Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay - 2257 Words

Aestheticism was a popular dogma in the late 1800s that centered on the belief that art should exist for beauty alone. This doctrine is defined as an â€Å"exaggerated devotion to art, music, or poetry, with indifference to practical matters† and â€Å"the acceptance of artistic beauty and taste as a fundamental standard, ethical and other standards being secondary† (â€Å"Aestheticism,† def. 1 and 2). In Oscar Wilde’s sole novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, aestheticism is a fashionable belief accepted by society at the time. Oscar Wilde uses the moral deterioration and ultimate destruction of Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray to emphasize the negative effects of society’s preoccupation with aesthetics and offer a moral for the reader. In†¦show more content†¦His devotion is based solely upon her skilled acting, but Wilde makes it clear that Dorian truly adores her: She is all the great heroines of the world in one. She is more than an individual. You laugh, but I tell you she has genius. I love her, and I must make her love me†¦.I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain. My God, Harry, how I worship her! (Wilde 54) However, Dorian’s love soon turns to hatred when he sees Sibyl perform again. Sibyl, having never experienced love, is struck by her new feelings and loses her passion and talent for acting because the play, Romeo and Juliet, no longer appears to her like true love, the love she feels for Dorian. Her performance is stiff and unfeeling and Dorian looks like a fool in front of his friends, to whom he boasted about her talent. Dorian is embarrassed and angry and reacts by disavowing his love for Sibyl. His sudden loss of affection offsets his previous vows of devotion and shocks the reader. Insulting and bitter, Dorian rebukes his former sweetheart: I loved you†¦because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid. My God! how mad IShow MoreRelatedThe Picture Of Dorian Gray Aestheticism Analysis1585 Words   |  7 Pagesclaim made by Oscar Wilde in the preface to his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (3). Along with the rest of Wilde’s preface, this sentence rebukes literary realism in favor of aestheticism. This is unsurprising to anyone who is familiar with the playwright’s other plays and lectures; Wilde was an avid opponent of realism and a firm believer in the concept of â€Å"art for art’s sake.† Critic Elizabeth Prettejohn claims that aestheticism includes a focus on the visual elements of a piece of art. OscarRead MoreExamples Of Aestheticism In The Picture Of Dorian Gray1284 Words   |  6 Pagesto the Aesthetic movement. He was a spokesperson for aestheticism. He tried his hand at various literary activities. He was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist and poet. He refined his ideas about the importance of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of duplicity, beauty and decadence. He incorporated all these vital characteristics that define the supremacy of art into his only novel The Picture of Dorian gray written in 1890. This novel bore the true essence ofRead MoreThe Picture Of Dorian Gray Aestheticism Analysis935 Words   |  4 PagesThe notion that art can exist for the sake of its beauty alone is the essence of aestheticism, a nineteenth-century arts movement that had a significant impact on the writings of Oscar Wilde; in particular, his enrapturing novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is an insightful narration that expresses many of the central elements of this aesthetic philosophy. Centered on the life of an attractive young man named Dorian Gray, the novel details how through the influence of others, he becomes morall y depravedRead MoreThe Picture of Dorian Gray: Corruption Through Aestheticism1464 Words   |  6 PagesThe Picture of Dorian Gray: Corruption Through Aestheticism The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is the story of moral corruption by the means of aestheticism. In the novel, the well meaning artist Basil Hallward presets young Dorian Gray with a portrait of himself. After conversing with cynical Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian makes a wish which dreadfully affects his life forever. If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that I would give everythingRead MoreAestheticism In Oscar Wildes The Picture Of Dorian Gray1532 Words   |  7 PagesINTRODUCTION Aestheticism, which found its footing in Europe in the early nineteenth century, proposed that art ‘need not serve moral, political, or otherwise didactic ends.’ Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde was a dramatic leader in promoting the movement near the end of the nineteenth century. The English essayist Walter Pater, an advocate of art for arts sake, helped to form society’s aesthetics in which they was more concerned with the self, than with popular movements like IndustrialismRead MoreAbstract Aestheticism in Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray2148 Words   |  9 Pagesexpression, but also one of social advancement. With this idea at its forefront, art suddenly inundated places where art was never previously found, such as social education and morality. In contrast, Oscar Wilde was a key advocate of an idea known aestheticism, a concept that relied on art simply being art. Oscar Wilde played a major role in Victorian England, having a major influence t hrough his writing. At its peak the movement had a disdain for any traditional, natural, political, or moral ideals;Read MoreThe Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde771 Words   |  4 Pagespeople; and is filled with hardships and trouble over â€Å"doing the right thing†. One quality cannot be held without losing the other, due to their conflicting natures. While the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray brings out the central question â€Å"Is it better to pursue Aesthetics or Morality?† it describes the life of Dorian Gray, who constantly sought to maintain his appearance at the cost of his morals, and answers the question by revealing the consequences of living Mr. Gray’s â€Å"beautiful† lifestyle. InRead MoreThe Picture Of Dorian Gray Character Analysis830 Words   |  4 Pagesand the way the characters themselves interact with both their own thoughts and the world around them. In the works chosen, the appearances of the characters to be analyzed fall on opposite ends of the spectrum of aestheticism. Dorian Gray, from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray possesses an â€Å"...extraordinary personal beauty (Wilde 1),† one that controls other character’s reception of him, as well as affecting his own inner thoughts, for he knows that he seen as beautiful. On the oppositeRead MoreThe Picture of Dorian Gray 1823 Words   |  8 PagesAestheticism is a philosophy in which its followers practice complete self-indulgence. Aesthetic principles teach that the arts, beauty, and youth are absolute over anything else. People who follow this philosophy are very egotistical, and are extremely concerned with appearances. It is often associated with jewelry, painting , music, and perfumes. (insert quote to prove) All followers of Aestheticism put activities pertaining to beauty above anything else. Their priorities hold beauty above attributesRead MoreMacbeth and Picture of Dorian Gray Essay1821 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿The Picture of Dorian Gray – Victorian Era Gray swaps his soul for the painting through an indirect Faustian Bargain. Quote: Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that! Social Values/Context: Aestheticism was exposed to Dorian Gray by Lord Henry who was an aesthetic himself, which ultimately leads to the Faustian Bargain. Quote: Oh, she is better than good – she is beautiful, murmured Lord Henry, sipping a glass of vermouth and orange-bitters