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On Characters in“the Picture of Dorian Gray”——An Interpretation of Oscar Wilde’

【abstract】oscar wilde as one of the most distinguished aesthetes overpowers the english world with his scintillating address and writing on aestheticism. especially in “the picture of dorian gray”, the only novel in his lifetime, wilde paints a picture in which his brilliant aesthetic creeds find their full expression. through the analyses of three main characters involved in the novel, the thesis attempts to explore the essentials of wilde’s aesthetic theories and offer an easy approach to readers’ further understanding of the irish wit.

【key words】aestheticism; hedonism; narcissism; dandyism; cynicism;sensibility; paradox

in public eyes, he belongs to “the alternative society”. his quaint style of dressing, trenchant wit and eloquence, aesthetic belief of “art for art’s sake” and sexual orientation make a mystery of him. in his lifetime, discussion over his literary works and private life remains intent among the reading public. and many years after his death, his mystic resplendent charm, instead of being effaced by the lapse of time, began to assert itself and gained increasing admiration from more open-minded generations. the appeal emanated from within the irish wit is so enduring that even when winston churchill is asked with whom he prefers most to talk if chance permits, the worldly acknowledged master of language offered the name without any hesitation. the name falls on none other than oscar wilde.

as a staunch advocate for the aesthetic movement which developed in britain during the late nineteenth century as a protest against the prevailing industrial emphasis on “the useful” or utilitarianism, oscar wilde impresses the world primarily with his amazing power of language in presenting his aesthetic thoughts and theories. pervading in his literary works are epigrammic wit, amusing irony and paradoxical quotes with humorous skepticism and cynical charm. especially in “the picture of dorian gray”, his only novel, wilde instills himself and his aesthetic doctrines into the three characters involved in such a tactful way that the book has since become one of his most celebrated works, a brilliant example of his power as a storyteller and of his flamboyant wit as an aesthetic writer. the three characters in question, dorian gray, a youth with heart-throbbing physical beauty; basil hallward, a painter devoted to art heart and soul; and lord henry wotton, an aristocratic dandy who tempts dorian gray into moral degeneration, combine to make a true and complete oscar wilde as he himself famously said: “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.” in this sense, “the picture of dorian gray” is not only a picture in which wilde’s aestheticism is faithfully painted, but also a picture that delineates his inner world.

in the novel that is tinged with mythical color, dorian, basil and henry are all aesthetes respectively representing oscar wilde’s aestheticism in their own way. the protagonist dorian gray is a youth with stunning beauty, through whose physical charm wilde presents his aesthetic ideas in two aspects: narcissism and hedonism.

narcissism:

the narcissistic passion as the distinguishing feature in wilde’s beauty-seeking can be detected in the novel from dorian gray the “wonderfully handsome”. dorian is so indulgent in his own beauty that “in boyish mockery of narcissus, he had kissed or feigned to kiss those painted lips,… morning after morning he sat before the portrait, wondering at its beauty, almost enamored of it”. to perpetuate his youth and charm, the narcissist even jeopardizes his soul by wishing: “if it were i who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! for that---for that---i would give everything! yes, there is nothing in the whole world i would not give! i would give my soul for that!” the fanatical prayer brings to life a youth who succumbs to self idolatry. sharing with his character the narcissistic complex, oscar wilde the creator presents himself to the world as a brilliantly talented writer who thinks much of himself. he takes great delight in adopting a high profile in public and talking in full flow with his fellowmen about his unorthodox thoughts that shock the world. besides, wilde is never one to lose the opportunity of recycling those well-turned phrases and remarks invented by himself. in many of his works, words and phrases made by him are found to be copied repeatedly just because he prefers his own used words to others’. this self-plagiarism is, psychologically, a solid proof of his narcissistic inclination as an aesthete.

hedonism:

disillusioned with a human nature distorted by capitalization and commercialization pervading in 19th century british society, aesthetes led by wilde take hedonism as a spiritual refuge in their pursuit of life ideals. the key role hedonism plays in wilde’s aestheticism could be discerned from his portrayal of dorian gray, the epitome of beauty who pursues a life of exquisite or perverse sensation and exhausts passions for a catalogue of sensory disciplines from interior design to exotic cuisine. as dorian himself told lord henry: “i lounged in the park, or strolled down piccadilly…there was an exquisite poison in the air. i had a passion for sensations…”. receiving every day “invitations to dinner, tickets for private views, programmes of charity concerts and the like…”, dorian in his budding life spends his days on nothing but luxurious sensuous enjoyment, leading a lifestyle “morally” intolerable in an industrial and utilitarian society yet welcomed by aesthetes who take superb sensuous pleasure as a form of self-fulfillment. in “the picture of dorian gray”, when dorian gets the information about the death of sybil vane his lover, he announces to basil: “ a man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. i don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions, i want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” the declaration is consistent with wilde’s publicized epigrams that “ nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul” and “i can resist anything but temptation”. yet wilde’s hedonism is not mere idleness, it is, instead, a “new hedonism” which takes sensuous pleasure as the ultimate aim in the creation of art. as a new hedonist to every inch, wilde himself is always searching for new sensations, which can be observed from his way in writing the novel. he devotes a whole chapter (chapter11) to an exhaustive account of how dorian abandons himself to such sensuous pleasures as collecting perfume, jewels and embroideries, etc, the details of which points toward an aesthete’s love of opulent decoration and the endeavors he makes in the study of it. but evidently, the hedonism meant for the “redemption of  mankind’s souls” as claimed by aesthetes is in essence escapism that can’t bear fruits in the end. 

if, say, dorian gray is the embodiment of beauty in the story, then it is basil hallward the painter who converts dorian’s worldly existence into a heightened sphere of art. throughout the book, the impression of basil upon readers is nothing other than his keen sensitiveness to the value of beautiful things, or simply his preoccupation with sensibility. 

sensibility:

in basil’s appreciation of beauty and art, top priority is given to his sensibility rather than sense and reason. when he first met dorian gray, he gives a delicate and passionate description of the psychological change he undergoes “a curious sensation of terror came over me,…it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself”. and in the same chapter, he made a confession to lord henry about the influence of dorian’s beauty upon his art as “unconsciously he defines for me the lines of a fresh school, a school that is to have in it all the passion of the romantic spirit, all the perfection of the spirit that is greek. the harmony of soul and body---how much that is! we in our madness have separated the two, and have invented a realism that is vulgar and ideality that is void”. here the effect of sensibility is heightened to an extent to which it can even penetrate one’s nature and soul while realism is despised as being vulgar. the description serves as an indicator of the artist’s preference of sensibility to rationalism in his pursuit of art, which is in accordance with wilde’s theory of “they are elect to whom beautiful things mean only him so long as it is beautiful and what matters is beauty itself instead of any moral significance it bears. that is why he lavishes praises upon dorian despite his ignorance of the l beauty” and “all art is quite useless”. to basil hallward, anything will appeal toatter’s nature. and to wilde, “there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. books are well written, or badly written. that is all”. basil’s extravagant panegyrics on dorian’s beauty is a reflection of his emphasis upon sensibility in artistic creation, which could be further proved by his refusal to paint for somebody else despite the huge price offered to him just because “there was something in the shape of his fingers that i hated”. basil’s, or rather, wilde’s infatuation with sensibility is inseparable from his attempt to seek an escape from the stifling confines of victorian painting and writing, from those arts weighed down by an ever increasing burden of moral, social and sentimental baggage.

the greatest fascination of the novel, as unanimously applauded by most readers, owes itself to the portrayal of lord henry wotton, a dandy and cynic who treats life as a spectator sport and exercises a malign influence upon dorian. it is through his scintillating remarks that oscar wilde finds an ideal outlet for his own outlook toward art and life. in lord henry three elements coalesce to distinguish wilde as a leading aesthete: dandyism, cynicism and masterly use of paradox.

dandyism:

the novel is, from the very beginning, set in a comfortable background “filled with the rich odor of roses”, in which lord henry “was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes”, with a self-conscious and satisfied air. observant readers can find with no difficulty this pose of insouciance of lord henry in wilde’s frequent use of such adjective words as “languid, listless, dreamy, languorous, etc.”  when lord henry speaks. to highlight lord henry’s demeanor and habit as a dandy, wilde employs lord henry’s uncle as his spokesperson who comments on his niece in chapter three---“what brings you out so early? i thought you dandies never got up till two, and were not visible till five”. it presents to readers the image of an indolent lad who speaks “with that graceful wave of the hand that was always so characteristic of him”. lord henry’s dandyism in dress and demeanor is also vintage oscar wilde. his appearance---long hair, velvet suit, fur-trimmed coat and his superbly judged, highly mannered style of lecturing contrive to show his exquisite sensibility as a dandy. but it is not only in demeanor but in thought that lord henry displays wilde’s predilection for dandyism. his slackness in dealing with life, in the story, is everywhere to find when he preaches to dorian gray. for instance, “ never marry at all, dorian. men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious; both are disappointed”. / “my dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. what they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, i call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect---simply a confession of failures”. / “most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life”. / “all that experience really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we could do many times, and with joy”. / “i never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. it is an absurd attitude to take towards life. we are not sent into the world to air our moral prejudices”. even dorian makes comment on lord henry in such way as “harry spends his days in saying what is incredible, and his evenings in doing what is improbable…”. the dandy’s languid self-centeredness and his amoral, hot-house culture is echoed by aesthetes of the wilde circle in whose lives everything gives way to detailed discussion of pictures and other art objects, or simply gossiping. wilde is, in particular, a veritable dandy who in his ephemeral lifetime teases with the notions of love, marriage and human nature and makes various mild mockeries at life as a whole.

cynicism:

in his propagating the notion of “art for art’s sake” as a new kind of art untrammeled by social and moral rules, oscar wilde wears the badge of cynicism on his aesthetic coat. slings of attack are often shot, in his works, toward the hypocrisy and utilitarianism prevailing in the 19th century of victorian era. in “the picture of dorian gray” there exists an abundance of such examples, through which lord henry the incarnation of wilde hurls satires at victorian moral system. for example, when lord henry talks with his uncle about aunt agatha’s charity appeals, he mockingly said: “philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. it is their distinguishing characteristic”. and later at aunt agatha’s home, he further satirizes by saying: “humanity takes itself too seriously. it is the world’s original sin. if the caveman had known how to laugh, history would have been different”, “there is no literary public in england for anything except newspaper, primers and encyclopedias” and “of all people in the world the english have the least sense of the beauty of literature”. this cynic attitude toward the environment of which he is a part is more noticeable in his conversation with dorian. he devalues people at that time as “knowing the price of everything, and the value of nothing”, and gives such disparaging remarks as “i quite sympathize with the rage of the english democracy against what they call the vices of the upper orders” and “they feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. but their own souls starve, and are naked. courage has gone out of our race. perhaps we never really had it. the terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of god, which is the secret of religion---these are the two things that govern us…”, “the costume of the nineteenth century is detestable. it is so somber, so depressing. sin is the only real color---element left in modern life”. doubtlessly lord henry stands as an ideal spokesperson for oscar wilde when he provokes a clash between himself and the high society. the pejorative remarks made by him are a faithful representation of wilde’s impudent challenge toward the whole british society, which ultimately leads to his fall and imprisonment and leaves him a victim of moral autocracy. 

paradox:

apart from the aesthetic colors with which it is painted, “the picture of dorian gray” is also a book strewn with illuminating paradoxes about love, marriage, life, mankind, etc, which leave not only a mesmerized dorian gray, but also amazed readers. nicknamed as “prince paradox”, lord henry briefed dorian on his life philosophy primarily through witty paradoxes. when talking about trust, he said “i can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible”. and it is in this way that he comments on love “the only difference between a caprice and a lifelong passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer”. in terms of sympathy, he announces “i can sympathize with everything, except suffering”. and he observes human from this perspective “there are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating---people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing”. with epigrammic wit, paradoxes like these cast a spell upon readers throughout the pages. lord henry’s use of paradoxes would be less disturbing for readers if it were a style that wilde had applied solely to depict an obviously corrupt character within the novel. but paradox is the hallmark of wilde’s own style of speaking in his real life, and much of lord henry’s philosophy is reiterated in his critical discourses. for example, he holds to the belief that “there are only two tragedies in life; one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it”. / “the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it … i can resist everything but temptation”. confusing as they are, these paradoxes carry with themselves some truth. so frequently are paradoxes used in wilde’s address and writing that they become vintage the aesthete.

despite all the pungent and unjust attack it incurred when it was published, “the picture of dorian gray” survives all the criticism upon it and joins the rank of world classics. serving as a witness of oscar wilde’s aesthetic values from every perspective, the book, the three main characters involved in particular, offers an easy access to readers’ knowledge of the distinguished leading aesthete and invites more endeavors made upon the study of aestheticism as a literary trend. 

【bibliography】

[1]oscar wilde.“the picture of dorian gray” 外文出版社,1989年第1版.

[2]peter raby.“oscar wilde”.上海外语教育出版社, 2002年7月第1版.

[3]anne varty.“a preface to oscar wilde”.北京大学出版社,2005年3月第1版.

[4]张介明. 《唯美叙事:王尔德新论》.上海社会科学院出版社,2005年3月第1版.

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