Concetti Chiave
- Oscar Wilde, born in Dublin in 1854, was a leading figure of the Decadent movement and known for his eccentric dandyism.
- Wilde's charm and wit garnered admiration, but also made him a target for satire in bourgeois circles.
- His career peaked in 1895, but he faced a scandalous trial for sodomy, leading to imprisonment and personal ruin.
- "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is Wilde's only novel, exploring psychological themes and the tension between art and life.
- The novel’s plot centers on Dorian Gray, whose portrait ages instead of him, leading to his moral decline and tragic end.
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.
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"
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
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.
Domande da interrogazione
- Chi era Oscar Wilde e quale fu il suo contributo alla letteratura?
- Quali furono le conseguenze del processo del 1895 per Oscar Wilde?
- Qual è il tema principale de "Il ritratto di Dorian Gray"?
- Come si conclude "Il ritratto di Dorian Gray" e quale messaggio trasmette?
Oscar Wilde era un leader del movimento Decadente, noto per il suo spirito eccentrico e il suo fascino brillante. Ha pubblicato il suo primo volume di poesie nel 1881 e il suo unico romanzo, "Il ritratto di Dorian Gray", è considerato la "bibbia" del Decadentismo.
Nel 1895, Wilde fu accusato di sodomia e condannato a due anni di lavori forzati, il che lo rovinò finanziariamente e psicologicamente. Trascorse gli ultimi anni della sua vita a Parigi sotto un nome falso.
Il tema principale del romanzo è la relazione tra arte e vita, con una prevalenza dell'arte sulla vita. Wilde esplora le implicazioni psicologiche e le questioni legate alla letteratura fantastica, concentrandosi sulla psicologia dell'individuo.
Il romanzo si conclude tragicamente con Dorian che pugnala il ritratto e muore, mentre il quadro riacquista la sua bellezza originale. Questo finale stabilisce il fallimento del culto della bellezza e delle perversioni di Dorian.
Accedi a tutti gli appunti
Tutor AI: studia meglio e in meno tempo
