Through Henry’s mouth, Wilde expounded his thoughts on aestheticism. The meaning of beauty lies in providing human beings with sensory pleasure, rather than transmitting certain moral or emotional information. We should not be subject to moral “self-restraint”, but should do our best to let our senses enjoy and experience beauty.
Through Henry’s mouth, Wilde expounded his thoughts on aestheticism. The meaning of beauty lies in providing human beings with sensory pleasure, rather than transmitting certain moral or emotional information. We should not be subject to moral “self-restraint”, but should do our best to let our senses enjoy and experience beauty.
“Who needs happiness, I only seek enjoyment.”
To enjoy and experience beauty regardless of the consequences, in Wilde’s eyes, is the nature of conforming to desire. This consistency is positive because it contains human rationality and conforms to the laws of society and nature. This is the value and significance of human life. However, people often restrict their desires because of the moral standards in society. It all comes from people’s inner weakness and fear. and is “thrifty for the poor”, “to praise the generosity of the bankers in order to make them agree to our overdrafts.” All the so called virtue is downright fear.
Before Dorian Gray met Henry, he had peerless appearance, a wealthy family, and high morality. He was a complete aesthete, but he chose to ignore the moral restraint, indulged his senses to enjoy wantonly, searched for sensory stimulation endlessly , and experienced all novelties regardless of morality. His life was like a work of art since he had an fanatical adoration for beauty and sensuality, pushing his life into the abyss.
“Every good thing has some kind of tragedy behind it”
Henry believed that comedies and tragedies are born accompanied. This is the original sin of beauty, morality, and desire. The ultimate cause of Dorian’s death was the irreconcilable contradiction between the portrait and Dorian himself, which symbolized the separation of his flawless body and decadent soul. This reflects Wilde’s artistic idea: consciousness and the real world are opposite. Dorian’s beauty was immortalized, and his sin, his punishment, and the most hideous part of human being, all remained in the painting. His gave up the pursuit of spirit, but excessively pursued material and physical pleasure. This is not Wilde’s pursuit of values, but it reflects his experience in life. Wilde, through Dorian Gray’s experience, shows that the art he pursues is being destroyed in real life.
“Complying with desires and self-restraint are actually mutually reinforcing”
Complying with desires and self-restraint are actually mutually reinforcing.
Even though Dorian was addicted to drugs, promiscuity and indulged in pleasure, he still felt frightened and uneasy. Because one can never get rid of morality. After experiencing murder and witnessing being killed, Dorian wanted to be a good man and redeem himself. When he thought he was a “moral” person again, the portrait was still ugly after he lifted the canvas.
His “morality” and “self-restraint” was nothing but hypocrisy to satisfy his own vanity and his real face and soul have already rotted and degenerated.
He couldn’t accept a soul like himself, and couldn’t bear the sins caused by himself. When he finally took up the knife and stabbed at the portrait, it was precisely his performance of killing his evil side and returning to the original. Wilde wanted to reflect the return of kindness.
He stabbed the portrait and killed himself.