Sexuality, Aesthetics and Morality in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde PDF Download

Author: Mirja Quix
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668730822
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar), course: Gender and the Sister Arts, language: English, abstract: Since The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was first published in 1890, it can be seen as a representation of the Victorian era; a period that lasted uncommonly long from 1837 till 1901. While the length of more than sixty years complicates the exact classification of typical Victorian literary movements, certain recurring ideas and literary approaches can be found in its literature. Especially the conception of art and aesthetics seemed to experience a time of change, reshaping the way in which art was received and the role of the artist in comparison to the spectator. Still, as art seemed to be in a state of carination, the public reception of new artistic attempts was not always positive. Especially the representation of morality and sexuality caused ground for public discontent. A connection of morality, aesthetics and sexuality in The Picture of Dorian Gray that seems to be of high importance for the novel. This paper, therefore, is going to analyse the novel regarding these aspects and the way they influence each other, illuminating whether morality is really depicted as subordinate to an artistic effect or if it is needed in order for the story to advance.

Author: Jannis Rudzki-Weise
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640771494
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 21

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Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2.0, University of Kassel, course: Anglo-American Literature, language: English, abstract: Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, can be considered a revolutionary piece of literature not only because it broke out of the traditional value and belief pattern of the Victorian society but also because it replaced the traditional pattern with new concepts coined by Wilde and his former tutors. Several themes such as homoeroticism, an aesthetic lifestyle or influence and corruption, were issues that many had been afraid to address in the time before Wilde. In this research paper, I will place my main focus on the matter of aestheticism, the causes that it has and the consequences that result from an aesthetic lifestyle. In order to analyze these aspects, it is inevitable to have a closer look at Oscar Wilde’s beliefs about art and morality which serve as a basis for understanding the main character’s behavior in the novel. To begin my paper, I will outline Wilde’s thoughts on art and aestheticism as presented in his famous selection, Intentions, which consists of a number of essays and dialogues on aesthetics as well as his preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray that has been regarded as Wilde’s personal praise of aestheticism. This background information is essential to understanding the main character’s motivations in the story, which can often be related to Wilde’s life as an artist. I will then make a detailed analysis of the characters Basil Hallward, Lord Henry Wotton, Sibyl Vane and Dorian Gray and will explain how their aesthetic behavior and their moral beliefs can be linked to Wilde’s thoughts. To end, I will attempt to summarize my findings referring to the statement that Wilde also included criticism of aestheticism in his novel. The term ‘aestheticism’ derives from Greek, meaning “perceiving through senses” and is a nineteenth-century European concept that rejects the moral rules and conventions of Victorian society, and focuses instead on beauty and the resulting pleasure in life. Since it is hard to nail down ‘aestheticism’ to one definition and since it has different meanings to different people, I will take a closer look at Oscar Wilde's thoughts about this concept, in order to better understand the correlation between this idea, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. When it was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray was attacked fiercely as it suggested a new set of moral beliefs.

Author: Milo Asay
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780355096934
Category : Aesthetics in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 77

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Book Description
Oscar Wilde is one of the most notable literary writers of the 19 th Century. He is especially well known for his contribution as a playwright, novelist, poet, and critic. Even though Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is saturated with homoerotic rhetoric, this will not be my focus in this thesis. Instead, I strive to explain Wilde’s adamant desire for aestheticism over morality in his novel. It can therefore be said that The Picture of Dorian Gray is a story of artistic and dramatic effect rather than a story of moral insight. Careful examination of his various writings, a close reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and an exploration of the many scholars who have written about him, all help to uncover Wilde’s need for a dominance of beauty and artistic flare in his only novel. Ultimately, I will argue that The Picture of Dorian Gray is meant to deliver a conspicuously aesthetic theme as opposed to any moralistic principle.

Author: Ana María Leiva Aguilera
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 365682066X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 14

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Essay from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, University of Jaén, language: English, abstract: The first thing we find when we begin with the reading of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a preface, a series of very philosophical aphorisms which served to the Irish author, Oscar Wilde, so that he could answer to those who classified his very first edition as immoral. It is known that the book was inspired when he visited the studio of a painter friend of him, the same who appears in this book, that romantic artist, lover of beauty who idealizes and loves beautiful things. That excessive idealism, represented in the admiration the author feels for the physical beauty of his model, as well as the intimate friendship he had with the son of a marquis which will be the reason why he will be judged to be homosexual.

Author: Natalia Spektor
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640319567
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar), course: Proseminar B: London Past and Present: Literary and Cultural Heritage of a Metropolis, 16 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: There are some famous writers at the end of the 19th century who are often mentioned as "decadent". They have asserted the superiority of beauty and pleasure over all other considerations. Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray presents the aestheticism and the hedonist way of living. The novel anticipates developments and structures of society of that time. The importance of Dorian's experiences refutes the decadent theories which are described in the Yellow Book that enthralls the protagonist. The novel as a whole can be seen as a psychological study which analyzes the gradual debasement of Dorian's nature. At the end of the story he is responsible for every vice and crime including murder. The author shows that on the one hand pleasure and beauty are the highest goods, on the other hand he argues that they also bring death and crime. The task of this research paper is to analyze the mentioned contradiction and the influence of the Aesthetic movement on the novel as well as Oscar Wilde's view of art. I would like to begin with a brief survey of the social and intellectual background at the end of the 19th century, exploring the major art movements of that time and how far they affect Wilde's work. Afterwards his main principles of Aestheticism and their reflection in the novel are analyzed as well as Dorian's life under the influence of the hedonist model. Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray reveals the contradictions of Wilde's relationship with the decadent trends of that time. He adopts and proclaims their esthetical and literary views, but the flippant amoralism that he sometimes parades so defiantly is belied by the final catastr

Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: Xist Publishing
ISBN: 168195897X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde from Coterie Classics All Coterie Classics have been formatted for ereaders and devices and include a bonus link to the free audio book. “Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray A man sells his soul for eternal youth and scandalizes the city in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
Over 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores material, including instances of graphic homosexual content, removed by the novel's first editor, who feared it would be "offensive" to Victorians.

Author: Various
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Oscar Wilde, Art and Morality: A Defence of "The Picture of Dorian Gray"" by Various. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Author: Annette M. Magid
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443868442
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
This volume presents interpretive essays utilizing a variety of approaches to honor the 160th anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s birth, celebrating the writer’s genius. This unique collection of scholarship explores a broad spectrum of subjects, including his travels, sexuality, children’s literature, jail writings, novel, poetry, individualism, masks, homosexuality, influence on others, and morality. It offers historical, biographical, psychological and sociological perspectives written by international experts and features a broad spectrum of subjects which will appeal to a range of scholars seeking original and alternative approaches to understanding Oscar Wilde, his aesthetics and his influence in a variety of genres in the twenty-first century. The multiplicity of interest in the writer expands across genres, disciplines, cultures and time. Quintessential Wilde examines his intellectual strength in “His Worldly Place,” analyzes his ingenious thoughts in “His Penetrating Philosophy,” and recounts his enduring place in “His Influential Aestheticism.”

Author: Lacey Kohlmoos
Publisher: Hyperink Inc
ISBN: 1614645256
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 75

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Book Description
What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? If you could drink, smoke, and eat as much as you wanted and see no change in your appearance, would you indulge? If you could cheat, steal, and even murder without any consequences, would you do it? What would you sacrifice for eternal youth and beauty? Is your soul too much of a price to pay? With The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde weaves a tale of love, betrayal, murder, and revenge that delves into all these questions and more. When Dorian sees a portrait of himself and becomes aware of his own intense youth and beauty, he proclaims that he would give anything to preserve his looks and let the portrait grow old instead. This simple wish uttered in a moment of passion changes his life forever. As the portrait grows old over time and bears the marks of Dorian’s bad habits and cruelty, his innocent and youthful face never changes. As he sets out on a mission to experience every type of pleasure that the world has to offer, he discovers that he can get away with anything. Even murder. The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. When it was first released, its homoerotic undertones and harsh criticism of strict Victorian morality made it wildly controversial. The novel was even used as evidence against Wilde when he was tried for “gross indecency.” Today it is considered classic literature and often read in high school and college English classes. The book’s themes, as well as the author himself, continue to intrigue readers. Wilde challenges people to look at the way they live their lives and question their happiness. Are they freely pursuing happiness or constricting their personal growth by repressing their desires? Although written over 100 years ago, the story’s intrigue still holds up and even manages to deliver quite a few shocking moments. As Dorian plunges into the grimy underworld of Victorian London, he does things that many people would condemn in public while secretly wishing that they could do the same. Perhaps this is why The Picture of Dorian Gray has been adapted into numerous movies. There is nothing sweeter than forbidden fruit.