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摘 要

《道林•格雷的画像》中王尔德美学观解读

张茜茜

奥斯卡·王尔德是19世纪爱尔兰最伟大的剧作家和艺术家, 同时也是唯美运动的主要代表人物,他将唯美主义运动推向顶峰。其作品《道林·格雷的画像》是王尔德唯一一篇小说，同时也是其美学思想的集中体现。本文旨在通过分析《道林·格雷的画像》这一作品来探讨王尔德的美学观，并通过详尽的实例来阐述小说中的唯美主义特征。事实证明，王尔德在小说中阐述了其“艺术至上”的美学观，并通过个性化的人物和故事情节塑造出一部唯美主义巨作。然而，在文中，王尔德就艺术与道德的关系问题的看法自相矛盾，表现出其艺术的道德化倾向。

关键词：《道林格雷的画像》；唯美主义； 艺术； 奥斯卡·王尔德

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Oscar Wilde and The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet. He is also a remarkable representative of aestheticism, who advocates the 19^th century “Art for Art’s Sake”. During his lifetime, the Irish-born writer is famous for his literary talent and has long been discussed for his controversial lifestyle. There are two turning points in Wilde’s life. In 1874, Wilde was admitted by Oxford and left his homeland—Ireland to come to Britain. At Oxford, He was encouraged by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin, and involved in the rising philosophy of aestheticism. Oxford offered him a place to nurture his aestheticism and outlook on life. After graduation, Wilde moved to London to pursue the fashionable cultural trend. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he participated in various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada to express his aesthetic view. He advocated “Art for Art’s Sake” and refined it in a series of essays. In 1890, he published his first and only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. In 1891, he published Salome. Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London. At that time, his reputation was composed of his extravagance in classics and aesthetics, as well as his ingenious fancy dress and the "alternative" style in the literary and social commentary. The statement “I have nothing to declare except my genius.” (Wilde18) was enough to show his complacence. However, in 1895, Wilde entered prison for homosexuality which was illegal at that time and resulted in the downfall of his reputation. In prison, he wrote De Profundis, which witnessed the

inconceivable changes of his aesthetic views. In this work, he showed the readers that sorrow was the center of art and truth of life. Wilde was released from prison on 18 May 1897 and sailed immediately for France. After his release, Wilde lost his reputation and he spent his last three years in impoverished exile.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel written by Oscar Wilde and it is also regarded as the reflection of Wilde’s aesthetic viewpoints. It was first published in July 1890. After its publication, it got criticized severely about its immorality. The Picture of Dorian Gray mainly tells a story about a male beauty, Dorian Gray, who sells his soul to a portrait for the eternal youth. Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist who is impressed by Dorian's beauty. While sitting for the painting, Dorian listens to Lord Henry talking about his hedonistic world view, and begins to agree that beauty is the only aspect of life worth pursuing. Having seen the portrait, Dorian was fascinated by his beauty and sad for the fact that his beauty will fade. Bewitched by Lord Henry, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul in exchange for the eternal beauty. Dorian’s wish comes true. Lord Henry at the same time grabs every opportunity to tempt his with hedonism and encourages him to enjoy the sensual pleasure. Dorian Gray succumbed to the various temptation and his life decays. Indulged in creature comforts, Dorian does a series of evil things. He abandoned the pregnant Sibyl, which caused her suicide and then killed Basil who knows his secret. After decades of years, he remains the beauty and youth while the picture which records his sin gradually becomes ugly and old. At the end of the story, Dorian couldn’t endure his sin and feels guilty for what he did. He slays the decaying portrait, the record of his guilt. However at his slaying, he kills himself and the picture returns to the original beauty. Dorian is dead as an ugly and old man lying on the floor in front of the picture. The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1890, is an obscure novel. The greatest theme in it is aestheticism and its conceptual relation to living a double life. The novel involves the absurd moral ideas while the author, Wilde didn’t clearly show his attitude, thus after its publication, it was criticized by the British press. They held the view that this book is “nawkish and nauseous,” “unclean,” “effeminate,” and “contaminating.”

The book was even one of the evidence of his guilt during the trial in 1895. On the other hand, the historical setbacks demonstrate that the book has positive and negative explanatory space. Taking the character of Dorian Gray as an example, the critics identified him as demons while Wilde insisted that Dorian was innocent and his sin was imposed by those who found his guilt. The Picture of Dorian Gray was treated as the reflection of his own personality instead of a piece of art work. Wilde ever said that “Basil Hallward is what I think I am, Lord Henry what the world thinks me; Dorian what I would like to be- in other ages, perhaps (Wilde 85)”.

1.2 Need for the Study

Practically speaking, the relationship between art and life can provide numerous inspirations for modern writers and artists. Whether the writers should taking some other factors such as morality and social values into account during the creation of the works deserves the discussion. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian sells his soul in exchange for his eternal beauty which means that he pursued art and abandons his real life. However, at the end of the novel, he slays at the decaying picture. He is dead while the picture returns to the original beauty, which means art defeats the life and art is superior to life. The independence of art plays an important role in the creation of art.

Theoretically speaking, Oscar Wilde’s aestheticism gives scholars more hints at studying The Picture of Dorian Gray from new research perspectives. Besides, readers can have a comprehensive understanding of The Picture of Dorian Gray and the literary achievements Oscar Wilde has made as a language master.

Chapter Two

Literature Review

2.1 Aestheticism

Aestheticism, also known as the Aesthetic Movement, is an intellectual and art movement. It is also a branch of western Decadentism in the late 19^th century which lasted a long history. It was first regarded as the Alexandrian verse created by Callimachus in the Ancient Greek period. In 18^th century, Kant put forward the independent aesthetic activities. It was until 19^th century that Gautier, a French writer and poet, formed the aesthetic theory. The slogan of “Art for Art’s Sake” became the guiding principle among all schools of Decadentism. Then lots of British writers, artists and literary theorists actively respond to the slogan. The aesthetic movement was launched in the United Kingdom and quickly reached the climax. Among them, Wilde is a powerful successor, advocate and practitioner of the Aestheticism. In 19^th century, especially in late 19^th century, with the emergence of cultural fault in western world, the christian faith was shaken and rationalism gradually came to decline. At the same time, the social pattern transformed from the agricultural society to industrial society. Thus the commercial spirit has also been established. People have to take a new perspective and new value orientation to re-examine the human beings and all kinds of cultural forms so as to rebuild the spiritual homeland. In its earlier stage, the advocates unfurled the banner of “Art for Art’s Sake” and defended the independence and self-sufficiency of art. In the later stage, the advocates put forward the artistic life. They aimed to establish the people’s subjectivity and explored a way of self-realization. Therefore, there is no doubt that the aesthetic movement is an active attempt to construct a new system of cultural values.

The aesthetic movement was initially opposed to the morality and utility of social art. The old literary circle appealed to combine literature with recreation. Since the French Revolution, it was generally believed that the government should guide and control the trend of literature. Then the new liberals or socialists advocated art for human progress or Utopia. The aestheticism holds the banner of “Art for Art’s Sake” which is the core theory of aesthetic movement and artistic thought. The first and also the most basic connotation of “Art for Art’s Sake” is the independence of art, which means separating art from the didactic sermons and moralization, from the pursuit of scientific acknowledge. Moral requirements has become the biggest obstacle to the independence of art. Therefore, it has become the first target. The existence of art is only for its own purpose—beauty. This idea can be traced back to Kant's aesthetics in Germany. Kant holds the idea of pure beauty. Kant (1770) states that beauty is not a property of an artwork or natural phenomenon, but a consciousness of the pleasure that attends the 'free play' of the imagination and the understanding. A pure judgement of taste is in fact subjective, which means that it refers to the emotional response to the subject and is based upon nothing but esteem for an object itself: it is a disinterested pleasure, and we feel that pure judgements of taste, i.e. judgements of beauty, lay claim to universal validity. It is important to note that this universal validity is not derived from a determinate concept of beauty but from common sense. Therefore, beauty is not the true, nor is it the good. It is merely the form and the impression of a human being.

Generation after generation, aesthetes draw from some new idea and gradually improve the aesthetic views. There are some important constituent parts of the aesthetic view. First of all, art should be separated from utilitarian and moral admonition. Artistic creation must be far away from social practice and it has its own morality, which originates from the love of beauty and art itself. Oscar Wilde, a powerful advocate and precursor of Aestheticism holds the view that “No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style” (127). Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1850) said that if the poet wants to bear a moral purpose in advance, it will greatly weaken the power of poetry. Poetry is self-sufficient! The artistic creation doesn’t require the help from the outside world or aim to pursuit the worldly moral codes.

Secondly, the aesthetes advocate that art should be liberated from the scientific knowledge and social reality. They criticize the idea that art is the reproduction of society and imitation of life. Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1850) holds the view that the depiction of nature is the enemy of art. In Wilde's opinion, as a kind of method, realism is a complete failure.

Thirdly, the aesthetes advocate the imagination. In the theoretical system of aestheticism, on the one hand, imagination can create a completely different fantasy world so as to make up for the blank caused by refusing to imitate. On the other hand it just floats on the surface of things so as to fully satisfy aesthete the preferences for forms. Gautier (1835) calls imagination the world's most stable wealth, believing people to be attached to dreams and to forget themselves in dreams. Edgar Allan Poe (1835) says that imagination will lead people to the margins of great mysteries.

Finally, the aesthetes pay more attention to the form of art. That is to say, the charm of art comes from its form. The aesthetic writers tend to use the rhymes and rhythms to create the music sense of language. Keats (1817) once referred to the “perceptual life of poet” which means that "The true nature of poetry is not from the theme, but from the creative use of verses.” Besides, they advocate using the language to create the sensuous impression. Some aesthetes, such as Oscar Wilde, Théophile Gautier and so on, pursue the drawing or sculpture effect in the process of poetic creation, which means that they try to conceive of a thing, a solid objective, or an image that can be perceived, rather than an emotional exchange. Meanwhile, the aesthetes improve of the ingenuity and exquisite art. Only through the painstaking efforts, could the aesthetes achieve the naturalness and fluency of the expression.

After the aesthetes’ long-term theory construction and artistic practice, the art finally get rid of the heavy burdens to become a pure form and a sensuous impression as well as a powerful and unconstrained imagination, providing references and inspirations to the western contemporary literature.

2.2 Previous Studies of The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray has been the subject of much criticism since its very publication in 1890. Many people regard it as an immoral book. "The book is a product of the lethal monster of French decadent literature, a poisonous book full of moral and spiritual decay" (79). Daily Chronicle (1908) said. Some people severely criticized it while some people think highly of it. Stuart Mason (1908) collected most of the comments in the Oscar Wilde: Art and Morality and provided a reference material for the future generation. Then researchers focused more on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Yu Dafu (1935) introduced The Picture of Dorian Gray into China in 1912. At that time, the mental shackles imposed by old feudalism fettered people’s thinking. So some scholars are opposed to this book which is contrary to the traditional morality of Chinese society. The researches pay more attention to the author's life, creation, and plot instead of the in-depth exploration. In the 1980s, with the end of the Cultural Revolution, people’s thoughts were liberated. People tended to take a fair and objective attitude to The Picture of Dorian Gray. As Zeng Jie said “We couldn’t equate aestheticism with formalism, nor deny his work for his words. Seeking truth from facts and dialectical analysis are the correct way to evaluate Wilde” (1988). Since then, a lot of Chinese scholars have done tremendous research from various perspectives. Three perspectives deserve our attention: psychology, aestheticism and narrative style.

Quite a few scholars show great interest in the psychology. Li Xiaolei and Ye Fang (2007) try to use the Freud’s theory to analyze the three main characters. According to the Freudian psychoanalysis, human being is a complicated energy system which is composed of id, ego and superego. Driven by the instinct of drawing on advantages and avoiding disadvantages, the id is regarded as the devil. The superego which is limited by the morality and conventions, is treated as the angle. The ego serves as the regulating mechanism to balance the id and superego and protect the individual. The author argues that Dorian represents the ego, Henry represents the id. While Basil represents the superego. Basil and Henry would like to shape Dorian which means that the superego and id try to seize the ego. Li Ruixue (2008) studies the relationship between the Oscar Wilde and three main character from the perspective of personality. He argues that The Picture of Dorian Gray was treated as the reflection of his own personality. Just as Wilde ever said “Basil Hallward is what I think I am, Lord Henry what the world thinks me; Dorian what I would like to be- in other ages, perhaps”

Some scholars focus on the aestheticism. Zhang Jieming (2000) studies the relationship between the Aestheticism and traditional morality and explores the similarities of the Aestheticism and modernism. He thinks that both Aestheticism and modernism stress the perception instinct and the unity of the content and form. Wilde’s New Hedonism is similar to the modernism in two ways. Both of them advocate the sensibility and object the rationality. On the other hand, they appreciate the amoralism and desires. All of these prove that “that in which the outward is expressive of the inward; in which the soul is made flesh, and the body instinct with spirit; in which from reveals” Yang Fang (2007) believes that The Picture of Dorian Gray tends to show life’s imitation of art and the supremacy of art. The author sounds the notes that Henry is the reflection of Wilde’s aesthetic viewpoints. Henry advocates the New Hedonism and decadence. “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul” (38; ch.3). People should follow their heart and enjoy the pleasures without any limitation. All of these are the reflections of Wilde’s aesthetic viewpoints. Despite Oscar Wilde overturns the relations of life and art and his view is known as the idealism: all that exists, are mind and their ideas, the author believes that Wilde defends the purity and independence of aestheticism.

Other scholars focus on the narrative style of the novel. Zhang Qi and Han Dan (2011) studies Oscar Wilde’s narrative structure and the narrative order in The Picture of Dorian Gray. The author believes that the novel shows the changeable rhythm, the meandering narrative order and the variable narrative sight. Finally the author concludes that Oscar Wilde mainly performs his narrative perspective by implying the plots and setting suspense.

2.3 Deficiency in Previous Studies

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a typical aesthetic novel written by Oscar Wilde, which reflects Wilde’s aesthetic viewpoints. As the representative of the aestheticism, Wilde plays an important role in the process of the Aestheticism Movement. His aesthetic view includes three parts: First is art for art’s sake; second is the relation between art and life; third is the relationship between art and morality. Most scholars analyze his works just from one perspective, which shows us part of Wilde’s aesthetic views and lacks of the integrated analysis. This paper tends to focus on three parts of Wilde’s aesthetic view to show the readers the integrated Oscar Wilde and to help readers understand the work better.

Chapter Three

Wilde’s Aestheticism Reflected in The Picture of Dorian Gray

As the main force of aesthetic movement in 1880s and an advocate of Aestheticism, Oscar Wilde pushes the British Aesthetic Movement to the high point. The picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel of Wilde and the embodiment of Wilde's aesthetic thoughts. The novel mainly tells about a beautiful and innocent young man, Dorian Gray, gradually stepping into corruption and notoriety. In the novel, Dorian Gray abandoned his pregnant fiancee, Sybil, which resulted in her suicide. Besides, he killed the painter, Basil, to keep his secret of the picture. His murders and his dissolute and extravagant life corrupted his soul and ruined the beauty of the picture. In the end, Dorian Gray destroyed the picture, the record of his evil sins and wicked changes, killed himself to escape the guilt and the sins. Wilde’s aesthetic ideas are thoroughly demonstrated in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

3.1 The Independence of Art

Wilde holds the view of the independence of art. He advocates that art is supreme and is superior to life and nature. He said “wherever we have returned to life and nature, our work has always become vulgar, common and uninteresting”(Wilde 19) Besides, he insists that “life imitates art far more than art imitates life.”

3.1.1 Art is superior to nature.

The view of “art is superior to nature” (35) can’t be divorced from Wilde’s historical environment. At that time, the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization make people have a feeling of uneasiness. Some of the artists witness the materialistic and money-oriented society, producing a strong sense of confusion and anguish. Thus they are determined to protect the independence and purity of art. Wilde put forward the core theory of Aestheticism— nature imitates art so as to promote the beauty of art against the social status.

In Wilde’s opinion, nature is so vulgar and dull that it could only serve as the raw material of art. In the novel, he used the fog of London as an example to illustrate this idea. “Now people see the fog not because of the long existence of it, because the poets and painters teach them to understand the lovely view...... We could say that the fog doesn’t exist until art invents it”(Wilde 137). That is to say, life is aimless and bewildered and it is the artists that point out the beauty. He gives priority to people's feelings, which means that things exist for the reason that people could see them. The world is compressed within the artist's vision. Thus, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde added a large amount of sensuous feelings to the depiction of a specific thing, so most of the natural environment in this novel is abstract and hard to recognize. In the novel, he makes the blossoms of a laburnum “honey-sweet and honey-coloured”(3; ch.1). The laburnum is as sweet and gold as honey, which is touchable to the readers. He tends to use one thing to depict another thing and adds the sensuous feelings to it. In the novel, Wilde also infuses symbolic meanings to Dorian’s home and the natural environment. Dorian’s home is very charming. There are “high panelled wainscoting of olive-stained oak” (32; ch.4) and “silk, long-fringed Persian rugs” (32; ch.4). “Some large blue China jars and parrot-tulips were ranged on the mantelshelf, and through the small leaded panes of the window streamed the apricot-coloured light of a summer day in London” (32; ch.4). This place would make Dorian feel comfortable and agreeable. Here the home is actually a symbol of art. However, London’s night is frightful. When Dorian walks alone at night, he is afraid of the “dimly lit streets and gaunt, black-shadowed archways and evil-looking houses” (83; ch.11) The appalling street scene in London makes Dorian want to escape from the natural place, and enjoy himself in comfortable and beautiful home. Compared with the chillig natural environment, Dorian prefers his easeful and safe home, a symbol of art. It indicates that art is superior to nature.

3.1.2 Art is superior to life: Life imitates art

Wilde believes that “life imitates art. Life is the mirror while art is real” (Wilde 54). In the novel, the innocent and beautiful young man, Dorian Gray, was enthralled by his picture painted by Basil and suddenly realized his beauty. At the same time, he realized that time would corrupt his beauty and he would grow old and dreadful. Confronting the finished and elegant picture, he made a wish that “If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that—for that—I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” (5; ch.1). Unexpectedly, the wish comes true. Dorian gains the eternal beauty and youth, while the picture bears all his sin and oldness and recorded his changes of look. As time passed, Dorian remained young and beautiful, while the picture which served as a mirror to record his sins and changes of his soul became ugly and old. The picture is a symbol of art and the real Dorian means the reality which is opposite to art. As we all know, the picture is eternal and everlasting while the real Dorian would grow old and dreadful. In the novel, Dorian wishes to make an exchange with the picture and himself so as to keep his beauty eternal. Through this, the author shows us that real life would like to imitate art. Then Dorian’s wish comes true, he gained the eternal beauty and art becomes true. At the end of the novel, Dorian is afraid of the picture which records his evil sins and wicked changes, so he wants to destroy it so as to kill the past and feel peaceful. Dorian stabbed the picture with a knife, however he was dead with a knife in his heart and the picture returned to the original beauty. Wilde who rehabilitates the reversed facts at the end of the novel aimed to show us one of his aesthetic views: “life imitates art far more than art imitates life”(Wilde 35). Art is supreme and is superior to life. It is only the beauty of art that could endure the depredation of time and maintain eternal.

Besides, Dorian’s first love is also associated with the supreme art. Dorian’s lover Sybil Vane, was an excellent and perfect actress. Dorian regards Sybil as a born artist and the incarnation of art. Before Sybil knew Dorian, acting was the one reality of her life. However, Dorian’s love changed Sybil and made her aware that what reality really is. For the first time, she realized the magic power of love and saw through the hollowness, the sham, the silliness of the empty pageant in which she had always played. So Sybil regarded the art worthless and was unwilling to continue her acting career. She abandoned her incarnation of art and stepped into the real life. However, having known Sybil’s decision, Dorian became angry and criticized her for killing his love and spoiling the romance of his life. He said

“I loved you because you were marvellous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid”(75; ch.7). Sybil abandoned her art and then she was abandoned by Dorian who is eager to pursue art. From this, we could see Wilde’s idea that art is superior to life.

3.2 Art is non-utilitarian：Art for Art’s Sake

In the late 19^th century, most scholars and artists imposed different kinds of missions and responsibilities on art so as to achieve their goals. They held the view that good art and works should reflect the social morality and establish the correct values. While Wilde disapproved of the view that art is regarded as the matter of demand and supply. He held the view that art does not express anything except itself. The artists love and pursue art only for art’s sake. The value of art is based on itself. In the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde said that “art is useless”(wilde 1).

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the painter, Basil Hallward, is a typical aesthete who appreciates all the beautiful things. As a famous painter and artist, he never cares for anything but the art. At a party, he met with Dorian Gray, a beautiful youth, and was enthralled by his unique beauty. He tries to keep Dorian’s beauty and proposed to draw a portrait for him. In the process of creation, Dorian’s beauty inspires him to “the lines of a fresh school, a school that is to have in it all the passion of the romantic spirit, all the perfection of the spirit that is Greek. The harmony of soul and body—how much that is!” (10; ch.2)

The finished work was so perfect and Lord Henry proposed that once the work was shown to the world, Basil would gain the countless wealth and remarkable reputation. However, Bail declined his advice and sent it to Dorian. As an artist, he laid emphasis on the pure art instead of the reputation and wealth. He pursued art only for art’s sake. Wilde ever said that the painter, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am”(wilde,37). Basil’s appreciation and admiration for Dorian’s beauty shows us that Wilde worships the pure beauty and aims to defend it.

3.3 Art is composed of imagination and hedonism.

3.3.1 Imagination and Fiction

The realism advocates that art should reconstruct the life, while the aestheticism stands for the imagination and fiction. Oscar Wilde said that “I awoke the imagination of my century so that it created myth and legend around us”(25). Wilde believed that good work should be far away from reality and rejects the intervention of the rational thinking, in virtue of the imagination to show the beauty of art. In the novel, the painter, Basil Hallward painted a portrait of Dorian Gray. However, during the creation of the picture, he combined his imagination and fiction with the exquisite portraits. Basil said that “every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself” (32; ch.3). Basil held the view that he injected his part of imagination and fiction to the picture, so the picture would reveal his mind. This view accords with Wild’s. Wilde ever said that “Basil Hallward is what I think I am, Lord Henry what the world thinks me; Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps”(Wilde 35). Wilde adds some of his thoughts and imaginations to the novel, so the novel is personalized with his own picture.

3.3.2 The Hedonist of Life

There are two different schools in the course of Greek philosophy: the stoicism and the hedonism. The stoicism approves the virtue morality and social duty, while the hedonism focuses on the pleasure-seeking and wants to escape from the social duty. Under the influence of hedonism, the aesthetes of the aestheticism pursue the sheer pleasure in art and beauty and found themselves very susceptible to the influence of sensuous feelings such as the sound and color and form. As the representative of aestheticism, Wilde holds the view that “one could never pay too high a price for any sensation” (27). The new hedonism appealed to people to follow their instinct and inner desires and to find pleasure in the process instead of the result. He showed his new hedonism in The Picture of Dorian Gray through two characters. Lord Henry serves as the advocate of Hedonism, who preaches to Dorian lots of his views of pleasure-seeking and persuades him to enjoy the sensuous excitements. He holds the hedonism values that “a new Hedonism that was to recreate life and to save it from that harsh uncomely puritanism that is having, in our own day”(78; ch.10), would become revive. And the aim of the new hedonism was to be experience itself, and not the fruits of experience. He advocates that the new Hedonism was to teach a man to concentrate himself upon the moments of a life that is itself but a moment. Lord Henry is the theorist of the new Hedonism, while Dorian Gray serves as the practitioner of it. He is one of the frequent quests of various parties, theaters and dinners where he could enjoy the pleasure of life. Due to the deal with the portrait, he becomes the only person who would never grow old. During his life, he has been busy with satisfying various desires. The numerous desires emerged in his head and he is pleased with them due to his abundant wealth and eternal beauty. He doesn’t learn to restrict the desires so going after the sensuous feeling becomes the only thing in his life. He worships the sense and holds the view that “the true nature of the senses had never been understood. And a fine instinct for beauty was to be the dominant characteristic”(70; ch.10). To achieve this, he has been looking for a new and delightful sensation and possessing that element of strangeness that is so essential to romance. For some time, he has studied the perfumes and the secrets of their manufactures. Then he devoted himself entirely to music. On one occasion he took up the study of jewels and then he turned his attention to embroideries. He indulged in all sorts of interests and luxuries which could offer him the delightful sensuous feelings, however, his endless and excessive desires surpass the rational degree and he is overwhelmed with them and becomes notorious. Wilde is the practitioner of the hedonism. He is a real dandy and always seeks for various kinds of pleasure. He and his dandies always play horse racing, golf, tennis by daylight and enjoy themselves in the restaurants and theatures at night. In other ways, Dorian’s hedonic life is the epitome of Wilde’s.

3.4 Art is relevant to morality or not?

After the publication of The Picture of Dorian Gray, many critics denounced its immoral. Wilde expressed his aesthetic view that art is irrelevant to morality in response to the social criticism. He said that “an artist, has no ethical sympathies at all, Virtue and weakness are to him simple what the colors on his palette are to the painter. They are no more and they are no less. He sees that by his means an artistic effect can be produced, and he produces it”(Wilde 67). However, having read his The Picture of Dorian Gray, we found that this work is filled with the conflicts of beauty and morality. In his novel, he created two opposite characters: Basil Hallward, the carnation of morality and Dorian Gray, who betrayed and surpassed the social morality. Basil Hallward always plays the positive role and defends the value of morality. He witnessed the degeneration and corruption of Dorian Gray and tried to help Dorian get rid of the dreadful people he associated with. Even if he realized that Dorian was more evil than what he ever thought, He didn’t give up persuading Dorian correcting the mistakes until he was killed by Dorian. He died for safeguarding the morality. On the other hand, Basil’s death also suggested that art defeated the morality.

In the novel, Dorian always plays the role of betraying and surpassing the morality. At the beginning of the novel, Dorian did a deal with the portrait in exchange for the eternal beauty, which means that he betrayed his conscience in the pursuit of beauty. This deal reverses the position of art and morality. The real Dorian serves as the unchanged art, while the portrait serves as his soul and conscience. This showed us the separation of soul and flesh, which is also the split of art and morality. Then, tempted by Lord Henry, he went down into the depths of pleasure and did lots of evil and immoral things. As Basil said “Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed”(85; ch.11). Dorian’ s sins and guilt which corrupted his soul and conscience was recorded in the portrait. Due to the deal, his appearance remained unchanged and innocent as before while the portrait gradually became decaying. Thus, in the novel, the existence of Dorian Gray is above the morality.

The novel mainly focus on the relationship between art and morality. In the end, the defender of morality, Basil Hallward is killed by Dorian Gray, the pursuer of beauty. That is to say art defeats morality and art is superior to morality. We could see that Wilde’s art being irrelevant to morality is contradictory to what he showed in the novel.

Chapter Four

Conclusion

As one of the advocates and practitioners of Aestheticism, Wilde pushed the Aestheticism to a high position. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray sells his soul in exchange for the eternal beauty, which reflects Wilde’s pursuit of art and beauty. Dorian indulged in the pleasure-seeking regardless of the social morality and lead to the self-destruction. Lord Henry plays an important role in Dorian’s degeneration. Lord Henry expresses his views of life and morality which is similar to Wilde’s views. He believes that pleasure is the most important thing in one’s life and a person should fully meet his desires and demands which is fit to the aesthetic view of individual liberty. Basil Hallward symbolizes the moral values and Wilde’s value of art. Basil’s death shows that Wilde is determined to devote himself to art and beauty. On the basis of the heritage of predecessors’ aesthetic views, Wilde puts forward his unique artistic views so as to form a relatively complete system of theory. Thus he has become the master of aestheticism. Wilde proposed that art is supreme and life imitates art far more than art imitates life, art is immoral and useless. All these aesthetic views have a profound influence on the western and world literature development. But it is not the right way to escape from reality and indulge in pleasure that is the reason why the aesthetic movement is dazzling but short-lived. Therefore, we worship the art which should also be combined with real life and conform to the trend of the society. Only in this way, literature and art could be more valuable.

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