The Moral Sense In Oscar Wilde's Works

Oscar Wilde as one of the most important writers of Irish literature, as well as of the English literature, has always been a hot topic, whose witty remarks are quoted everywhere. He makes achievements in a wide range of fields, poem, drama, novel and essay. His literary output shows the versatility of his inventive powers as well as the complexity of his social and artistic ideas. His brilliant comedies, for the witty paradoxes and epigrams in the dialogues, have been acknowledged as his greatest contribution to English literature. In some of his fairy stories he expresses his sympathy towards the sufferings of the poor and contempt for the greed and selfishness of the rich. In some of his essays the real aesthete Wilde is to be found. He follows Walter Pater's theory of art for art's sake and goes further to declare that art does not reflect life but life imitates art. His only novel and tragedy are the typical product of this literary trend. The centenary of his trial and his death makes him the subject of increasing critical attention in the past decade. His radical position as a critic has been revaluated. He has been identified as a key figure within gay criticism. He is now recognized as a highly professional writer, acutely aware of his readership at a variety of levels and also one who deliberately and systematically explores the oral dimension. His position as an Irish writer gives him status in the context of postcolonial criticism.Nevertheless during his life, he is most of time known for his infamous life style. He is often criticized as immoral and has no morality. He himself also proclaims that the writer should have no ethical view but after reading a lot of works by him andstudy on him, I detect the moral sense in his works. All the literary works, including Wilde's, are depicting human relationship among which the moral question cannot be avoided whether to adhere or to be against it. No work can be fully deprived of moral and Wilde's proclaims are just radical ambition. In this thesis, I first review, different kinds of previous study on him. Then I did a detailed analysis of moral sense in his five representative works of different genres. I find the moral sense is present throughout his works, which usually is over looked. In the conclusion, the moral sense is summarized from three aspects: the guilty conscience and self-remorse for one's wrongdoing; the affirmation of goodness with the introduction of Poetic justice; the sympathy with the suffered and condemnation on the injustice in the society. All this reflects the moral sense in Oscar Wilde's works.