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English 1060 The Picture of Dorian Gray

English 1060 The Picture of Dorian Gray. Fin de Siècle: “End of the age”. At the end of the 19 th century, Queen Victoria was getting old, and writers and painters tired of Victorian conventions of respectability. A time of fatigue with English society and the decadence of empire

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English 1060 The Picture of Dorian Gray

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  1. English 1060 The Picture of Dorian Gray

  2. Fin de Siècle: “End of the age” At the end of the 19th century, Queen Victoria was getting old, and writers and painters tired of Victorian conventions of respectability. • A time of fatigue with English society and the decadence of empire • Increasingly shocking depictions of love and sexuality • Jadedness mixed with optimism for the new century

  3. Fin de Siècle: “End of the age” • Influenced by French culture, late Victorian intellectual activity was marked by “stylish” cynicism and by disenchantment with the failure of democracy to spread wealth and benefits from rich to poor. • Growing popularity of socialist movements • Loose morals and the “hypocrisy” of Victorian standards?

  4. Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 • Son of Irish intellectuals; studied at Trinity College, Dublin • Involved in English art and “aesthetics”; witty and flamboyant • Author of journalism, plays, and novels • Lost a libel lawsuit in 1895 and imprisoned for homosexuality • Left England in poor health, 1897; died with no money in Paris in 1900

  5. “I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.” “I can resist everything except temptation.” “Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.” “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” “I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.” “This wallpaper is terrible - one of us will have to go!” (Last words?)

  6. The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) (left) Salome (1891) (banned in England)

  7. Oscar Wilde – The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) Algernon: I hope tomorrow will be a fine day, Lane. Lane: It never is, sir. Algernon: Lane, you're a perfect pessimist. Lane: I do my best to give satisfaction, sir.

  8. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) • A journal version (1890) was censored • Called ‘unclean,’ ‘poisonous’; ‘effeminate’ and ‘contaminating’ • Condemned for decadence and homoerotic references • A Gothic (horror) morality tale • Dorian’s “Faustian bargain”

  9. Main Themes • Hedonism and pleasure (Aestheticism) vs. “Hebraic” legalism • But yet it’s a morality tale! Wilde’s personal beliefs show? • Life as an “art” to be observed and enjoyed, vs. one to be lived and with ethical decisions • Victorian decadence?

  10. Characters • Dorian Gray (handsome, young, selfish) • Basil Hallward (painter: moral, loves Dorian) • Lord Henry “Harry” Wotton (aristocrat: libertine, amoral, corrupts Dorian) • Sibyl Vane (actress: loves Dorian) • James Vane, Alan Campbell (Sibyl’s brother; Dorian’s friend)

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