对王尔德唯美主义的批判研究—以《道林格雷的画像》为例审美学专业

1、题目：The Critical Studies on Oscar Wildes AestheticismTake The Picture of Dorian Gray for Example对王尔德唯美主义的批判研究以道林格雷的画像为例AcknowledgementsIt is appreciate for giving me this chance to acknowledge all those people who help me during this process of thesis writing.First, my deepest thank and respect goes

2、to my supervisor Wang Fan, for her giving me much enlightenment and instruction in my experience of research .Then I am also deeply thank Oscar Wilde for his outstanding and unmatched work The Picture of Dorian Gray. Thank CNKI for providing me so many great precious materials, which inspire me a lo

3、t.Especially thank my friends, who give many suggestions on organizing my paper and check my mistakes.AbstractOscar Wilde (16 October 1854  30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet in 20 century. He is a representative figure of aestheticism literature i

4、n English and one of the advocates for “Art for arts sake”. He is controversial for his characteristic and works. The Picture of Dorian Gray, as his only novel, has been analyzed in many different ways like Freud, gothic, space by scholars at home and abroad.This paper will concentrate on Oscar Wild

5、es aestheticism which embodied in his famous novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.The first part is the introduction of the book, the writer and his aestheticism.The second part is about guiding concept and theories of aesthetics, coming up with my own viewpoint and Chernychevskys theory that supporting

6、 mine.The third part is about the critical study on Oscar Wildes aestheticism. I will stand in the relation between beauty and morality, beauty and real society to take a presentation.The last part is about conclusion.Key Words: Oscar Wilde; The Picture of Dorian Gray; aestheticism; morality简介奥斯卡

7、83;王尔德(18541900)是十九世纪著名的剧作家、评论家、诗人、散文家,出生于爱尔兰,是英国唯美主义文学的代表人物,“为艺术而艺术”的倡导者之一。他的作品及其人格，一直饱受人们争议。道林格雷的画像这本书作为王尔德唯一的一部小说，有许多国内外学者试从弗洛伊德，哥特意向，空间等多个角度进行解读。本篇论文是以王尔德唯一的长篇小说道林格雷的画像为例，旨在研究和批判其唯美主义思想和理论。第一部分，介绍王尔德其人，其唯美主义，以及介绍小说的故事情节；第二部分，阐述美学的概念和范畴，介绍车尔尼雪夫斯基的美学思想和理论，比如美的定义；第三部分，从王尔德的美与现实社会的关系，与道德（个人道德与社会道德）之

8、间的联系的角度进行具体批判；第四部分，总结全文。关键词：奥斯卡·王尔德;道林格雷的画像;唯美主义理论批判; 道德Contents TOC o "1-3" h z u1. Introduction 11.1 Introduction of Aestheticism 11.2 Wilde and His novel The Picture of Dorian Gray 11.3 Oscar Wildes View of Aestheticism 22. Literature Review 52.1 The Concept and Scope of Aesthetics

9、 52.2 Introduction of Chernychevsky and His Aesthetic Ideology 53. The Critical Study in The Picture of Dorian Gray 73.1 Beauty and Real Society 73.2 Beauty and Morality 104. Conclusion 12Bibliography 14The Critical Study on Oscar Wildes AestheticismTake The Picture of Dorian Gray for Example1.

10、 IntroductionIn this part, I will present an introduction of aestheticism, Oscar Wildes aestheticism and the main plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray.1.1 Introduction of AestheticismThe word “aesthetic” was from “aesthetica “used in Latin. Aestheticism, also called the Aesthetic Movement, is an

11、intellectual and art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than social-political themes for literature, music and other arts. In the late nineteenth century, aestheticism movement appeared in the field of British art and literature in a loose organization of anti-social movement,

12、 it occurred in the late Victorian era, roughly from 1868 to 1901, usually the academic community believes that the end of the aesthetic movement was marked by Oscar Wildes arrest. During this time, art focused more on being beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning - Art for arts sake which pro

13、moted by the French philosopher Victor Kuching and Orphee Gautier. It was particularly prominent in Europe during the 19th century, supported by notable figures such as Oscar Wilde, but contemporary critics are also associated with the movement, such as Harold Bloom, who has recently argued against

14、projecting social and political ideology onto literary works, which he believes has been a growing problem in humanities departments over the last. The writers and artists in the aesthetic movement argue that the mission of art is to provide sensual pleasure to mankind rather than to convey some sor

15、t of moral or emotional message; art should not have any preaching factor, but the pursuit of pure beauty. They are so drunk in the career of seeking arts beauty that “beauty” is the essence of art, and they also advocate that life should imitate art. The main features of the aesthetic movement incl

16、ude: the pursuit of the proposed rather than the narrative, the pursuit of sensory enjoyment, the use of a large number of symbolic approach and the pursuit of things between the induction - that is, to explore the vocabulary, color and music between the intrinsic.1.2 Wilde and His Novel The Picture

17、 of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde (16 October 1854  30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet in 20 century. He is a representative figure of aestheticism literature in English and one of the advocates for “Art for arts sake”. For his works, especially his playw

18、rights had gained a mass of resounds after showing in the theater, helping him win the fame as Shavians. Today, we still use his sentences to express our minds that come from his playwrights, novels, and poets. Oscar Wilde born with gift and confidence, although he lived a down-and-out life in his s

19、unset, became a classical artist in the world. In his creation, we could find he came under the influence of aesthetic innovators such as English writers Walter Pater and John Ruskin. Of course, his sexual orientation are like a double-edged sword unintended to affect his viewon the one hand, it hel

20、ped him be more sensitive, on the other hand, it brought a disaster in 1855, a two-year in prison, to his life. In 1900, he was dead for meningitis in his 46.According to the short introduction of Oscar Wilde, we can see that his all life just as his novel is full of being controversial and dramatic

21、. In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, we can read this kind of controversy from Henrys attitude toward Dorian Gray, and the transformation of Dorian.The protagonist Dorian is a man who is ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features and at the beginning of the novel, his owned a simple

22、and pure nature. One day, his friend Basil drew a vividly and lifelike portrait for him that made him realized how brilliant he is ,in addition, the other friend Lord Henry stated a astonishing caution on peoples youth going away quickly which added his worry for his beauty. Hence, he wished upon th

23、e portrait and said he was willing to devote everything including his soul if only his picture in stead of him got wrinkled. Then the deal was done. The viewpoints held by Lord Henry that hedonism goes firstly attracted Dorian, so Dorian began to live by Lord Henrys theory, filled with self-abandone

24、d, profligate, and even criminal life step by step. With the passage of time, whatever Dorian did, there was nothing left on his face on account of selling his soul to the picture which carried all his dirty and guilty traits. On one hand, as the portrait getting more and more ugly and hideous, Dori

25、an was afraid of an exposure: on the other hand, he longed for eliminating from such a frightening and horrific life. Therefore, he chose to take a knife impaling his portrait. It was marvelous and unimaginable that the person falling on the ground was real Dorian with wrinkles and terrible face, an

26、d the picture turned back to the original as beautiful as the beginning.1.3 Oscar Wildes View of AestheticismAs one of the representatives of aestheticism, Oscar Wilde believes in the influence of art on life that art can break away from reality. His main ideas, at a word, are “life imitates art.” a

27、nd “arts for arts sake”In 1889, Wilde first proposed the view that “life imitates art” as the basis of his aesthetic theory in his book The Decay of Lying. Life, in fact, is a mirror and art is the reality. He thinks nature is so imperfect, vulgar, monotonous, and poor that the art radically should

28、not be imitation of the nature. Such viewpoint caused a great shock for the general public at that time, however, the formation of this view, until been proposed, are inseparable from the impact of that era. Wilde lives in a period of rapid development of British industry. The process of urbanizatio

29、n and industrialization always makes people feel uncomfortable. In the literary world, it has generally been felt that there is ambience, such as “expanded material desire” and “venality” in the British society, especially the upper class made art-commercialization. Some of the artists, such as Wild

30、e, were determined to maintain the independence and purity of art after a bitter and perplexed mind; they decided to go to the “holy city”, where the artistic beauty is used to fight the vulgar social reality, because he believes that the art of beauty can provide an object of imitation to life. Thi

31、s is the background that he raises this kind of idea. In order to clarify his opinion, he specifically took London fog as a target to explain further. He said “The reason why people can see fog is not because there is fog, but because the poet and the painter teach them to understand its mysterious

32、and lovely part. Maybe, there are fogs for many centuries, I dare say yes, but nobody sees fog, so we do not know anything about fog. The fog did not exist until the art invented the fog” (qtd. in Liu 6) According to him, art has an ability to create life, and life is a natural copy of the imitation

33、 inborn. London fog is a wonderful illustration of this point.“Arts for arts sake” was first proposed by Swinburne. Wilde inherited and carried forward this view. He said, “Through art, and only through art, we can achieve perfection, equally, through art, and only through art, we can resist despica

34、ble danger from realistic society.” (Zhao and Xu 142) In his mind, the social injustice and peoples spiritual pain can be cured through the improvement of aesthetic cultivation. Art is higher then all, so we should put all things happen in the reality aside and to pursue the sense of art. Even somet

35、imes sinful behavior can be seen as a means of acquiring the artistic sense, which is what he preaches the hedonism and decadence. Wilde, in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, uses Lord Henrys utterance to propagate his standpoint. “Live it! Let your wonderful life in full bloom like a flower! Yo

36、u have to constantly explore new feelings.” (Wilde 73) This new feeling is actually the feeling of art. Wildes study of the development of art shows his contempt for real life and further shows his point of view.In addition, Oscar Wilde insists that art has nothing to do with morality and utilitaria

37、nism. (qtd. in Liu 8) If you read Wildes book, The Picture of Dorian Gray, it is easily and clearly to see this viewpoint in the preface. “The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is arts aim.”(Wilde 3) “There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Bo

38、oks are well written, or badly written. Thats all.”(Wilde 3) Here, he means that arts existence does not depend on morality, art has its own pursuit beauty. He also maintains that morality can not restrain art because art focuses on beautiful things, immortal things and changing things, “only l

39、ow-level and less needed intellectual behavior belong to the scope of morality.”(Liu 8) He even said, “All art is immoral.”(Richard 380) Since it is so, for the artist, anything can be expressed and should also be expressed.Last, the beauty of art lies in form. (Liu 8) The purpose of aestheticism to

40、 seek art lies in the pursuit of their own perfection, and the perfection is manifested by form. As a result, Oscar Wildes aesthetics view specially pay attention to the form of beauty, he even believes that the form is everything, is the goal for the supremacy of art. He also pointed out that to pu

41、rsuit arts beauty is the goal, and such beauty is beyond all the reality. Art is “lies” because the purpose of art is to talk about “something is attractive but illusory, art does not reflect life, and it only expresses itself. Art need to pursue and create beauty, however, the only beautiful thing

42、is nothing to do with us” (Jiang and Zhu 645) Therefore, there is no relationship between beauty and real life. All these claims suggest that in Wildes mind have all kinds of disgusts and disappointments about the reality of capitalism.In conclusion, his aesthetic view points can be presented as fol

43、lows; Firstly, in addition to expressing art itself, it does not show anything, whats more, it has an independent life and a development in its own path. Secondly, all bad arts are resulted into life and nature because people want to raise them to an ideal. So the beautiful thing is nothing to

44、do with us. Thirdly, the essence of his aesthetic point of view is that the art of life is far more than the art imitates life. Lastly, the real purpose of art is to lie, which means to tell beautiful and mendacious stories.2. Literature ReviewThis part will be an introduction of the critical theory

45、 I will divide it into two parts. In the first part, I plan to briefly list the concept of beauty and its genres. In the second part, I am going to lead in Chernychevsky and his aesthetic ideology.2.1 The Concept and Scope of AestheticsWhen it comes to a sensational topic that what is aesthetics, th

46、ere are various viewpoints among the general public in history. As we all know, aesthetics is a school of philosophy, so we could learn an explanation of aesthetics according to philosophy system. “We can divided it into two main schools of thoughts, materialism and idealism, then we detail them as

47、subjective idealism, objective idealism, intuitive idealism and materialistic aesthetics which holds by Russian revolutionary democrat.”(Liu 88)For subjective idealism, they maintain that beauty is created and spread to the world by humans subjective consciousness. Such as Immanuel Kant, who de

48、nied the knowability of things and proposed that there is no science about beauty, only criticism of it. In addition, he also insists beauty cannot be reduced to any more basic set of features .For objective idealism, Plato believed in beauty as a form in which beautiful objects partake an

49、d which causes them to be beautiful. He felt that beautiful objects incorporated proportion, harmony, and unity among their parts. Similarly, in the Metaphysics, Aristotle found that the universal elements of beauty were order, symmetry, and definiteness. For intuitive ideal

50、ism, we have Aristotle who holds that Main forms of beauty are the order of the space, proportion and clear. For materialistic aesthetics that holds by Russian revolutionary democrat. They created a new high level of aesthetics (before Marxism), because they revealed an ideal from human society and

51、life that natural beauty is an objective reality.2.2 Introduction of Chernychevsky and His Aesthetic IdeologyChernyshevsky is a 19th century Russian bourgeois revolutionary democrat who was born in a rehearsal family of the Russian lower society, and accepted feudal religious education. He also is a

52、 progressive writer and thinker, a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist. (Seen by some as a utopian socialist) At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century is the darkest period in Russian history, t

53、here are irreconcilable class contradictions strongly shown because the aristocratic and landlord class oppressed farmers in the cruelest and the worse way. Chernyshevsky, like all other young people who owed sympathy for peasants and a tendency to freedom and democracy, increasingly felt that relig

54、ious education simply did not account for social problems. So he decided to go to college to study literature and philosophy. At the same time, Feuerbachs mechanical materialist philosophy appeared. Under the influence of Feuerbachs philosophy and the doctrine of Western European fantasy socialism,

55、he formed the worldview of his own bourgeois democratic revolution and became a humanist. In addition, He made an unswerving struggle against the feudal autocratic and became the leader of the revolutionary democratic movement of the 1860s.Starting from the philosophical basis of Feuerbach, Chernysh

56、evsky established his own new aesthetic system. New things are always growing in the struggle against old things. At that time, although Hegels idealist philosophical system has begun to disintegrate, he still had a considerable dominance in the aesthetic. Only by destroying Hegels old aesthetic sys

57、tem, one could establish a new aesthetic system. Under such situation, Young Chernyshevsky had to compete with such a powerful opponent as he just entered the literary world. Thus, a major debate in the history of aesthetics began.“Beauty is life” (qtd. in Liu and Ma 21) is defined to reflect Cherny

58、shevskys aesthetic ideology in his Masters thesis The Aesthetic Relationship between Art and Reality. In terms of this work, Chernyshevsky tended to have a expound from view several aspects like beauty is life, reality is higher than imagination, artistic creation is lower than reality, art should r

59、eproduce life, the pursuit of perfect form from humans real activities, the nature and function of art and so on.For “beauty is life”, Chernyshevsky combined the beautiful things with the appreciation of beauty, solved the “the view of beautys essence” from the aesthetic form of life, and then achieved beautys university throughout the object of diversification and the diversity of the form. He said “He believes the worlds most lovely thing and all the things that people feel cute and owed universality is life,; first, life must be what he