Aestheticism And Paradox In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Irish-born Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an outstanding Aesthetics spokesman, his advocation for the "art for art’s sake" movement and impact over the European literary field have lasted for a whole century. He was also regarded as a witty dandy, a playwright, novelist, essayist and poet who left tons of great works for us to enjoy today. His work involves in a wide range:one of the nine fairy tales intended for both children and adults The Happy Prince, famous plays such as Ideal Husband and A Woman of No Importance, and poems like The Ballad of Reading Gaol or Sphinx, are only some of the examples of artistic forms Oscar Wilde was familiar with. Among them, there is his only novel--the aesthetic and controversial novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. This work and the author were denied and unaccepted by the society for a very longtime, while almost a hundred years after his death, he as an artist was gradually accepted and his work reevaluated.Wilde is famous for his paradoxical statements and Aestheticism, and this paper focuses on Wilde’s only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in the hope of reading and understanding this great artist.The chief introduction of the historical background of Aestheticism helps us understand the trend and how it is illustrated in the novel at the beginning. The paper analyzes how the three male characters and the object (the picture) symbolize one form or part of Wilde through comparison. These symbolized characters actually show Wilde’s ideal of Aestheticism, and reflect his aesthetical handling of the complexity of human nature as well. As "the King of Paradox", Wilde has freely used the weapon in the novel. This paper will raise different example and comparison to display how different personal traits the male characters and the female have in the novel (which in fact, resulted from the belief in Aestheticism as well as the historical background of that age), and how paradox is used.In my point of view, this novel is the perfect proof to show how the man of aesthetic paradox freely uses the device of paradox to express his belief in Aestheticism. He failed to separate art from life, for his fate has tied them. To Wilde, it’s not art that imitates life, but life to art. As an aesthete, he didn’t embellish reality nor uglify it, while in face of the cruel reality, he could only use the paradox as a weapon, which is not only an art form but also a way the author understands the world and expresses himself. The picture of Dorian Gray may be also seen as the picture of Wilde-art may provide an occasional shelter, but not an ultimate solution, while Wilde indulges himself too much in the shelter that this faint wish brought him the destiny. Wilde, a man who pursues art and beauty all his life, left us his own fate as the biggest paradox.