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Oscar Wilde 1854-1900
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Oscar Wilde 1854-1900
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Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. His father, William Wilde, was a doctor
and his mother was a writer.
Wilde studied at Oxford and was a brilliantstudent. He got a degree in Classics.
He travelled to New York City where he
delivered 140 lectures.
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Wilde returned home and became a
disciple of Walter Pater, the theoristof Aestheticism, and became theleader of the Aesthetic movement.
He was a witty talker and hisaphorisms became famous.
Wilde married Constance Lloyd and
had two sons.
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CONSTANCE
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Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
He had a relationship with a young mannamed Lord Alfred Douglas(nicknamed Bosie). Douglas's father,the Marquis of Queensberry, denouncedhim .
Wilde was tried and sentenced to two
years hard labour .
In prison he wrote DE PROFUNDIS, along letter to Alfred.
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When he was released, he went into exilein France, where he changed his name
and continued his relationship with Alfred.
Wilde wrote very little during these lastyears; his only notable work was a poem
about his experience in prison, "TheBallad of Reading Gaol.
Wilde died of meningitis in 1900.
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WILDE and Alfred Douglas
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THE DANDY
Wilde was a dandy, which was a way todistinguish himself from ordinary men.Indeed his elegance was a symbol of the
superiority of his spirit. Wilde wore velvet jackets, silk shirts,
knee-breeches, buckled shoes and used
to hold a sunflower in his hands whilewalking.
He launched the fashion of putting a lily inthe jacket buttonhole.
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WILDE
THE DANDY
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WILDE
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WORKS
Poetry: Poems,1891The Ballad of Reading Gaol, 1898
Fairiy tales: The Happy Prince and other Tales
Short stories: The Canterville Ghost
Novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
Plays: Lady Windermeres Fan, 1892A Woman of no Importance,1893The Importance of Being Earnest,1895
Salom,1893
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THE AESTHETE
He said My life is a work of art. He loved beauty (beautiful clothes,
beautiful talks, beautiful objects, physical
beauty, art) and pleasure.
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THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
PLOT: vedi fotocopia
The novel has a Preface with someaphorisms about art, life and the artist,which became the manifesto of
Aestheticism. (read the photocopy)
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THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
NARRATION: third-person narrationNARRATOR: unobtrusive
POINT OF VIEW: The narrators.
The narrator chronicles both the externalworld and the internal thoughts andfeelings of the characters. There is only
one short paragraph where Wilde himselfbecomes the narrator, giving a first-personpoint of view.
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THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
SETTING:
PLACE: London, England.
The setting is vividly described with wordsappealing to the senses.
TIME: 1890s
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THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
CHARACTERS
The characters reveal themselves through whatthey say or what other people say about them.
LORD HENRY WATTON
BASIL HALLWARD
DORIAN GRAY
SIBYL VANE
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LORD HENRY WATTON
His charm, wit, and intellect influence Dorian. Thisinfluence is negative. If Dorian is like Faust, the fictionalcharacter who sells his soul for knowledge, then LordHenry is like Mephistopheles, the devil who tempts
Faust.
Lord Henry is a cynical aesthete, a lover of beauty whocriticizes the moralism and hypocrisy of Victorian society.He views Dorian as a disciple who can apply his
hedonistic philosophy to his own life.
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DORIAN GRAYA handsome, impressionable and wealthy younggentleman. Under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton,Dorian becomes extremely concerned with thetransience of his beauty and begins to pursuepleasure, having as many experiences as possible.Dorian willingly becomes Henrys disciple.Following Lord Henrys advice and influenced by thereading of the Yellow Book that Lord Henry has givenhim, Dorian gradually falls deep into a life of sin, in the
name of pursuing pleasure.He is a dandy (he wears elegant clothes) andanaesthete : he surrounds himself with beautiful thingsand lives a hedonistic life .
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The Yellow Book
Lord Henry gives Dorian a copy of theYellowBook as a gift. Although the real title of thebook is never mentioned, Wilde describes thebook as a French novel which talks about the
experiences of a pleasure-seeking man. (We canfairly assume that the book in question is Joris-Karl Huysmanss decadent nineteenth-centurynovel Rebours).So Dorian leads his life following the example of
the protagonist of this novel, Des Esseintes.
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Rebours Huysmanss novelRebours(Controcorrente): The protagonist Des Esseintes, is the
prototype of all aesthetes . He retires fromthe world and leads a solitary life, insearch of rare sensations. He fills hishouse with his eclectic art collection .
He inspired Dannunziosnovel Il PIACERE,whose protagonist isAndrea Sperelli, andWildesDorian Gray.
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THEMES
THE DOUBLE:APPEARANCE and REALITY the picture represents Dorians soul,
corruption, his private life;
Dorians pureand innocent facerepresentspublic life, appearances.
So the horrible, corrupted picture symbolizes
the immoralityof the Victorian middle-class,while Dorians face symbolizes the middle-classs hypocrisy.
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THEMES
THE ETERNITY OF ART When Dorian stabs the picture, he dies
while the picture is restored to its original
beauty. So art triumphs over life, itsurvives man, art is eternal.
HEDONISM Hedonism is another theme because
Dorian devotes his life to the search forpleasure.
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THEMES: The Supremacy of Youth and Beauty
The first principle of aestheticism is that art serves noother purpose than to offer beauty. Throughout ThePicture of Dorian Graybeauty reigns. It is a means torevitalize the senses, it is also a means of escaping the
brutality of the world: Dorian distances himself from thehorrors of his actions by devoting himself to the study ofbeautiful thingsmusic, jewels, rare tapestries.
Although beauty and youth remain the main values at
the end of the novelthe portrait is, after all, restoredto its original form the novel suggests that the priceone must pay for them is very high. Indeed, Doriangives his soul in exchange of eternal beauty.
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Has the novel a moral?
We can find a moral in The Picture ofDorian Gray. In the end Dorian ispunished with death (he dies when he
stabs the picture), so for his Hedonismtaken to extremes, which led him tocommit a lot of crimes.