Brilliant Failures: A Research On The Death Theme In Oscar Wilde's Works

Death is the final destination and the inevitable fate of all living things. The inescapability of death grants itself mysterious color, and threatens the living human beings. However, it is exactly death that makes people appreciate the fleeting life. The binary relationship between death and life inspires people to explore the mystery of death. Countless writers have focused on this eternal subject in their writings. As one of the most important writers of English literature, Oscar Wilde also cast his sights on it. He conducted serious discussions on life and death in his literary creations while he continued to pay his homage to the ultimate beauty. He unremittingly longed to build a Utopia of beauty in the real life, which turned out to be his rebellion against the Victorian moral codes. In the meantime, Wilde's sensitivity and honesty as an artist made him unable to ignore the fact that it was impossible to achieve the Utopia of beauty in a society filled with material desires. This thesis, therefore, is aimed at the exploration of his unique interpretation of the theme of death.The thesis falls into five parts. Part One gives a brief introduction to Oscar Wilde, and summarizes the previous studies on his works and the significance and approach of this study. Part Two discusses various forms of death in Wilde's works. Wilde's consciousness of death is made clear with convincing citations from his original works; and comparison is made among different forms of the protagonists'death. Part Three focuses on the significances of death theme. Wilde vividly exposed a society that was full of misery where people suffered and died from physical and spiritual traumas, which showed Wilde's concern and sympathy for the down-trodden people. Wilde was a leading figure of aestheticism. In his descriptions, death was never scary; on the contrary, it even carried a sense of beauty. The tragic ending of those beautiful protagonists posed a great challenge to the social morality. Wilde tried to seek perfect love which can transcend death in his writings. Part Four traces roots of Wilde's death theme. Wilde's preference for death theme is complex indeed. His sexual deviance, Irish background, and Catholic inclinations made him an outsider in the Victorian society. So the Victorian era will also be discussed. And a conclusion will be reached at the end of this thesis. It is concluded in this thesis that the death theme, while it expresses the sympathy for the poor people and the yearning for beauty, undoubtedly represents Wilde's efforts to search for the ultimate value of death and the meaning of life.