Poetic Aesthetic And Amorous Torment

When it comes to Wilde, the first three words that come into our mind should be: genius, aesthete, and rebel. As is put by one of the critics, as the most prolific and versatile writer of English language, Wilde's talent in literature is beyond all doubt. Besides, as the most passionate or even radical activist of aestheticism not only in name but also in reality, Wilde bravely choose to position himself completely opposite to the whole world.Salome, the only tragedy and the eternal classic created by Oscar Wilde for popularizing his aesthetic thoughts, has always been criticized as controversially and ardently as some of Wilde's other works and his personal life since the day when it comes out. The continuous critiques, instead of destroying the play; serve well to make it so brilliant that this tragedy has become one of the most rewarding works in the history of world's literature.Previous studies on Salome are mainly from the perspective of traditional literary criticism which is, compared with stylistics, relatively subjective and impressionistic. Therefore, in order to have a more objective understanding of the thematic meaning of this controversial drama and then to enhance its aesthetic value, it is necessary to apply a relatively objective approach - drama stylistics to analyze this work.This paper developts its analysis from the perspective of drama stylistics and is composed of six parts. Chapter One is about the background information and the significance of this study; Chapter Two is the literature review of the studies in Salome and drama stylistics at home and abroad; in the third chapter, there is the presentation about the theoretical framework which will be applied to this study. Chapter Four and Chapter Five are the core of this paper. In terms of linguistic description, Chapter Four attempts to fully explore the writing skills adopted by Wilde, like rhyme, image and rhetorics, which give this drama poetic and musical beauty. At the same time, these devices bring great sensual impact to the readers. In Chapter Five, the pragmatic analysis about the conversations between the main characters in this drama will be unfolded with the help of cooperative principles and politeness principles, trying to reveal the conflicts, the characterization, and the aesthetic and thematic values of the play. The last part, Chapter Six is to conclude that squeezed in the crack of the secular society, the author Oscar Wilde as well as the main characters in this drama are all drived by the so-called crazy love and desire to the very abyss of torment and death.