of the main principles of aestheticism is that art is not restricted to artistic work. Art is everywhere, in public or private places, in the attitude that how we live our lives.