Concetti Chiave
- Oscar Wilde believed in living life as a work of art, valuing beauty over materialism to preserve the soul.
- The dandy, unlike the bohemian, is a bourgeois artist who remains connected to his class while pursuing personal pleasure and beauty.
- The narrative uses a third-person perspective with an internal point of view, enabling the reader to connect with the characters.
- Wilde's style is refined and rich, characterized by precious imagery, epigrams, and wit that engage the reader.
- The story is an allegorical take on Faust, exploring themes of eternal art, duality, and the consequences of a hedonistic lifestyle.
Art for art's sake = art does not have any moral purposes and its only aim is to pursue beauty.
What is The Life of Oscar Wilde?
Wilde said that he lived in a materialistic world and the pursuit of beauty was the only way to prevent the murder of the soul. He lived his life a a work of art , and lived the double role of rebel and dandy.
The dandy is a bourgeois artist that despite his uneasiness, while the bohemian cuts off from his class. The dandy is an anti conformist hero who follows the cult of beauty and pursues his own pleasure.
Narration and Setting
The story is told by an unobtrusive third person narrator whit ban internal point of view to allow a process of identification between the reader and the character.
The setting is vividly described with a vocabulary appealing to the senses.
The characters are presented by showing, that is they reveal themselves through what they say.
Themes
Relationship art/life (art survives people because it is eternal);
The double (the picture becomes the representation of the dark side of Dorian's personality );
The story is allegorical (it is a version of the myth of Faust, a man who sells his soul to the devil to stay young )
Style
Wilde's Writing Style
Jewelled( Wilde uses a very refined style, full of precious images and rhetorical devices ) ;
Epigrammatic( Wilde uses short , but meaningful statements that hide a paradoxical truth) ;
Witty (it is characterised by sharp and subtle remarks causing laughter and amusement in the reader)
Dorian gray, a young man of outstanding beauty, is very popular in the best London society. Everybody loves him and wants to be in his company. Lord Henry Wotton introduces him to the philosophy of a new Hedonism, a life of pleasure founded on Youth and beauty. The arris basil Hallward paints a portrait of Dorian that wonderfully captures the young man's extraordinary charms. Dorian, impressed by the perfection of his own beauty as it portrayed by the painter, wishes never to grow old. Surprisingly, his wish is granted: his dissolute and immoral life (Dorian causes the suicide of his fiancée Sibyl an murders his only frien Basil) leaves no signs on his face but disfigures the painting , which shows the marks of Dorian's natural and moral decay. Disgusted by the portrait, Dorian finally tries to destroy it but, as soon as he does it, he dies. After his death, the portrait resumes it's perfect beauty, while the signs of corruption appear on Dorian's body .
Domande da interrogazione
- What was Oscar Wilde's perspective on the relationship between art and life?
- What are the key themes explored in Wilde's story?
Oscar Wilde believed that art is eternal and survives people, emphasizing that the pursuit of beauty is essential to prevent the "murder of the soul" in a materialistic world. He lived his life as a work of art, embodying the roles of both a rebel and a dandy, who is an anti-conformist hero devoted to beauty and personal pleasure.
The story explores themes such as the relationship between art and life, the concept of the double (with the portrait representing Dorian's dark side), and an allegorical take on the Faust myth, where a man sells his soul to the devil to remain young.
Accedi a tutti gli appunti
Tutor AI: studia meglio e in meno tempo
