Concetti Chiave

  • Oscar Wilde, born in Dublin in 1854, gained early fame for his eccentric dandy persona and brilliant charm.
  • He was educated at Oxford University, where his love for poetry profoundly influenced his literary style.
  • Wilde's career peaked in 1895 but was marred by a scandalous trial for sodomy, leading to his imprisonment.
  • "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is Wilde's only novel, exploring the tension between art and life with a focus on individual psychology.
  • The novel's plot revolves around Dorian Gray, whose portrait ages and shows his moral decay while he remains outwardly youthful.

What was Oscar Wilde's early life like?

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 and is one of the leaders of the Decadent.

After his classical studies, Wilde attended Oxford University where he was influenced by poetry. Spirit eccentric dandy of rare elegance, began to be talked about in bourgeois circles and was targeted by a humor magazine, which ridiculed attitudes. For his ingenuity and his brilliant charm, he had many admirers.

Wilde's literary journey

He published his first volume of poetry in 1881 and subsequently moved to London where she married a rich Irish. In 1895, at the height of his career, it was the center of a process that saw him accused of sodomy, a scandal without equal in Victorian England. Sentenced to two years of forced labor, he came out ruined financially and psychologically tested. He spent the last years of his life in Paris under an assumed name, and shortly before his death he converted to Catholicism.

 

The picture of dorian gray

"The Picture of Dorian Gray"

His only novel, considered the "bible" of the Decadent.
The novel can be defined psychologically disturbing implications for the human psyche, and great for the issues related to fantasy literature.

Wilde sees the novel as artistic fiction and chooses instead of weaving traditional, continuous and obsessive attention to the psychology of the individual. It focuses on one character and tries to learn their secrets and hardships.

A new theme of this novel is the relationship between art and life, solved with the prevalence of the former over the latter. The author develops a fantastic story putting the ideas of aestheticism and bringing them to the extreme. In fact, the novel has a happy ending: the tragic conclusion establishes the failure of the cult of beauty.

 

Plot

Plot summary

The young Dorian Gray receives a gift from a friend a portrait painter, and is amazed by the beauty of his face. Thus it expresses its sadness at the fact that his image on the painting will remain forever young and beautiful, while he will age. A noble unscrupulous convinces Dorian to take advantage of her beauty in order to enjoy the pleasures of life. Dorian is convinced and walks on the road of the most despicable perversion. But all this does not leave any mark on the face of Dorian that continues to be beautiful. Instead, her portrait to have the signs of evil. Dorian, crazy, from a stab to the heart of the portrait. He falls to the ground, dead, with his face aged and disfigured, while the face of the framework regains its beauty.

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Domande da interrogazione

  1. What were the key influences in Oscar Wilde's early life and education?
  2. Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 and later attended Oxford University, where he was influenced by poetry. His eccentric and elegant dandy spirit made him a notable figure in bourgeois circles, attracting both admirers and satirical attention from humor magazines.

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