As we did before, 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.
Feel free, of course, to comment on the plot and your feelings and reactions to what is taking place. Those feelings will be connected to the larger whole that Wilde wants us to experience.
I look forward to your responses.
I look forward to your responses.
Basil is surely right to caution Dorian to the vices of Lord Henry's poisonous tongue… As he's not courting trouble, but flirting with it, at most. [For what is a good influence?]
ReplyDeleteI. “There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral — immoral from the scientific point of view…to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realise one’s nature perfectly — that is what each of us is here for."
The dangers that seem to know no bounds are also the dangers of yielding to sinful temptations, for "What’s the use of temptations if we don’t yield to them?"
II. (Beginning with Lord Henry on the perfect pleasure of cigerettes), "It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want? Yes, Dorian, you will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.”
In the story of Dorian Gray, aestheticism and beauty play a huge role in the characters looks, interests and ideas. Physical beauty is often brought up and always seems to be a conversation topic between the characters. When talking about America and novels, Mrs. Erskine immediately mentions, "Oh! but I have seen specimens of the inhabitants," answered the duchess vaguely. "I must confess that most of them are extremely pretty. And they dress well, too. They get all their dresses in Paris. I wish I could afford to do the same." Without even waiting for an opportunity to switch the topic to beauty she does in an instant because it is natural for her, the conversation then stays on the idea of beauty. Physical beauty is constantly brought up especially by lord Hennery. Whenever Dorain Gray is mentioned he responds with something like, "He is very good-looking,". I think the constant mention of beauty is apart of Oscar Wilde's aetheticism because he was very concerned with the ideal look and the use of fine and beautiful things
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ReplyDeleteIn these 2 Chapters, I feel as if we learn more about Lord Henry's views on art. He believes that an artist has to put their whole soul into that painting. This is why he reacted like he did when Basil told him and he didn't want to show the painting because he had "put too much of myself into it."
ReplyDeleteI also believe that these chapters indulge greatly in the idea of aestheticism and the beauty in everything. Any time there is a way to incorporate beauty in the conversation, they do so.
"Now, wherever you go, you charm the world. Will it always be so? ... You have a wonderfully beautiful face, Mr. Gray."
In chapters 3 and 4, as we begin to gain an insight into who Dorian Gray is as a person, we also begin to learn more about Oscar Wilde himself. Oscar Wilde incorporated himself into a lot of the story, ranging from the characters view in life to their surroundings. One character that appears to be the embodiment of Wilde is Lord Henry. Wilde influences his views on aestheticism and art through Lord Henry. For example, in chapter 3, he stated “there is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathize with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life.” Wilde believed that one should surround themselves with art, and that nature reflects art, not the other way around. He used his writing to get his views out to the world, and promoting the aestheticism movement. Wilde also used Lord Henry to express his personal views on things such as marriage, women, etc. For example, in chapter 4, Lord Henry states "Never marry at all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed." This is an interesting statement that gives a lot of context who Oscar Wilde was, and one can infer that he probably didn’t have a happy marriage.
ReplyDelete"I can sympathize with everything except suffering," said Lord Henry, shrugging his shoulders. "I cannot sympathize with that. It is too ugly, too horrible, too distressing. There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathize with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life's sores, the better."
ReplyDeleteIn this quote by Lord Henry, it is revealed that to truly live a life of aestheticism, you must avoid sympathizing with the unpleasant parts of life. I find this part interesting because it is being encouraged to avoid having conversations about horrible subjects. In my opinion, people should sympathize with suffering, if not, you're avoiding progress. For example, Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian non-governmental organization, provides medical aid to war-torn regions and developing countries affected by endemic diseases. The people involved with this sympathize with the people who are suffering, and are providing care to them to help their region. This one idea about aestheticism wouldn't go well with organizations like Doctors Without Borders.
"If one hears bad music, it is one's duty to drown it in conversation."
Here we see that only good art/music is acceptable to an aesthetic life.
In his works, Oscar Wilde tended to create a character that held similar ideas and mannerisms to himself. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde shared certain characteristics with Lord Henry, a friend of Dorian Gray and Basil. To share his opinions regarding aestheticism, society,beauty, and expression, Wilde typically used paradoxes. An example of this is found in Chapter 3, when Lord Henry is discussing his philosophies with his aunt Lady Agatha and fellow elites. During a conversation, Lord Henry states,"I can sympathize with everything except suffering," said Lord Henry, shrugging his shoulders. "I cannot sympathize with that. It is too ugly, too horrible, too distressing. There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathize with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life's sores, the better”. Unlike the individuals listening to him, Lord Henry believes solely in seeing the beauty in life. Since beauty is such a changing and temporary sight, Lord Henry and Wilde deemed them more deserving of attention than negativity in the world. This particular value was quite evident in Wilde’s activities. He spent thousands on various luxuries without a thought of the debt he was accumulating. The consequences were not of importance to him.
ReplyDeleteIn these next two chapters the relationship between Dorian Grey and Lord Henry develops. Lord Henry almost sees Dorian Grey as a blank canvas for Lord Henry to paint on, “He would seek to dominate him — had already, indeed, half done so”. Lord Henry is using a person, Dorian Grey, as his medium opposed to Basil who merily uses paints Dorian Grey. Lord Henry’s influence over Dorian Grey is evident, he speaks differently, he does different things and even backs out of plans with Basil to be with Lord Henry. In chapter 4 Dorian Grey grows making Lord Henry like decisions without the direct influence of Lord Henry. He finds his first love with Sibyl but not with her as a person but rather as an actress, all of the good things he says is about her acting skills, not her as a person. It is rather startling when they decide to get married without even knowing each other, there relationship will not be a happy one and probably mirror Lord Henry’s marriage. Lord Henry still sees Dorian as "a more interesting study". Lord Henry is like a scientist as Dorian is his test experiment, he is just controlling the factors to see if his hypothesis about human nature is correct.
ReplyDelete-Conor Walsh
Besides Aestheticism, the artist's purpose, religion, facts, and beauty there is another topic broached in chapter 4. It seems like Lord Henry also discusses the topic of sex, specifically females and males, when he says, "no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals." It seems like while Oscar Wilde did pioneer several subjects during his time, he was still a subscriber to old world ideas. This is not phrased as a joke as he goes on to further elaborate on this point and going farther into it (the context is that he is talking to Dorian Grey). This could be another trick of Lord Henry's to get Dorian to like him by putting down others and making him feel superior, but it is not necessarily that way since Lord Henry is regarded as Oscar Wilde's depiction of himself. There is also Dorian Grey's comments on religion when he describes a Jewish person as "hideous" and "a monster". I don’t believe this to be Wilde's opinion on the matter since he depicts Dorian as an absent minded person throughout the book, so it is probably social commentary on how the public views Jews.
ReplyDelete-Yuval
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ReplyDelete"My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals." Quick point- With how much Wilde loathes over art and decoration in his life, I'm surprised that he is a raging sexist if this quote from Lord Henry depicts his character in real life as most of Henry's character has already
Deletesecondly, I find it strange how originally, Henry tells Dorian to branch out in finding who he really is by exposing him to the ways of aestheticism, but then limits and dictates how, and who towards, Dorian can express his newly acquired way of thinking. Henry's plan fell apart in chapter four. He gains Dorian's trust and admiration throughout the first few chapters as a build up, but it eventually fails - Dorian even states, "You have a curious influence over me. If I ever did a crime, I would come and confess it to you. You would understand me." Henry believes he has Dorian under his wings, however Dorian then branches out to a woman; or more specifically, not Lord Henry, as he may have wanted. Not only is Lord Henry blatantly sexist towards Dorian's choices as said above, but he is also being highly hypocritical after saying that Dorian must find who he truly is, despite what culture and the fears of society say. Henry Is just mad that Dorian did not turn out the way he intended him to be(his lover)...at least, not yet
A quote that I tried to analyze from Chapter 3 is when Wilde rights "Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. I the cave-man had known how to laugh, history would have been different"(46). This quote has another theme of society in it. Lord Henry is constantly questioning the Victorian society that he lives in. He believe that science is relied on for answers because emotion does nothing but confuse you and lead one astray. His thought is that advancing technology will relieve the emotion debts that society has put on them.
ReplyDeleteIn chapters 3 and 4 we see a different side of Lord Henry. During a dinner party in chapter 3, Lord Henry shocks the other guests with his criticism of his aunt's desire to help others and his opinion that life should be spent appreciating beauty and pleasure and not searching for ways to ease our suffering and relieve our problems. In chapter 4 we can clearly see the progression of Dorian Gray and Lord Henry's relationship when Dorian confides in him about the girl that he is in love with. Lord Henry is fascinated with the idea of having an effect on another person; he views people, specifically Dorian, as pieces of artwork that he can manipulate as he chooses. I believe this says a lot about Lord Henry's selfish nature and little regard for others. We can see him influencing Dorian when he says "I am not laughing, Dorian; at least I am not laughing at you. But you should not say the greatest romance of your life. You should say the first romance of your life. You will always be loved, and you will always be in love with love. A grande passion is the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country. Don't be afraid. There are exquisite things in store for you. This is merely the beginning."
ReplyDeleteChapter 3
ReplyDelete“Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.”(Chapter 3)
This quote shows us that Oscar Wilde does not regret having homosexual intercourse and is telling us that he is not going to regret it for the rest of his life
Chapter 4
"Never marry at all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed." (4.8)
This quote shows us that Lord Henry is suggesting that Dorian should remain single. This also connects to Oscar’s life because he doesn’t see his wife anymore and just partying with guys and other stuff
In chapter 3, while investigating who Dorian Gray is, Lord Henry remarks about his Aunt Agatha saying, “Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic”(38). This quote has the same paradoxical logic seen in his quote about art galleries and people. I interpret this quote to be about how the people who define themselves as philanthropist aren’t doing charity for the sake of doing charity, but rather so they can be perceived as charitable. Because of their dishonest intentions, they have little humanity. This reminds me how in middle school one of my teachers defined character as ‘what you do when people aren’t watching’. Oscar Wilde is criticizing these people for being fake. This is an interesting criticism concerning the flamboyant image he projected in order to gain celebrity.
ReplyDeleteDuring a dinner party, the topic of American dry goods comes up and Sir Thomas Burdon asks “What are American dry goods?” to which Lord Henry retorts “American novels”(41). That comment made me chuckle. At this time American art was looked down on by many Europeans who saw it as primitive and uncultured. Additionally, Oscar Wilde went on a tour of American to give lectures about aestheticism. By educating American citizens about the aesthetic movement and riling feathers with his controversial lifestyle, more people bought his book.
(Samantha Bozorgzadeh)
Oscar Wild is trying to express his thought about aestheticism throughout the novel by putting quotes where he drawing an analogy about an art and how to see it.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the quote in the chapter 3 page 46 by Lord Henry to Mr. Erskine "Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If the cave-man had known how to laugh, History would have been different." the quote shows one of the main idea of aestheticism, that there is beauty above everything and that you have to look at things with less emotion.
-Roman Shepeliev