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OscarWilde's Creations And The Criticism To The Victorian Morals

Posted on:2006-10-14Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:M Y YangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360152995238Subject:Comparative Literature and World Literature
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Oscar Wilde is the representative writer of the aestheticism of England in19th century. He always declares that we can't comment on the art by a moral standard, but in fact any literature work can't shake moral judgment completely. This dissertation attempts to explore the complicated relations between Wilde's works and Victorian moral criticism based on the analysis of the moral criticism elements in his works, and reappraise Wilde's works and the aestheticism from a new angle.The Victorian Era is an era full of contradictions and also an era that formed a connecting link between what comes before and what goes after. The Victorian morals, which are obstinate and rigid, unavoidably showed its negative influence while it dominated the England society. At the right moment, Oscar Wilde, the representative writer of the aestheticism, held the revolted banner. He criticized and overturned the traditional morals with a decadent attitude. The types of Wilde's works were very extensive. His fairy tales showed a pure heart's persistent seek for the true, the good and the beautiful, while his comedies exposed the ugly social reality which is full of hypocrisy, vulgarity and selfishness. In his only novel -"The Picture of Dorian Gray", we can see a soul struggling painfully between the good and the beautiful; In his famous tragedy written in French-" Salome", we can feel the tough exploration for the balance between the flesh and the spirit.Wilde tried to resist the dark reality and to express moral thoughts in unmoral opinion. His criticism is in an extreme way and in a kind of dandy's posture. Although at last the aestheticism declined and Wilde end his brilliance in prison, Wilde's special criticism to Victorian morals is actually the first sighs of modernist literature schools which try to destroy all the sacredness and subvert all the seriousness. The absurd schools, symbolism and other modernism schools are all affected by the aestheticism at different extent.
Keywords/Search Tags:Oscar Wilde, Victorian Era, aestheticism, moral criticism
PDF Full Text Request
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