The Contradition Between Wilde’s Aethetic Principles And Morality Implied In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde is among the most complex and controversial figures in EnglishLiterature in the19th century. Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, haslong been labeled as “immoral” for its seemingly aesthetic stance and decadence. As aleading representative in the aesthetic movement in Britain, Wilde strongly advocated“art for art’s sake”. Despite his belief in the amorality of art, The Picture of DorianGray paradoxically has a very conventional moral message.This paper is composed of three chapters. Chapter one is an introduction,including Wilde’s life experience, literature review, the purpose and significance aswell as the method of the study. Chapter two analyzes the contradiction betweenWilde’s aesthetic principles and morality implied in the novel. Wilde declared that hebelieved in the amorality of art, yet he could not break off his attention from the moralworld. Upon closer inspection of the novel, the cases of the three main charactersseem to have strongly demonstrated a moral that all excess brings its own punishment.The tragic ending of the novel can be seen as a warning against aestheticism’sdestructiveness to morality when uncontrolled. Furthermore, this chapter conducts anin-depth analysis on some critical incidents in Dorian Gray’s life, showing that ThePicture of Dorian Gray is a novel including a moral dialogue between conscience andtemptation and the moral message in it turns out to be quite conventional. Chapterthree analyzes the underlying factors contributing to the contradiction. First, how histwo mentors, Pater and Ruskin, with conflicting aesthetic theories, may influence thebuilding of his own aesthetic views. As a devoted admirer of Pater, Wilde held tightlythat art is only for art itself; meanwhile, under the imperceptible influence of Ruskin,he couldn’t dismiss the question of morality and its inseparability from the workingsof art all through his life. Besides, this chapter also reveals the inner struggle of Wildeowing to his secret homosexual practice, especially, to his hideous disease, which mayinevitably strengthen his moral anxiety. Moreover, this chapter analyzes thecontradictions in Wilde’s own personality through careful study of the three maincharacters in the novel, providing further reasons for Wilde’s contradictory attitudetowards morality. In a sense, the novel may act as an accurate portrayal of OscarWilde’s contradictive personality.