Concetti Chiave
- Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" contrasts with Stevenson's work by portraying dual personalities in separate characters, focusing on the Victorian dandy lifestyle.
- Wilde explores themes of repressed sexuality and societal respectability versus hidden desires, reflecting the complexities of the dandy's life.
- Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" highlights duality within a single individual, symbolized by contrasting elements in London and Edinburgh settings.
- The novel uses Gothic elements and settings, such as the two doors of Dr. Jekyll's house, to emphasize the dual nature of human existence.
- Both authors delve into the conflict between good and evil within individuals, drawing inspiration from literary works like Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus."
Difference with Oscar Wilde and Stevenson
While in Stevenson we have a double personality in a solo being in Oscar Wild we have 2 beings in 2 different personalities with 2 different elements. Here we have the elegant dandy, in Dorian gray. The dandy is the Victorian figure of an esthetical character, the man that used to dress with elegant suits, long hair and he participated in places particular aristocrats. It had so a respectable life, different from the middle class, the dandies didn't work or they were artists but in the night they had a difficult life losing their respectability, it was so also for D’Annunzio, they had above all a particular life toward a repressed sexuality and they were also homosexuals.
Oscar Wild was sent to the jail by the father of the boy that loved, and in jail that he wrote two different works with a moral teaching.The same was for Stevenson which received from his mother a strong (Calvinism) education, the people of this religion were of narrow values. He refused the Calvinism and definite to become a dandy despite his weak health. Then it is important to understand this double aspect of Dr Jekyll about the personality. The novel has a Gothic remaking with referable elements to London or Edinburg because London had these double elements that could be seen by the east (respectability) and west (slums). Edinburg can be seen in the Georgian town with beautiful shops and roads, as also the part of Edinburg where reigned by delinquency.
Another important element can be seen in the house of Dr Jekyll with two different doors,. The first one used by Dr. Jekyll and the second from Mr. Hide. The atmosphere is terrible, gloomy and all the events are represented in a dismal night, in the obscurity of the laboratory.
Stevenson wanted to show the moment of the transformation because he wanted to put in evidence his alter ego. All of this we can find in the 2 different figures in the build, on as he dresses, laboratory and house, the two doors, London and Edinburg, double life of Dr. Jekyll, everything is linked to the Victorian compromise and the double life that had in that period. It is important to understand that these double elements are double elements that we can find in every man in the conflict between the good and the evil.
It is the same contrast in the double present aspect in every man Blake said that this was normal and there had to be. It should not be that one side is better than the other but all must coexist. They take inspiration from Marlow who wrote "the doctor Faust" where a man signs with the blood a pact with the devil because he wants to be forever young, he did a pact with the devil and from here the Gothic novel is born.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è la differenza principale tra i personaggi di Oscar Wilde e Stevenson?
- Chi è il dandy e quale ruolo ha nella società vittoriana?
- Qual è l'importanza della doppia porta nella casa di Dr. Jekyll?
- Come si collega il tema del doppio alla società vittoriana?
In Stevenson, abbiamo una doppia personalità in un solo essere, mentre in Oscar Wilde ci sono due esseri con due personalità diverse.
Il dandy è una figura estetica vittoriana, un uomo che si veste elegantemente e partecipa a eventi aristocratici, vivendo una vita rispettabile di giorno e una vita difficile di notte.
La doppia porta rappresenta la doppia vita di Dr. Jekyll, con una porta usata da Dr. Jekyll e l'altra da Mr. Hyde, simbolizzando il conflitto tra il bene e il male.
Il tema del doppio riflette il compromesso vittoriano e la doppia vita dell'epoca, mostrando il conflitto tra rispettabilità e trasgressione.