Oscar Wilde and the decadents
the life 1854-1900
he was born in ireland and then he studied at cambridge
he had two children and a wife but later in his life he was imprisoned for omosexuality
he died in poverty in paris
aestheticism
it was a movement which motto was: "art for art's sake".
his personality
He was the most popular dandy of the period
the picture of dorian gray
it's manifesto was the novel written by Oscar Wilde the picture of dorian gray
it's the only novel that Wilde wrote and it's a gothic novel
the main charcater Dorian is complex
he is a hedonist
he is a narcissist and a Faustian character
The novel describes the moral decline of Dorian
The narrator is omniscient
the importace of being earnest
it is a critique to the superficiality of the late victorians
the language is very important
The language is unrealistic, a language never used by ordinary people.
the characters are stereotypes
Gwendolen the sophisticated young woman of high society
Algernon the perfect dandy and he is the self portait of wilde
the decadents
at the end of the 19th century some french poets called themselves decadents
the wanted to set the art free from the materialistic preoccupations of industrial society
in italy
Gabriele D’Annunzio was the main representative of Decadentismo.
Jack represents the fashionable young man,
Lady Bracknell the strong and arrogant woman