On Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray （最终修改稿）

On Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray 王婧怡 吉林大学珠海学院外语系 1 A brief introduction to Oscar Wilde and His Aestheticism Oscar Wilde (1854—1900), the celebrated novelist, playwright, poet, and proser, was the spokesman of 19th aestheticism in the United Kingdom, and advocated the principle of “Art for Art’s Sake”. He insisted that art is beyond the living, and believed that it was not art that reflected nature, but nature that reflected art. Aestheticism was not presented first by Oscar Wilde. It was put forward in the eighteenth century by Immanuel Kant, who spoke for the independence of art: Art exists for its own sake, for its own essence or beauty. Artists should not be concerned about morality or utility or even the pleasure that work might bring to its audience. After that, a great many famous people also talked about this viewpoint such as J. W. Von Goethe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Carlyle and J Benjamin Constant, who first used the phrase l’art pour, l’art ( French, meaning “art for art’s sake”) in 1804. Although it was not Oscar Wilde who first invented Aestheticism, but he was undoubtedly a dramatic leader in promoting the movement of Aestheticism. Wilde advocated freedom from moral restraint and the limitations of society. He wrote the foreword in The Picture of Dorian Gray that there was no such thing as a moral or all immoral books. Books are either well written or badly written. That is all. As he said, “Art never expresses anything but itself”. 2 A brief introduction of The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray narrated this kind of story: The cynical Lord Henry Wotton and the kind-hearted artist Basil Hallward were classmates at Oxford University. One day, Basil invited Dorian, a handsome young man, to be his model and paint the portrait of him. Basil thought he gained a lot of ideas which were inspired by this young man. Henry was curious to see this young man, but Basil warned Henry not to infuse his “poison” into the heart of this young man. However, Lord Henry’s doctrine of self-development corrupted Dorian’s innocence. He felt a supreme anguish seizing him at the idea, so he made a wish to the portrait if only the portrait got old disfigured instead of me. Later, he started by discovering a brilliant actress named Sibyl Vane who performed Shakespeare in a dingy theatre. He fell in love with this beautiful girl and proposed to her very impulsively. However, when this girl lost her ability to act because of her true love for Dorian and thus performed badly, Dorian abandoned her cruelly. He said that her beauty lay in her art, and if she could no longer act, he was no longer interested in her. She killed herself because her heart was totally broken. Dorian led a decadent lifestyle and indulged himself during the remainder of his life. While his wish was fulfilled and the portrait became monstrously ugly under Dorian’s sins but Dorian himself as young as before. One day Basil visited him and asked him about the terrible rumors of his indulgences. Dorian let Basil see the portrait and stabbed him to death in a sudden rage. Then he found one of his classmates, who was in a good command of knowledge in chemistry, to help him conceal Basil’s body. After this done, this classmate killed himself because of the guilty conscience. Shortly after, Dorian met James Vane, Sibyl Vane’s brother, who had been searching for him for 18 years and planned to kill Dorian for his dead sister. Unfortunately, instead of killing Dorian, James was shot in a hunting game. Dorian thought that he would be free if he destroyed the portrait, which certificates all his offences. So he picked up a knife and plunged it into the portrait firmly. However, he fell in a pool of blood. He realized that he was an ugly old man and the portrait was as young as it had been 18 years before. 3 Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray As The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only one fiction which fully reflects Wilde’s aesthetic ideology, it’s considered the most famous and classic gothic horror novel among Aestheticist novels. It caused a lot of controversy when this book was first published and some people held the opinion that that was an immoral novel because it revealed starkly the social malpractices, especially those people who represent integrity but actually hypocrites and did evil things at that time. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis, proposing that human psyche could be divided into three parts: id, ego, and super-ego. The id is the impulsive, child-like portion of the psyche that operates on the “pleasure principle” and only takes into account what it wants and disregards all consequences. The super-ego is the moral component of the psyche, which takes into consideration no special circumstances in which the morally right thing may not be right for a given situation. The rational ego attempts to assure a balance between the impractical hedonism of the id and the equally impractical moralism of the super-ego; it is the part of the psyche that is usually reflected most directly in a person’s actions. (From Wikipedia) The healthy ego has the ability to adapt to reality and regulate id and super-ego in order to interact with the outside world. In a certain letter, Wilde stated that the main characters of The Picture of Dorian Gray are in different ways reflections of himself: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry what the world thinks me; Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.” From what we expressed about id, ego, and super-ego, in this sense, Dorian symbolizes Wilde’s id, Basil Wilde’s super-ego, and Henry Wilde’s ambivalent ego. As for Dorian, Wilde had the following evaluation, “Dorian Gray is what I would like to be, an eternal youth, one who, at any price, connives to escape moral responsibility. He is the very image of the feckless Irish lad-- ‘the Great Irresponsible’, living only for the pleasures of the moment, will pay heavily for his fecklessness in the end.” Dorian was a youth who was from pure good to evil because his mind was eroded by corrupted thought of capitalism. Freud said that id is the most basic element of personality. It is dominated by pleasure principle and the only aim is to satisfy one’s inner desire. Therefore, it owns the formidable strength. Dorian’s personality matches the characteristic of id well. He pursued sensorial entertainment so that he eradicated any person or things which tried to stop him. Basil and Henry were the best examples. One tried his best to persuade Dorian but the result was death. The other one said some words to cater Dorian and lived very well. Wilde said that he was longing for a free and uncontrolled life. As a steady aesthete, it goes without saying that this is exactly his id pursue. On the other hand, it’s universally acknowledged that people were filled with desire to money and power in Europe in the nineteenth century the same as Dorian, deeply infatuated with beauty. People satisfied their desire and attained their ends by hook or by crook. Just as Dorian lost himself in the portrait, that hypocritical upper classes were lost in different desires. At the end of this novel, Dorian actually killed himself, which presents that Wilde expresses his attitude towards the society in the form of art. The portrait represents human beings’ spirit and soul. While Dorian represents beauty and evil which live together, these also reflect Wilde’s aestheticism. As for Basil, Wilde said, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am.” Basil was a talented painter. Although he was normal but he was a kind-hearted, gentle and honorable man. In the novel, Dorian killed Basil, that is to say, id killed super-ego. According to Freud’s theories, the super-ego is the highest aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society​​--​​​​​​​our sense of right and wrong. Super-ego and id have the irreconcilable relationship. However, super-ego and ego meet each other half way. For example, Basil is to Henry what an apple is to an oyster, but they keep good relationship for a long time. As for Henry, Wilde said, “Lord Wotton is what the world thought him: one of the new aristocrats, a dandy who lives by his wits, mocked as ‘Prince Paradox’”. Henry encouraged Dorian to pursue beauty and youth, but he was just a normal person in a sophisticated glittery society. He disregarded the marriage; however, he had a stable marriage life. He scoffed all of the traditional moralities, yet he had done nothing outrageous. According to Freud’s theory, ego stands for reason and circumstance. On the one hand, he tried to find a way to satisfy id’s desire. On the other hand, he was a paradoxical dandy. All these just represent the ego of Wilde himself. 4. Conclusion As the only novel of Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray takes up a significant position in his literary works. Although it is not a biography, it fully embodies the characteristic of Wilde. The three characters interact and struggle with each other, reflecting the controversial and paradoxical personality of Wilde. What’s more, from this classic novel, Wilde not only revealed his paradoxical characteristic, but also showed us what aestheticism is, how to appreciate the beauty, and many kinds of thinking about morality. References [1] Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 2003 [2] 金雅君 在小说《道林格雷的画像》中探寻奥斯卡王尔德的三重人格 2007.04 [3] 宫昀 王尔德《道林格雷的画像》中的唯美主义体现 考试周刊 2008（11） [4] 李航 黄洪玲 一个反叛道德的道德世界——王尔德《道林格雷的画像》中的唯美主义与隐喻 衡阳师范学院学报 2009,30（4） [5] 傅琦 从《道林格雷的画像》看王尔德的唯美主义 2008,7（4） （吉林大学珠海学院指导老师 李里） 4