The picture of Dorian Gray essay by GERSA RRUDHA

Gersa Rrudha British Literature in the 19th century (Victorian Period) Semester I 2019-2020 ‘’ The Picture of Dorian Gray ’’ Oscar Wilde Pater’s aestheticism and Wilde’s Preface to the novel; Wilde’s ambiguous positon. ‘’We must look for craftsmen who have the innate gift for tracking down goodness and grace, so that the young people of our community can live in a salubrious region where everything is beneficial and where their eyes and ears meet no influence except those of fine works of art, whose effect is like a breeze which brings health from favourable regions, and which imperceptibly guides them ,from childhood onwards, until they are assimilated to, familiar with ,and in harmony with the beauty of reason.’’ ( Plato, Republic 401c-d) Quote by Plato, Republic 401c-d. (Iuean Williams, ‘’All that matters’’ Great Britain,2013.Hodder & Stoughton.) Held as one of the world’s masterpieces of literature, written in 1890.A Victorian landscape full of emotional colours and a gallery of fascinating characters, built this literary painting of Wilde, which is also his masterpiece in the pearl necklace that has left us as an artistic heritage. To start with ‘’ The picture of Dorian Gray’’ is a book that is developing subjects and phenomena of the Victorian era. They are seen and analysed in different ways and views . We have some main lines that are outlining the novel ; ‘’The development of the figure of the Dorian Gray throughout the novel , from the rise until his fall. This phenomenon also known in literature as Bildungsroman.’’ ‘’Art for art’s sake’’ ‘’Morality and immorality’’, these three are the main topics that are treated in all the pages of the novel. They also civilize and enhance the feelings and education of people around the world, with the game of the characters. The background and the characters, especially Dorian is painted with agile, lively, clear, colours by Wilde. Narration is flowing and it is very attractive and it is also combining naturally the character of the Victorian nature and the physical and spiritual personalities of the characters. These literary drawings of the psychology of the main character and the colourful nature of physical and spiritual sorrows and pains as well as the psychological drawings of the character of Dorian Gray make the novel and the typical realistic work, a literary tale with features of a work with existencialist nature dictated by the social concerns of that time. A time and a dreary environment, cover like a grey cape the novel. These give the subject a realistic and existential character ,leaving us, the readers also with the taste that art should be enjoyed as it is, also known as ‘’Art for art’s sake’’ by Walter Pater. But comparing the ideas of Plato about the art and society to the phrase art for art’s sake, we see that we should be careful when creating a piece of art work. Plato seems to value art very highly. He goes on saying that:’’ the right kind of art, must be rigorously supervised , artists seem to create works of art that are not conducive to personal well-being and social harmony. Young people in the community should be encouraged to cultivate such qualities as the good use of language, grace, elegance ,harmony an rhythm because these can be allied with moral goodness and excellence.’’ Plato, Ieuan Williams, ‘’All that matters’’.. pg.96. Plato gives some ideas about on how the art is influencing over the society ,we should be educated and mind opened enough to understand and to appreciate the real values of art. A beautiful piece of art should not be criticised but respected for the art it has in itself. We should either leave an artist express all of his artistic ideas and appreciate them as they are or leave it as it is. ’’In Plato’s just society poets will be made to choose either to represent goodness rather than meanness of spirit and inelegance in their creations or to refrain completely from practising their art.’’ Plato, Ieuan Williams ,’’All that matters’’. pg,97. Since I started mentioning above all the dominant themes that the book is developing ,I am going to exemplify them with quotes and ideas from the novel itself. Oscar Wilde decided to publish another edition of his book in 1891,in response to all the negative reviews which criticised the book’s immorality. ‘’The picture of Dorian Gray’’ was seen as an immoral book from the society of the time, Wilde wrote a book that felt paralyzed by the mediocricity , poor morals and the small madness of the masters of the social life at the time. And starting from the reaction of the audience, he wrote in the ‘Preface of the novel’ that, ’’there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.’’ Oscar Wilde,The Preface,’’The picture of Dorian Gray’’.Great Britain,.Penguin.,2007,pg.3. This quote is leaving us with the opinion that Oscar Wilde was not focusing much on the fact that the book had to be morally pleasing to the society, but rather he wanted to create a beautiful piece of art. He wanted to leave us think by ourselves on the moral of the novel, and enjoy the beauty of literature. Bringing up another author , such as Walter Pater who is known for his phrase that I mentioned above’’ Art for art’s sake’’. ‘’The views of Pater, Wilde and other aesthetes and impressionists brought them into conflict not only with the builders of the systems and the defenders of religion and morality, but also with those Victorian writers who saw art and literature as having a high moral purpose and civilizing function. In the preface to his The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry, Pater rejects as useless any attempt to define’’ beauty in the abstract’’ while on the surface Pater claims to accept Matthew Arnold’s imperative that the function of true critiscism is to ‘’see the object as in itself it really is’’, he redefines this formula in a subjective way: to see the object as it really is , he says,’’is to know one’s own impression as it really is ,to discriminate it, to realize it distinctly’’. M.A.R Habib,’’A History of Literary Criticism:From Plato to the Present’’.2005.Blackwell Publishing.pg,496. This meant that art from Aesthetic movement focused more on being beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning. Shortly, Art for art’s sake. But at this point both Wilde and Pater wanted to respect beauty and art rather than morality. This meant that art, from Aesthetic movement was put on a pedestal and was focused more on being beautiful rather than having deeper meaning. Because art was supposed to educate the minds of the people and enrich them with new perspective and ideas. ‘’Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope’’, states Oscar Wilde in his Preface to the novel. He continues saying that ‘’ life imitates Art far more often than Art imitates life. ’’And in this phrase we see how important art was for him. Art is ubiquitous and all forms of art can feature in a person’s education. An analogy can be made here with the Plato’s words when he says that :’’just as art is imitative so art itself can be imitated, for the bad as well as the good .Art can be immensely beneficial in a person’s moral and cultural education, in the development of good taste and in fostering appreciation of real value: good art nourishes the moral growth and health of the soul, bad art does the exact opposite, stunting moral growth and wraping our capacity to appreciate what is fine and beautiful, what a modern philosopher sculpture, weaving, embroidery and manufactured objects, as well as natural structures, may all display grace and elegance and may be righty appreciated and valued.’’ Plato, Ieuan Williams,’’All that matters’’..pg,97-98, The preface of the novel starts with the lines: ‘’The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim .’’And this is showing Wilde’s ambiguous position ,when in another line, he is putting in Basil Hallward’s mouth the words: ’’It is not he who is revealed by the painter, it is rather the painter, who ,on the coloured canvas, reveals himself.’’(Basil Hallward ,chapter 1,page 9) ‘’There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all’’ ,states Wilde but in the end he is saying that ‘’All art is quite useless’ ’,so once he states that art does not have a purpose, nevertheless, both the portrait of Dorian Gray and the French novel or the yellow book serve a purpose. The portrait of Dorian Gray is the main subject of the novel and at the same time, everything is revolving around it. And the yellow book, is making a strong influence over Dorian. ‘’Art like a good teacher ,must set a good example and not pander to morally deplorable traits of character and behaviour. This means, of course ,that the works of art that will gain approval in a just society are not to be judged in terms of their own purely artistic features: Plato might well have agreed with Oscar Wilde’s statement (in the Picture of Dorian Gray)that ‘All art is at once surface and symbol’ but not with Wilde’s further statement that ‘All art is quite useless’. The forms of art that will be judged acceptable ,both in educational practice and in the wider culture of society, should represent things realistically and positively; they should represent virtuous character and conduct as attractive so that they may be imitated by individuals for the good of their souls. In short, for Plato art is to serve the same purpose as education in general, which is the moral growth of personal character.’’ Plato, Ieuan Williams,’’All that matters’’,.pg,99. Today, in the developed societies of the modern world, among the many global challenges one of them is : -The expansion of the boundaries for new ideas, thoughts and opinions of people. The way that we grab the ideas, the way that we perceive them is based on the literature that we read. And people have the tendency of going back to the past, trying to read the books that are perceiving good moral values and innovatory ideas. A good example of this is the novel of ‘’The picture of Dorian Gray’’ by Oscar Wilde, an author with a monumental and genius work. His writings remain immortal through many centuries and at the same time they remain actual with the themes, characters and problems the same as the ones nowadays.. These works of art take their own value by the time passing and survive the challenge of true art and the long chain of history. ‘’Works of art of the highest quality ,such as epic poetry, tragic drama, the visual arts, and even music, may deepen our understanding of human life by conveying insights into personal psychology, the nature of human relationships and the complexity of moral and emotional life, not by avoiding the representation of immorality and corruption but by representing them in the kind of depth that is one of the defining feaures of good and great art.’’ Plato, Iuean Williams, ‘’All that matters’’.pg,101, We see in this idea that a great work of art does not necessarily need to be morally pleasing to the audience, because even if it shows an immoral perspective, we are the ones that should observe and divide, after, what is right and wrong. But in the first place we should read it as a beautiful piece of literature and after appreciate it as a moral or immoral book. A great work of art ,such as ‘’The Picture of Dorian Gray’’ can teach us a lot about the things that are moral and immoral and we, as readers, are the ones that can decide about the moral of the story ,or just accept it as it is. Art in its purest form, because in the end, all what is written in the novel is representing a reality that was hidden but could not stay like that for too long, because reality is always trying a find a way to get out and survive, and this happens through literature who represents the naked truth. A realistic work of art is expected to represent in itself everything that is real, everything that we are seeing everyday and everything concrete and in its purest form just as it is. Phenomena that are actual for a certain period of time and that are present. We should turn our eyes more into the literature in order to understand the reality combined with art and beauty. Bibliography Plato, Ieuan Williams, ‘’All that matters’’. Art and society:The search for truth. Great Britain, Hodder &Stoughton.,2013. Oscar Wilde, The Preface, ’’The picture of Dorian Gray’. Great Britain,.Penguin.2007. M.A.R Habib, ’’A History of Literary Criticism: From Plato to the Present’’..Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 5