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Wildes use of symbolism in the picture of dorian grey
Wildes use of symbolism in the picture of dorian grey
Wildes use of symbolism in the picture of dorian grey
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TDA Shakespeare and Bradstreet Authors William Shakespeare and Anne Bradstreet claim a unique love through their works of literature. It is ironic that the two authors are juxtaposed for their boasting of knowing true love because one is a man of the theatre and the other is a Puritan housewife. They both have remarkable and one-of-a-kind styles of writing. To My Dear and Loving Husband and Sonnet 18 both share a theme of time. These works of literature have become well-known and classic for their strong professions of love.
The quote from Sigmund Freud, “One is very crazy when in love.” is very relateable to Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Love is the dominant theme of the play. With the major conflicts surrounding the topic of love. Shakespeare demonstrates two major types of love.
Society and literature have presented constant concepts throughout all texts, notably, individual desire has been a universal standard through which love and social expectation can be explored. However, whilst this is a universal theme, differing contexts can produce new explorations and perceptions of classical beliefs, reinforcing distinctive qualities within texts. Notably, Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese challenged literary and societal standards of the Victorian era, whilst Scott. F. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby similarly challenges the extravagance and cultural devaluation of the ‘roaring 20s’.
Have you ever fallen in love with someone who has no interest in you and doesn’t love you back? Did that person suddenly start loving you out of nowhere? In A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, Helena’s hunger for love brings out a desperate side in her and takes her through interesting adventures with love. One can infer that love is hurtful by how Helena reacts to love in a foolish manner and remains skeptical about it even near the end of the play.
Throughout the story of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Oscar pointed out many oblivious actions done by the characters. He constantly used the characters to exaggerate actions of our society today. Wilde uses exaggerations to show how the characters were unable to be a complete individual without the face of the strict social expectations influencing their actions. Everywhere in the society, they are all unable to make their own decisions, and it is very hard for them to be truthful towards who they are without societal norms interfering causing them to lose all individuality. Wilde uses reversal to show how the characters actions were completely insane since they were trying to accommodate societal expectations.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream dealt with the universal theme of love and its complications: lust, disappointment, confusion, and marriage, featuring three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Theseus, Duke of Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta. The play rotates around different forms of love, two of them being love for friendship (Philia) and romantic (Eros) or true love. Love is the most important theme of the play and the asymmetrical love seen in the play between the four Athenians and romantic encounters cause conflict within the play. There is a strong friendship love between two characters, Hermia and Helena. These two ladies are regarded as sisters as they have grown up together always having each other’s
How to Live According to Irving Singer Throughout Irving Singer acclaimed trilogy, The Nature of Love, the viewer can observe how he unveils rich insight into fundamental aspects of human relationships through literature, the complexities of our being, and the history of ideas. In his sequel, The Pursuit of Love, Singer approaches love from a distinct standpoint; he reveals his collection of extended essays where he presents psychological and philosophical theories of his own. The audience can examine how he displays love as he systematically maps the facets of religion, sexual desire, love from a parent, family member, child or friend. Irving explores the distinction between wanting to be loved and wanting to love another, which ultimately originates from the moment an individual is born.
Through this satirical writing, Wilde uses comparison of beauty and industrialism and juxtaposition between compliments and criticism to paint American social values as backwards and unappealing in order to dispel the glamour of a romantic American culture.
Although both “Araby” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are narratives revolving around the characters’ unrequited love, there are more differences than similarities in the boy and Prufrock’s love style. Apart from the obvious difference in the characters’ age, the enthusiasm level and the activeness in action are also noticeably different. James Joyce’s short story, “Araby”, is about a boy’s puppy love on his friend’s sister. The boy expresses his love in various ways. In his excessive flow of emotions, he uses a simile and poetically states, “my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” (2169).
Oscar Wilde’s satirical play The Importance of Being Earnest, set in the late Victorian era, London, is a portrayal of British upper class society and its conventions surrounded by a strict code of conduct. In 1890’s class society, earnestness was desired; to follow the moral code and social obligations in order to keep up one’s appearance. Besides, there was a huge gender disparity between men and women. In the play, Wilde criticizes the social inequality and Victorian upper class standards. He characterizes Victorian personae making fun of their qualities; hypocrisy, arrogance and absurdism, ultimately the very vital state and lifeline of not being earnest at all in Victorian society.
The play An Ideal Husband was written by Oscar Wilde in 1895 in England’s Victorian era. This era was characterised by sexual anarchy amongst men and women where the stringent boundaries that delineated the roles of both men and women were continually being challenged by threatening figures such as the New Woman represented by Mrs Cheveley and dandies such as Lord Goring(Showalter, 3). An Ideal Husband ultimately affirms Lord Goring’s notions about the inequality of the sexes because of the evident limitations placed on the mutability of identity for female characters versus their male counterparts (Madden, 5). These limitations will be further elaborated upon in the context of the patriarchal aspects of Victorian society which contributed to the failed attempts of blackmail by Mrs Cheveley, the manner in which women are trapped by their past and their delineated role of an “angel of truth and goodness” (Powell, 89).
The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is an excellent play which has many underlying themes and suggestions especially with regards to the Victorian era, during which this was written. Many themes within the play are reflective of Wilde and his life, including his secrecy and supposed “double life,” his interest in aestheticism, his life pertaining the mannerisms and social etiquette during his lifetime. Today, Oscar Wilde is often remembered in part due to his well known homosexuality trial of 1895 (Linderd, 1), but his “second life” per se had been speculated on for years prior to it, in fact many of his plays contain subtle yet effective implications towards a possible piece of his life kept hidden from the public eye. The Importance of Being Earnest mirrored this double life through the utilization of Jack and Algernon's “Bunburying,” and their motives for lying to the ones whom they love.
Another theme illustrated through Wilde’s use of motifs and symbols is the theme of superficiality. The theme of superficiality can be understood as a sense of the superficial view of outer beauty that is shown in the work. It relates to the concept of remaining young, which is an important factor of what is shown in the novel. This is an important part of the novel because outer beauty plays a bigger role for Dorian, than inner beauty does. In the beginning of the novel, Lord Henry and Dorian have a conversation that focuses on the topic of youth and Dorian 's outer beauty – Lord Henry mentions the fact that Dorian has a beautiful face, and later during this conversation, Lord Henry states that: “youth is the only thing worth having…”
Wilde is greatly influenced by the societal movements in the Victorian Era, therefore the theme of hedonism is prominent displaying the influence of Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray and further explaining the consequences of selfishness and self-pleasure. The Aestheticism movement shockingly challenged all past standards of love, pleasure, and sexuality. Specifically this Victorian movement “promotes sexual… experimentation. ”(Burdett)
On the other hand, Wilde explores how social relationships can influence the compatibility of marriage between individuals. Both of these factors acts as an obstacle for Jack as he seeks approval to marry Gwendolen Fairfax. Oscar Wilde demonstrates the importance of social relationships and the social status as the determining factors for the compatibility of marriage and love during the Victorian era. The Victorians valued one’s social status as it was seen at the utmost importance when it comes to marriage.
