Oscar Wilde in inglese
Vita, caratteristiche, analisi "The picture of Dorian Gray". Appunti su Oscar Wilde in lingua inglese (4 pagine formato doc)
Oscar WILDE (1854-1900) - Libro E, pag 139 Oscar WILDE (1854-1900) Life & main works: Born in Dublin Mother: literary woman After graduating he settled in London Tour in the United States (1881) >> personal success He married Constance Lloyd His presence became a social event and his remarks appeared in the most fashionable London magazines Novel (the unique) : THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1891) Plays (comedy of manners): THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (1895) >> they both ruined his REPUTATION (immorality, obscenity) >> no more appearances on London stages 1981 he mat Lord Alfred Douglas (“Bosie”) > homosexual affair Douglas' father forced a public trial >> Wilde WAS SENT TO PRISON FOR HOMOSEXUAL OFFENCES In prison he wrote THE PROFUNDIS, a long letter to Bosie THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL (1898) After the prison: poverty, his wife refused him, exile in France.
His conceptions: He lived the double role of REBEL and DANDY (high social class, aesthetic ideals, a bourgeois artist; different from the “bohemian”, who allies himself to the masses) Life=pleasure=beauty “Art for art's sake”=moral imperative: only ART AS THE CULT OF BEAUTY CAN PREVENT THE MURDER OF THE SOUL artist=alien in a materialistic world; he wrote only for his pleasant THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1891) - page 140. TITLE: conventional; we understand that the most important element of the story is the portrait and that probably it has a symbolical meaning. TYPE OF WORK: novel PLOT: see page 140 NARRATOR / POINT OF VIEW: unobtrusive third person narrator; internal point of view (Dorian's one) >> identification between the reader and the character NARRATIVE TECNIQUES: Settings > vividly described (senses) Characters > presented through their words or other characters' words (typical of drama) THEMES: ALLEGORICAL MEANING: nineteenth version of the myth of Faust (man who sells his soul to the devil so that all his desires might be satisfied) >> here: PICTURE=SOUL, DARK SIDE OF DORIAN'S PERSONALITY >> THEME OF DOUBLE PERSONALITY Moral: every excess must be punished; reality cannot be escaped (when Dorian hurt the picture, he dies, as a punishment for all his sins) The horrible, corrupting picture=symbol of the IMMORALITY and bad conscience of the VICTORIAN MIDDLE CLASS Dorian and his pure, innocent appearance=symbols of bourgeois HYPOCRISY ART SURVIVES PEOPLE, ART IS ETERNAL. THE PREFACE - scheda MANIFESTO OF AESTHETICISM >> NO UTILITARIANISM: Artist=creator of beautiful things; his aim is to reveal art and hide himself Critics=they interpret an artistic work personally. If they find ugly meanings in beautiful things, they are corrupted; if they find beautiful meanings in beautiful things, they are cultivated. THEY ARE THE ELECT. >> DEFENCE: he is saying that he couldn't care less about the critics (he defends himself from possible attacks) Books are well written or badly written >> DEFENCE: they cannot be judged on the base of social morality NO REALISM