| Eighteenth and nineteenth century philosophies of aestheticism vacillate between objectivism and subjectivism. Objective theories of aestheticism privilege the external world while subjective theories of aestheticism privilege a person's internal world. This exploration of the external world and of the art that represents that world cultivates the aesthetic personality, one who possesses sensitivity, heightened perception, and a superior capacity to appreciate beauty. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Ulysses in his poem "Ulysses," Thomas Carlyle's hero in Past and Present, William Makepeace Thackeray's Rebecca Sharp in Vanity Fair, and Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray develop the aesthetic personality by using various methods.; Ulysses models how a person maintains the aesthetic personality, once it develops, by seeking novelty in the external world. Carlyle's hero reveals how an aesthetic personality's interactions with the beautiful and the sublime encourage him to work in the external world, constructing artifacts by imposing order onto nature. The hero does not travel from place to place as Ulysses does; the hero brings art to himself. Ulysses and the hero explore and experience the external world at will, thereby cultivating their palates and educating themselves. However, female characters like Rebecca Sharp do not have the luxury of experiencing the external world at will; instead, Rebecca Sharp constructs artifacts such as personae and tableaux in order to access more of the external world. Dorian Gray uses these three methods in combination, and as a result, he creates his own philosophy of aestheticism and his own strategy to aid other perceivers of art in developing the aesthetic personality.; It is often assumed that the writers of the mid-Victorian period, which is dominated by Realism, ignore the aesthetic personality. In actuality, these writers' works present different methods by which the aesthetic personality can be developed and maintained. This understanding of Tennyson's, Carlyle's, Thackeray's, and Wilde's methods for developing the aesthetic personality helps to increase the continuity of Victorian aestheticism. |
