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Oscar Wilde Research Paper

3189 Words13 Pages

Modern day teens seem to have a definite attraction towards the idea of aestheticism in the world and how they can incorporate that into their daily life. As one reads Oscar Wilde, he describes how aestheticism enhances a lifestyle and makes it all the more vivacious.
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 immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. (A Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890)
In terms of aestheticism, Wilde was not and is not to be described as pusillanimous …show more content…

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (quite the mouthful, isn’t it) was born to Jane and William Wilde on October 16th, 1854 in Westland Row, Dublin, Republic of Ireland. His mother had an interest in Irish folklore, which may have persuaded Wilde in his younger years to later pursue his career as a poet/playwright. He attended several schools and universities, including the University of Oxford, later lecturing there to preach his ideas of aestheticism. On May 29, 1884, he married Constance Lloyd and together they had two sons named Vyvyan and Cyril. In 1895, Wilde was charged with ‘gross indecency’ for being convicted of having an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas. He was imprisoned for two years and his death was three years post release. He was 46 at the time of his death. A few of his works he left behind include Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest …show more content…

This doesn’t have much to do with aestheticism, other than further prove just how important it truly was to him. So in a way, it does have to do with aestheticism. In a weird kind of additional way, if that’s how you’d like to think of it. Anyways, let’s continue with a quote, shall we?
Homosexuality was a criminal offense and serious societal taboo at this time in Britain. Wilde had gone back and forth between hiding his sexual orientation and attempting to gain some measure of public acceptance. After Douglas, a furious homophobe, began spouting his objections to Wilde’s behavior to the public, Wilde felt compelled to sue him for libel. (History,

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On October 16, 1854, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born to a well respected Irish family in Dublin. His father, Sir William Wilde, MD, was a highly acclaimed doctor and philanthropist. He was the leading oto-ophthalmologic surgeon in Ireland and was later knighted for his work. Despite all the accomplishments that William Wilde had achieved, his son viewed his mother as the greater remodel, Lady Jane Francesca Elgee.

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Relatively all authors are very fond of creating an underlying message to criticize society. Authors do this through social commentary. The book “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is no exception. The author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the upper class through the consistent underlying idea that people are often deceived by one's beauty and are unable to understand the poison that fills the world is corrupting it. From the beginning of this book, the social commentary towards the upper class begins with the structure of the novel.

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One of the main reasons why The Picture of Dorian Gray has become a critically acclaimed because of Oscar Wilde’s brilliant use of themes. Throughout the novel, different ideas appear in both literal and figurative ways. The relationships between each of the characters hold some significance to every theme, and they even represent some of the most significant issues. The ideas Wilde convey’s throughout his novel are some of the main reasons as to why the book because critically acclaimed. The themes were subjects that readers could understand and possibly experienced as well.

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Describing how the play differs from the Irishman’s other writings, Ellmann assesses, “What seems clear is that Wilde has turned here from direct onslaughts upon conventional morality to a more olympian amusement” (xviii). Wilde utilizes

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That is all.” (Wilde 2) In order to understand the reasons why both society and Oscar Wilde marked this book as immoral and moral (correspondingly),

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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.

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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…”

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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)

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The theme of appearance extends further in Dorian’s life. Dorian’s outer beauty allows him to get away with almost anything, due to the fact that people equals his outer beauty to him being a good person. In reality, Wilde makes it very clear that Dorian Gray is not a good person. The theme of appearance is illustrated through underlying criticism within Wilde’s use of motifs and symbols. A main motif used by Wilde is the painting done by Basil Hallward.

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