A Research On Oscar Wilde’s Major Works From The Perspective Of "Language Games"

Oscar Wilde (1854—1900) has been a controversial literary figure, which is dueto his desire to be “talked about”, but which owes more to the fact that “Wilde was hisown best work of art”. As a piece of artistic work, there are inevitable contradictionsin his life, literary theories and literary creation under the scrutiny of the practicalreality. These contradictions have been concerned and studied by the public and theacademic community from the beginning of his literary career to more than a centuryafter his death. Though he is the acknowledged spokesman of the19thcentury’sAestheticism, his literary activities not only differed from those of the othercontemporary aesthetes but also were in conflict with the aesthetic principle “Art forthe sake of art”. As a result of the emphasis on artistic autonomy, the Aestheticcreation and appreciation were individual rather than collective which led to alimitation in its political and social influence. What Wilde did was quite different.Wilde assimilated and improved the previous aesthetic ideas to formulate his ownradical literary principles. On the other hand, he fully applied these principles into hiscreation of different literary genres, trying to find a most suitable literary expressionto manifest the principles and at the same time to be accepted by the public. This wasthe very force which pushed Aestheticism onto the peak and also the main source ofWilde’s contradictions. The multiple and diverse scholarship on these contradictionshas got great achievement. But this dissertation employs a new perspective, studyingWilde’s aesthetic thought and literary creation from the perspective of the “Theory ofLanguage Games”, and then interpreting certain contradictions of Wilde.The “Theory of Language Games”, set on the cognition that language is the toolof thought, is put forward by Ludwig Wittgenstein who attempted to eliminatephilosophical problems by studying the use of language. Philosophy explores thebasic and universal problems of human society, and literature is in nature a kind of writing by the use of language, so the “Theory of Language Games” can provideliterary researches with certain ideas and theories. With this as the entry point, thisdissertation attempts to conduct an interdisciplinary research on Oscar Wilde’saesthetic thought and literary creation.The “Theory of Language Games” compares language activities to gamesbecause they both should follow certain rules to fulfill certain purposes. Languagegames and rules are complex and diverse, but they are confined by the form of lifewhich is the playground of language games. According to this definition, Wilde’sliterary activities can be regarded as constructing a large-scale language game. Thepursuit of autonomous art is the purpose of his literary activities; his aesthetic thoughtis the rules of his literary activities; his novel, plays, poems and etc. are theapplications of his rules; and the social and cultural environment is the form of life ofhis literary game. Therefore, this dissertation first presents the theme that Wilde’swhole literary activities is constructing a new language game. Then, it probes intoWilde’s literary career and scrutinizes his literary efforts in iconoclasm andestablishment—the extremity and eloquence in his aesthetic thought, arbitrariness andexaggeration in his literary creation and the formation, evolution and influence of hislanguage game.Under the impact of the two Industrial Revolutions, there were correspondingupheavals in politics, economy, ideology and culture in England of the late19thcentury, which left the late Victorians in bewilderment. Facing this perplexity, Wildecried out to build “the secure and sacred house of beauty” as the practical target of hisideal of aesthetic salvation. Only pure art can create real beauty because “the onlybeautiful things are the things that do not concern us”. With this notion, Wilde insistedthat beauty was the only purpose of art and placed beauty onto the throne in his rules.Centred on the supreme beauty, Wilde set his rules in extreme concepts: beauty abovenature and life, beauty above morality and beauty above thought and passion. Theseconcepts subverted both literary conventions and people’s mode of thinking of thattime, which aroused interest of the public to his rules as Wilde expected and proved tobe a quick way to establish his game. At the same time, these paradoxical rules were thoroughly obeyed in Wilde’s literary writings. To test and render his rules, and toform the features of regularity and blindness in following rules among the public, heapplied his rules in all kinds of literary genres. This dissertation conducts a textualstudy mainly on his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and tragedy Salome to analyzethe embodiment of his rules in his specific works. Similar to his thought, his worksalso stirred a fire of criticism for their beauty-oriented selection in subjects andexaggeration-oriented expression in text. In fact, Wilde’s aesthetic rules and theirliterary obedience all bred on the social and cultural soil of that time. Yet whenWilde’s language game was in the infancy of construction, he adopted shockingformulation of theories and creative practice to smash the imprisonment of the oldideas and to stand out among plenty of new ideas and objects. Hence，his languagegame seemed too avant-garde to be accepted by his contemporaries. When Wildefinished the sensational debut of his game, he adjusted his strategy in constructing thegame to keep the game in sustainable development. His popular social comedies werethe evidence of such efforts. This dissertation focuses on The Importance of BeingEarnest to analyze the fact that Wilde still confirmedly performed his language gamewhile clothed it in more peaceable and accredited trappings. If his literary career hadnot stopped suddenly at the summit, his language game would have a quite differentresult. Anyhow, the glimmers of his rules and game in the following literature fieldafter his death is a strong proof of the value and success of his game.Scanning his aesthetic thought and literary writings in this sense, it is natural tosee the nature of language game in Wilde’s professional career and regard Wilde as agreat master of language games. His biographers have placed Wilde among “the mostbrilliantly gifted literary men that England ever produced” and thought he “is one ofus” even today. To some extent, it is his unconscious language game that makes himand positions his lasting status in the literature history, unlike Pater, Swinburne andthe other once well-known aesthetes fading away with time. The fact that Wilde is theepitome of Aestheticism attributes to his courage to behave, his gifts in publicity andhis talents in literature and language as well. He is brave enough to announce hisaesthetic purpose and rules frankly and radically, and to fully put them into his various literary writings without hesitation and scruple. He is capable of choosing themost proper strategies to establish and promulgate his rules and writings in a veryshort period. Wilde’s whole literary career is obviously constructing a new languagegame, literary language game, though the “Theory of Language Games” did not occurin the19thcentury. Certainly there are some contradictions and defects in his gamewhich need to be improved and polished as the process of forging any new object. Iftime had allowed, Wilde would have made more adjustment following histransformation in comedies and made his game more perfect and lasting. All in all,Wilde has perfectly practiced and testified the “Theory of Language Games” in hisliterary activities half a century earlier than it was put forward by Wittgenstein.Therefore, it is positive to draw a conclusion: Oscar Wilde is a language master notonly splendid in language but also brave to innovate and practice.