An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Wilde’s Aesthetics And Literary Practice In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde, a pioneer of aestheticism at the end of the19th century, is definitelyan aesthetic writer with multiple identities even though he is not the first advocator ofaestheticism. Wilde spares no effort to develop aestheticism on the theory and hisworks, resulting in making the aestheticism gloss in the literary world. The Picture ofDorian Gray owns a plot of ups and downs as well as numerous suspense. With anunusual writing style, he successfully illustrates the aesthetic connotation andcontributes a lot to the influence of the aesthetic trend. The relationship betweenWilde’s aesthetic theory and his literary practice has been reflected throughout thewhole aesthetic trend. These two parts can be seen perfectly unified or contradictory.The paradoxical proposition in this work makes Wilde’s aesthetic theory arrivenowhere to some extent, and the aesthetic ideal he is trying to establish in histheoretical construction encounters obstacles repeatedly. The paradoxical propositionis not his creating purpose, but it is definitely the realistic problem his aesthetic theoryhas to confront. Wilde’s subjective wish is that his aesthetic ideal can come true,which has also been proved by his own lifestyle.Furthermore, the theme that he doeshis best to take on in his work is realized by the way of transcending his aesthetictheory. Hence, the complicated relation has been indicated: if the aestheticism wouldlike to pass the restrains of the realistic condition, the power of reality is in great need,even it has to surrender to reality. Thus, the aestheticism jumps to an end. Because ofthis, his works are increasingly observed and studied by more and more scholars allover the world.This thesis is made up of three parts: introduction, main body and conclusion.The main content are as follows:The first part is introduction, mainly presenting some relevant research on ThePicture of Dorian Gray and elaborating on Oscar Wilde’s lifetime, his position in theworld-wide literary field and the features of his works as well as some critics on hiscreation and some situation of the previous research. Furthermore, the situation of thisthesis’s researching scope from within and from without and the significance ofwriting this thesis are introduced. It is found that the scholars from both home andabroad have very controversial viewpoints of the relationship between Wilde’saesthetic theory and his literary practice: it is partially believed that these two parts are perfectly unified; while it is also believed that these two parts are contradictory.By means of analyzing and synthesizing the previous research and comment, thisthesis attempts to come to a new explanation: during the process of Wilde’s creatinghis works, the paradoxes from the three creative dimensions of art and morality, artand life as well as art and psyche turn out not his faulty, but his success. Hence, thisthesis has some practical significance on the analysis of relationship between theliterary theory and creating practice.The second part is main body which consists of three chapters:The first chapter is a general introduction of aesthetic theory which is Wilde’sliterary points of view. Wilde’s aesthetic theory mainly comes from Pater, but hedevelops it based on his self-practice: summarizing the main tenet of art, how to makethe aim come true and the subjective condition the author needs, which contributes tothe core content of Wilde’s aesthetic theory.The second chapter is based on Wilde’s masterpiece The Picture of Dorian Graywhich also serves as a point-cut and main line, using the way of reading between linesdeeply and all-roundly to analyze the aesthetic aim of Oscar Wilde’s works. ThePicture of Dorian Gray plays a role as a weapon which fights against the moralconvention in his era. Theme, style and protagonist figures of this novel are quitecoincident indirectly with the criteria he made in his arts. Wilde uses his practice toannounce the feasibility of aesthetic theory. The analysis of this chapter and Wilde’saesthetic theories illustrated in the part just act in cooperation with each other.The third chapter is a discussion on the paradox in Wilde’s works. The Picture ofDorian Gray covers three key relations in his theoretical system: art and morality, artand life as well as art and psyche. Oscar Wilde conceives a harmonious relationshipamong the three former relations in his theoretical structure. But this masterpiecetranscends his subjective purpose, showing a specialty of paradox. Wilde does his bestto realize his aesthetics in his works-creating practice, hoping to establish an idealkingdom of aesthetics, but the paradox existing in his works make his creatingpractice transcend his aesthetic theory. This result is not only the objective fact thathis aesthetics has to face, but also exists as an embarrassing situation that the wholeaestheticism trend has no means to get rid of. The last part is conclusion, which aims at summarizing the aim of writing thisthesis. Oscar Wilde plans to build an aesthetic kingdom in his works in accordancewith his aesthetic theory, but his subjective ambition and the objective effectpresenting from his works contradicts with each other, hence resulting in theparadoxical specialty. What’s more, a complicated relationship exists in this novel:The Picture of Dorian Gray shows that art not only needs to transcend morality, butalso needs be realized by the self-destruction under the extreme moral burden. From awide range of perspective, Oscar Wilde is inclined to put himself be under acircumstance of a vague and contradictive language system, and leaves behindparadoxes everywhere in his theoretical structure, creative practice and life style,which is just to be his success rather than his failure. In his unconscious self-reflection,inability of aesthetics is fully exposed, from which it can be clearly seen that theembarrassing situation of the whole aesthetic literary trend can not be overcome. Anda significant feature of aesthetics focuses on the relationship between Oscar Wilde’saesthetics and his creative practice. And the trend of the thought of aestheticsdisappears soon can be noticed from the reasons above, and it should be concludedthat the role Wilde plays and the value of him in the trend of aesthetics can not betaken place of by any figure. Oscar Wilde also completes his aesthetic declaration bythe spirit of seeking his own doom eventually.This thesis aims at analyzing the relationship between Wilde’s aesthetic theoryand his literary practice, and attempts to make a conclusion about the guidingsignificance between literary theories and creative practice. It is believed that theoriesand practice sometimes do not coordinate with each other just on the surface of theworks. Constrained by the realities, the ingenious paradoxical proposition and creativewriting style will endow the works an unexpected thematic sublimation.