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Oscar Wilde (The picture of Dorian Gray (PLOT (Set in London at the end…
Oscar Wilde
The picture of
Dorian Gray
1890
: first appeared in a magazine.
1891
: revised and extended.
It reflects Oscar Wilde’s personality.
It was considered immoral by the Victorian public.
PLOT
Set in
London
at the end of the 19th century.
The painter Basil Hallward makes a
portrait
of a handsome young man, Dorian Gray.
Dorian’s desires of
eternal youth
are satisfied.
Experience
and
vices
appear on the portrait.
Dorian lives only for
pleasures
.
The painter discovers Dorian’s secret and he is
killed
by the young man.
Later Dorian wants to get
free
from the portrait; he stabs it but in so doing
he kills himself
.
At the very moment of death the portrait returns to its original purity and Dorian turns into a
withered
,
wrinkled
and
loathsome
man.
A modern version of Dr. Faust
Lord Henry’s
cynical attitude
is in keeping with the devil’s role in Dr Faust.
Lord Henry acts as the
“Devil advocate”.
The picture stands for the
dark side
of Dorian’s personality.
A
temptation
is placed before Dorian: a potential
ageless beauty.
The moral of the novel
When Dorian destroys the picture, he cannot avoid the
punishment
for all his sins -->
death
The picture, restored to its original beauty, illustrates Wilde’s
theories of art:
art survives people
, art is eternal.
The horrible, corrupting picture could be seen as a symbol of the
immorality
and
bad conscience
of the Victorian middle class.
Every
excess
must be
punished
and reality cannot be
escaped.
The Importance
of Being Earnest
Wilde’s most enduringly
popular play.
Plot
Jack has invented an
alter ego
, a younger brother called Ernest who lives in the City.
Humour comes from the characters’ false identities.
Witty dialogues
and
satire
of Victorian
hypocrisy
.
Characters
Set in England during the late Victorian era.
The protagonists: two young aristocratic men,
Ernest Worthing
, and
Algernon Moncrieff
.
Ernest, actually called
Jack
, was adopted at an
early age by a
Mr Thomas Cardew
.
They belong to
aristocratic society
.
They are typical Victorian
snobs
.
They are
arrogant
,
formal
and
concerned with money
.
They are interested only in a
materialistic world
.
Lady Bracknell
embodies the
stereotype
of the Victorian English aristocrat woman.
Wilde’s new comedy of manners
A new sort of the
Restoration comedy of Manners
.
The problems of Wilde’s age are reflected in
witty remarks
.
This comedy was a mirror of the
fashionable and corrupted world
of the Victorian
fashionable audiences
.
The nature of marriage
Marriage
is one of the main concerns of the characters in the play.
Wilde
makes fun
of the institution of marriage.
Marriage is seen as a
hypocritical
and
absurd
practice, a tool for achieving social stature.
Irony and Victorian morality
The play central plot – the man who is both and isn't Ernest/earnest – presents a
moral paradox
.
Earnest
, misspelling for “
Ernest
”, means earnest, honest.
None
of the characters are really
truthful
.
Characters are used to criticize
Victorian prudery
.
What Wilde wants us to see as truly moral is really the opposite of
earnestness
:
irreverence
.
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The author’s name:
C33
,
Wilde’s prison reference number.
Plot: the dramatic story of an
outcast
.
Poetic form: a
ballad
.
Themes: the
alienating
life in prison,
death penalty
, the problem of
collective and social guilt
.