Interpretation Of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray In The Perspective Of Carnivalization

Oscar Wilde is the representative of aestheticism in the late 19 th century,and one of the most important writers in the history of British literature.Wilde devoted his whole life to the pursuit of artistic beauty,advocating beauty and the supremacy of art.As Wilde’s only novel,The Picture of Dorian Gray is also regarded as the representative of aestheticism.It tells the story of a young aristocrat with perfect appearance,Dorian,who traded his soul with his own portraits for eternal youth,constantly degenerating and finally destroying himself.So far,many scholars and literary critics at home and abroad have made in-depth analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray from various perspectives.These studies mainly focus on aestheticism,post-colonialism,psychoanalysis,literary ethics and consumerism,etc.In this paper,Carnival Theory provides a subversive perspective for the interpretation of the novel,deeply exploring the real aesthetic point of view under the label of Wilde’s “aestheticism”.This thesis intends to interpret the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray from Bakhtin’s Carnival Theory.The whole text is divided into six parts,including introduction,four main chapters and conclusion.The introduction presents the author Oscar Wilde and his work The Picture of Dorian Gray,literature review at home and abroad,and the significance of this study.Based on the theory of dialogue,Carnivalesque and literature Carnivalization,this paper analyzes the Carnival spirit embodied in the novel and reveals Wilde’s real view of aestheticism.Chapter One is the theoretical basis of this paper,elaborating Bakhtin’s Carnival theory.Carnival theory originated from Carnival,developed from Carnivalesque,sublimated into literature Carnivalization.All the Carnival ceremonies convey a kind of renewal and alternation Carnival spirit.When these languages and rituals on the Carnival square enter into literary works,they make these literary works tint with Carnival aesthetic elements.Chapter Two describes the embodiment of dialogism in the novel,and analyzes the process of seeking self-consciousness through the dialogues between Dorian and different subjects.This chapter discuss the equal dialogic relationships among the protagonist Dorian and other main characters in the novel,the author Wilde and his self from the level of macro dialogue and micro dialogue,highlighting the Carnival feature of the novel.Chapter Three focuses on the specific embodiments of Carnivalesque in the novel.Carnival square,Carnival characters and laughter culture are all indispensable elements of Carnivalesque.In the novel,the theatre and the bar considered as Carnival square,Dorian,Lord Henry and painter Basil regarded as Carnival characters,the “laughter” of the love between Dorian and Sybil are the concrete embodiment of Carnival spirit-duality,which all embody the strong Carnival atmosphere in this paper.Chapter Four focuses on the core of Bakhtin’s Carnival thought-duality to analyze The Picture of Dorian Gray in depth.The crowning and decrowning of Dorian and his portrait convey a Carnival spirit of alternation and renewal,death and rebirth.This kind of spirit subverts and reconstructs Oscar Wilde’s real attitude about beauty and art through a kind of relative spirit that gets rid of absoluteness.Based on the above discussion and research,the conclusion points out that the application of Carnival Theory in The Picture of Dorian Gray explains the subversion of Wilde’s aesthetic thoughts from a new perspective.This paper subverts the conventional aesthetic thinking structure with Carnival thinking structure from the perspective of dialogism and duality of Carnival Theory,reconstructing Wilde’s art utopia.Thus the meaning of art gets new life in the destruction.