Concetti Chiave
- Oscar Wilde's philosophy of "art for art's sake" emphasizes art's pursuit of beauty without moral purposes, highlighting a materialistic world's impact on the soul.
- Wilde's character, the dandy, is a non-conformist hero who follows beauty and pleasure, contrasting with the bohemian artist who separates from his class.
- The narrative employs a third-person narrator with an internal viewpoint, enhancing reader-character identification.
- The story's setting is richly described, engaging the senses through vivid vocabulary.
- The novel's allegorical themes explore the eternal nature of art, the duality of human nature, and a Faustian bargain for eternal youth.
Art for art's sake = art does not have any moral purposes and its only aim is to pursue beauty.
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.
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
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)
The Picture of Dorian Gray - The story
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
- Qual è il significato di "Art for art's sake" secondo Oscar Wilde?
- Come viene rappresentato il personaggio del dandy nel contesto di Wilde?
- Quali sono i temi principali de "Il ritratto di Dorian Gray"?
- Qual è lo stile letterario utilizzato da Wilde ne "Il ritratto di Dorian Gray"?
Secondo Wilde, "Art for art's sake" significa che l'arte non ha scopi morali e il suo unico obiettivo è perseguire la bellezza. In un mondo materialistico, la ricerca della bellezza è l'unico modo per prevenire l'omicidio dell'anima.
Il dandy è un artista borghese che, nonostante il suo disagio, è un eroe anticonformista che segue il culto della bellezza e persegue il proprio piacere, vivendo una vita come un'opera d'arte.
I temi principali includono la relazione tra arte e vita, il doppio (il ritratto rappresenta il lato oscuro della personalità di Dorian), e la storia allegorica del mito di Faust, un uomo che vende la sua anima al diavolo per rimanere giovane.
Wilde utilizza uno stile raffinato e prezioso, ricco di immagini e dispositivi retorici, epigrammatico con affermazioni brevi ma significative, e arguto, caratterizzato da osservazioni taglienti e sottili che suscitano risate e divertimento nel lettore.
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