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oscar wilde - Coggle Diagram
oscar wilde
1854, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin → Oxford, scholarship
ed Classics
Moved to
figure in Aesthetic movement
ed Constance Lloyd (1884), two sons
Affair with Lord
trial for
imprisoned
Post-
: exile in
in 1900
Aestheticism & Philosophy
= beauty only, not morality
Preface: "All
is quite useless"
Reaction to
moralism & utilitarianism
:
Pre-Raphaelites (
)
French Decadents (Baudelaire)
Motto: "
for
’s sake"
dandyism
eccentric
The
of Dorian
(1890)
Only novel
Plot
Dorian
: young,
, beautiful
Portrait
by Basil
Hallward
Meets Lord Henry Wotton → hedonistic
s
Aestheticism’s
Wish: eternal youth, painting ages instead
Leads life of pleasure, sin, corruption
Portrait
grows hideous = moral decay
Stabs portrait → dies old & deformed
Portrait
restored
Themes
Duality / divided self
beauty
morality
hypocrisy
Critique of
rewards appearance, charm, etiquette
Hides deceit, hypocrisy, decay
Similar to
Jekyll & Mr Hyde → duality & hidden
& Technique
Gothic + Decadent fiction
Symbolism: the portrait
= conscience
3rd-person narrator, detached
dialogue
reveals character (like Wilde’s plays)
descriptions
of Dorian (1890)