Please choose 1-2 quotations that give us insights into the philosophy of Oscar Wilde. Aestheticism. The artist's purpose. Religion. Facts. Beauty. Read your classmates' responses and come up with something fresh. There is a lot of ground to cover, here.
I look forward to your responses.
So far, I have a lot of feelings about Oscar Wilde's style of writing. After reading theses two chapters, I can say that I do like it. I find it odd that he almost uses his characters as mouth pieces for his own thoughts and opinions, and their conversations feel less like casual banter and more like a few persuasive essays situated between dreamy imagery. It definitely feels like Oscar Wilde is literally talking to the reader, and the characters are just the means of communication. Once you get past that though, the imagery really is nice and the dialogue is thought provoking. Everything he writes of is compared to something pleasing or tasteful, and even if you hadn't told us that he was pushing a movement to enjoy art for arts sake, it would've still been very clear that he's crafting an aesthetic with his writing style. It's not even just in the dialogue, which seems to preach notions from the movement, but it's also evident in the way that he describes the simplest of things, such as when he said, "Lord Henry went out to the garden and found Dorian Gray burying his face in the great cool lilac blossoms, feverishly drinking in their perfume as if it had been wine." or "The spray of lilac fell from his hand upon the gravel. A furry bee came and buzzed round it a moment. Then it began to scramble all over the oval stellated globe of the tiny blossoms." He's giving us these sweet and thought-out descriptions of their surroundings, and the settings are an art studio and a garden, which in and of itself are just really beautiful places. Like he wants to do with aestheticism, he's making everything about this book, down to the littlest details, a work of art.
ReplyDeleteI've really been enjoying the book so far! As Jenna said, the Aestheticism comes out in the rich prose and simple pleasure of the imagery he creates, but also in the opinions of the characters. Lord Henry's quote, "Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations." stands out, as a tie in to doing things for the simple pleasure of them, surrounding yourself with art and joy without needing to find a deeper meaning in it. Another line of his follows the same theme- "I adore simple pleasures... they are the last refuge of the complex." More than the aestheticism though, what really stood out to me is the not-so-thinly veiled homosexual undertones, in that beautiful prose and gorgeous descriptions being turned toward Dorian from everyone's perspective and to Lord Henry from Dorian's perspective. There is perhaps also a philosophy of ignorance is bliss- Dorian is more than content with his beauty until Lord Henry points out how it will fade, and Lord Henry has an entire passage discussing how Beauty is better than genius.
ReplyDeleteFor some who says that art should not aim to push a social agenda, Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray reads like an Aesthetic manifesto. I’ve had a hard time time getting into Dorian Gray. My first impression of Wilde was of a pretentious romantic writer. Lord Henry is the personified voice of Aestheticism; the aphorisms and advice that he gives the young Dorian Gray come right from the doctrine of the movement, as in this quote here:
ReplyDelete“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self.”
And here:
“There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!".
Lord Henry’s stance turned me off, for it seemed intrinsically selfish and narrow-minded. That the sole meaning of life is to enjoy one’s youth is a notion that I found hard to accept, especially since (spoiler alert) this is what eventually destroys Dorian in the end. Then I realized something: Lord Henry was not be Wilde’s Aestheticism, but instead the Aesthetic movement taken to an extreme. This allowed me to treat Henry’s wild claims less seriously, and eventually I found that I was enjoying the novel. Is it an especially significant piece of work? No. Does it speak to me? No. Is it artfully rendered novel, written by an exceptionally skilled writer? Yes. That is why I find Dorian Gray enjoyable.
So far in The Picture of Dorian Gray, it doesn't seem to hook me like the other book we have read. I love looking at art myself but its just weird how his book is almost about himself when he was a young boy but it's just different characters that are saying what he would say. Oscar Wilde shows aestheticism, which found its footing in Europe in the early nineteenth century, proposed that art need not serve moral, political, or otherwise didactic ends. The one thing I do love about this book is the imagery. From the first two chapters that i have read there was so much imagery that I could imagine what is happening in my mind. For example when Wilde says "The spray of lilac fell from his hand upon the gravel. A furry bee came and buzzed round it a moment. Then it began to scramble all over the oval stellated globe of the tiny blossoms." With beauty, Dorian sees the painting the Basil made and she is unhappy because she remembered Lord Henry’s warning about the advance of age, he reflects that his portrait will remain young even as he himself grows old and wrinkled, Dorian says that I’m jealous of everything whose beauty does not die”
ReplyDeleteI am finding The Picture of Dorian Gray less and less enjoyable to read, for I simply detest Lord Henry. His perspective on the world is quite twisted. His aestheticism is shallow, for it seeks a perfect image that cannot be attained, and simply fills life with regret and sorrow. Speaking to Dorian, he says “There was so much in you that charmed me that I felt I must tell you something about yourself. I thought how tragic it would be if you were wasted. For there is such a little time that your youth will last—such a little time… We degenerate into hideous puppets, haunted by the memory of the passions of which we were too much afraid, and the exquisite temptations that we had not the courage to yield to. Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!” Dorian’s weak will makes the book all the less enjoyable, for Dorian simply hears what Lord Henry has to say and takes it all in as fact, altering his own perspective in one singular afternoon, rather than thinking it out and realizing the stupidity and wishful thinking of such a statement. Suddenly, Dorian becomes a vain peacock, and it’s displeasing to read, for I know this will only continue to go south as the book continues, since this change has occurred so abruptly at the beginning of the tale.
ReplyDeleteThe imagery used by Oscar Wilde in the Picture of Dorian Gray, describes different character's appearances and how they hold themselves. This use of imagery enables us to further understand aestheticism, and what it stands for. In chapter 2, Dorian Grey describes a stranger to be, He could not help liking the tall, graceful young man who was standing by him. "His romantic, olive-coloured face and worn expression interested him. There was something in his low languid voice that was absolutely fascinating. His cool, white, flowerlike hands, even, had a curious charm. They moved, as he spoke, like music, and seemed to have a language of their own." Throughout the book, Oscar Wilde describes the setting and characters in tremendous detail, for example with the use of imagery. This attention to detail is the foundation of art and aestheticism. Dorian Grey then questions how much he actually means to Basil. Grey says, "You will like them always. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now, that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything." To Basil, Dorian Grey believes he is just another piece of art, and that when he loses his beauty, he is worthless. Dorian Grey and Lord Henry both have some interesting opinions on life and aestheticism and I look forward to seeing them show up in the rest of the novel. -Alex Wessel
ReplyDeleteSo far in The Picture of Dorian Gray, I am disliking Lord Henry. In chapter 2, Lord Henry tells Dorian "And yet," continued Lord Henry, in his low, musical voice, and with that graceful wave of the hand that was always so characteristic of him, and that he had even in his Eton days, "I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream—I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of mediaevalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal—to something finer, richer than the Hellenic ideal, it may be. But the bravest man amongst us is afraid of himself. The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollection of a pleasure, or the luxury of a regret. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also. You, Mr. Gray, you yourself, with your rose-red youth and your rose-white boyhood, you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, day-dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame—" In reply, Dorian is disturbed by this and tells Henry that he will stop thinking about it. I am getting a bad feeling about Lord Henry because of his manipulative ways. I feel like this will continue throughout this book.
ReplyDeleteSo far, Oscar Wilde’s writing has been well, a lot. As far as reading difficulty the novel has been on the easy side. The language and sentence structure are simple which makes reading a much quicker affair than it was during Pride and Prejudice. But the meanings and motivations behind the text are so much more difficult. It feels like every sentence has a double or deeper meaning. For my quote I opted for, “nothing can cure the soul but the senses”. I thought this did an excellent job of showcasing Wilde’s aestheticism philosophy. I believe that when he said “the scenes”. Wilde was referring to art and that he was making two main statements about it. First that, well as he said, it could cure one’s soul, it could increase their livelihood, better their life. And second that art is something you sense. Not just see, hear or read but that it goes beyond that. Yes, it can be something you can touch and smell, just as Dorian was smelling flowers in the garden, however, again going beyond that, it is something you truly sense and experience. It caused you to feel something not just witness it. This is interesting because we know that Wilde thought that art should be beautiful but now I’ve started to wonder if for him beauty is actually a feeling and/or experience. Because, if he believes that art can affect one’s soul, it must be more than something that just looks nice.
ReplyDeleteEllie Yates
I like others am having trouble getting in to this book. Lord Henry seems long winded and preachy to me when he is talking witch distracts me. Like when he says to Dorian "No, you don't feel it now. Some day, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, when thought has seared your forehead with its lines, and passion branded your lips with its hideous fires, you will feel it, you will feel it terribly...There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!" it goes for 2 and a half pages of him just talking about youth. The way he speaks also shows his believe that there is no good influences because he speak like he is the only one who is right. which is kind off Hypocritical because it seems like he is forcing his ideals on Dorian Gray.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't find it surprising that people dislike Lord Henry, since he that little devil on Dorian's shoulder influencing and 'corrupting' him. What I find interesting about Henry is what he, and by association, Wilde, says about beauty. In chapter on he says to Basil, "It is a sad thing to think of, but there is no doubt that genius lasts longer than beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over-educate ourselves. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place." (side note, in my book the words Genius and Beauty are capitalized, which I think really emphasizes the meaning)Here Henry vocalizes his belief that Genius outlives Beauty, but also that it is meaningless. Genius just helps people think they are better, that their existence is important. Then later, when Harry talks to Dorian, he says that, "... beauty is a form of genius—is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation." This seems to sort of contradict his first statement, where he separates Genius and Beauty, where now he compares them. Once again, he believes Beauty is better, this time because it is obvious and self explanatory, but this change in tone may suggest Lord Harry doesn't find Genius quite as distasteful as he would like Basil to believe.
ReplyDeleteIf I wasn't excited for this book before, I certainly am now. In this chapter of Wilde, we're already fully saturated in Dorian, Basil and Lord Henry's world. As someone who is currently reading Dickens in another class, while also study the art that surrounded him, this sets a wonderful contrast. I appreciate Wilde a lot in the way that he represents thoughtfulness while also criticising it through his use of contradiction and paradox, however, I feel myself at odds with characters like Lord Henry who are meant to give Wilde's thoughts but you end up disliking for his disregard of morality. On the other hand, Wilde is trying to upset morality, trying to oppose normality and propose a new line of thought-- life as art not as righteousness. I was particularly struck by how he talked about influence, "because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul."(20) This really gets at morality and thought. If we are influenced by moral thought than are we really moral or just made to think morally. You can see his perspective on Dickens, a firm believer in being morally upright, and the church, the very apex on contradiction when it comes to righteousness. Later, he goes on to talk about clothing and color, things that obviously meant a lot to Wilde as parts of aestheticism. He says, "Sin is the only real colour element left in modern life" (30). This truly expresses his feelings on religion versus life, how one should live to the fullest of their youth and not squander life on "the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar," (24). I don't know if I agree with Wilde on all accounts, I certainly am a moralist in most regards, but I believe that life is meant to be lived and thoughts should be your own. Regardless, it doesn't matter whether you like Wilde or not, you must respect him for living by his own creed.
ReplyDeletethis is mine.
Delete-eileen
Sometimes it can be hard to read Oscar Wilde's writing but for the most part it has been pretty easy to follow. I especially like the part in this chapter when Lord Henry talks to Dorian Gray in the garden. After he gives his whole monologue on youth a certain line caught my attention. " He watched it with that strange interest in trivial things that we try to develop when things of high import make us afraid, or when we are stirred by some new emotion for which we cannot find expression, or when some thought that terrifies us lays sudden siege to the brain and calls on us to yield." I found this line to be very interesting and it made me realize how good of a writer Oscar Wilde really is because I know exactly what that feels like and I can relate to that but I would never have thought to say it in such a way. I also feel like Oscar Wilde may be projecting some of his own believes with Lord Henry's long tirade on youth. It could be that he himself feared getting old and losing some of what he used to have, like intelligence or beauty. I look forward to seeing what the rest of this book has to offer.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, people tend to associate art as capturing moments of pure beauty. What I found interesting about this chapter was that it contradicted this theory. Though Dorian is a fascinating person, the artwork that Basil creates does not completely capture him. Instead, it is dishonest; it reflects nothing of Dorian's now unruly behavior or of his conflicts. This could indicate that Wilde is trying to making a statement by saying that true beauty is impossible to capture, or is artificial, seeing that if you look deeper into it, you will find only ugliness. Also, this chapter seemed to focus on the idea that beauty leads to corruption. Evidently, Dorian's whole demeanor completely shifted after Lord Henry told him that "it is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances" and "you will suffer horribly.... Ah! realize your youth while you have it." Because he realized his own beauty, he became obsessed and blinded by it. This caused Dorian to make a number of accusations and harsh statements, such as announcing that "youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself." Overall, I'm enjoying the book very much so far. Again, I think the theme and message are fascinating, and the sensory imagery in Wilde's writing makes the book easy to visualize.
ReplyDelete-Jill Schuck
Oscar Wilde's writing is interesting and very vivid with most of his descriptions. He puts his view of the world into many of the monologues. I think the quote that most directly says what his view of the world is, is "I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream—I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of mediaevalism." Very directly, he states through Lord Henry that he wants the world and everyone in it to be beautiful and like a work of art. I also think his word choice is interesting throughout what we have read so far.
ReplyDelete-Matthew Hebert
ReplyDeleteI think Oscar Wilde's writing is pretty easy to follow in comparison to the other books that we've read in this year. I think that his aestheticism shows pretty clearly in his prose. "Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp
gold hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth's passionate purity". This quote shows how much Oscar Wilde respects beauty and art in humans. His characters express similar views to Oscar Wilde and are pretty much like sock puppets that express his views. He goes into detail and uses that to express what he means by aestheticism.
I have to say I am really disappointed in myself because I am not a huge fan of this book so far. I really do enjoy the descriptions and the undertones of homosexuality, but I am left feeling bored. I am not such a huge fan of how long the sentences are. I understand the purpose of them, for that was almost the point of aestheticism... but they just drone on and on. The imagery that is cast by his thought out choices of words is quite mesmerizing though. The characters I do however enjoy. I enjoy the opposition that Wilde took on his characters such as Lord Henry and Basil. They are opposite people Lord Henry being loud and speaking his mind, and Basil working hard and relaying his thoughts to himself. It seems to me that It is quite the mix of extrovert versus introvert. Oliver Wilde is very good at creating beautiful sentences that make the mouth flow and pucker, I wish he was in my creative writing class. I hope I will be able to become more involved in the book as we continue onto the more conflicting points.
ReplyDeleteI was reading responses above and I have to agree with Madeline B, I am not really enjoying the book as much as others might. The book is hard to follow but I do like the very rich descriptions that have been scattered around the book so far. In Chapter 2, we are put into the studio right in the beginning and we get to see the interaction of Dorian and Lord Henry. "The aim of life is self-develop-ment. To realize one's nature perfectly, that is what each of us is here for." He describes that humanity has lost courage and also puts forth a monologue on courage, fear, living life fully. This chapter is a great place where imagery can take place. He describes the man before him and really shows his true passion for him and is put forth so very well. Although i have yet to grab on and get hooked onto this book, I overall really like his slight undertones and descriptions such as the imagery and the story.
ReplyDelete-Zachary Mola
so far i am finding the plot quite confusing, the story tends to bounce back and forth between focuses. i find myself reading a section and then re-reading it because i did not fully comprehend what Wilde is trying to say. for that reason i have not been hooked by this book yet. i do however appreciate Wilde's diction in his writing there are some truly magnificent quotes hidden within the chaos.
ReplyDelete"They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one's self. "
" The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion—these are the two things that govern us."
So far I think this book is very interesting and is very unique in the way it is written. I feel like Oscar Wilde has written a biography about himself in this book because of the certain ways he embodies his own personality in characters such as Lord Henry. I also believe that most of Oscar Wilde's work is influenced by art and his writing is an art form of its own and this makes for great literature.-Tikweze
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