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inglese |
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Life & main works:
Born
in
Mother: literary woman
After
graduating he settled in
Tour
in the
He married Constance Lloyd
His
presence became a social event and his remarks appeared in the most fashionable
Novel (the unique) : THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1891)
Plays (comedy of manners): THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (1895)
>> they both ruined his REPUTATION (immorality, obscenity)
>> no more appearances on
1981 he mat Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie") > homosexual affair
In prison he wrote THE PROFUNDIS, a long letter to Bosie
THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL (1898)
After
the prison: poverty, his wife refused him, exile in
His conceptions:
He lived the double role of REBEL and DANDY (high social class, aesthetic ideals, a bourgeois artist; different from the "bohemian", who allies himself to the masses)
Life=pleasure=beauty
"Art for art's sake"=moral imperative: only ART AS THE CULT OF BEAUTY CAN PREVENT THE MURDER OF THE SOUL
artist=alien in a materialistic world; he wrote only for his pleasant
TITLE: conventional; we understand that the most important element of the story is the portrait and that probably it has a symbolical meaning.
TYPE OF WORK: novel
PLOT: see e 140
NARRATOR / POINT OF VIEW: unobtrusive third person narrator; internal point of view (Dorian's one) >> identification between the reader and the character
NARRATIVE TECNIQUES
o Settings > vividly described (senses)
o Characters > presented through their words or other characters' words (typical of drama)
THEMES
o ALLEGORICAL MEANING: nineteenth version of the myth of Faust (man who sells his soul to the devil so that all his desires might be satisfied) >> here: PICTURE=SOUL, DARK SIDE OF DORIAN'S PERSONALITY
>> THEME OF DOUBLE PERSONALITY
o Moral: every excess must be punished; reality cannot be escaped (when Dorian hurt the picture, he dies, as a punishment for all his sins)
o The horrible, corrupting picture=symbol of the IMMORALITY and bad conscience of the VICTORIAN MIDDLE CLASS
o Dorian and his pure, innocent appearance=symbols of bourgeois HYPOCRISY
o ART SURVIVES PEOPLE, ART IS ETERNAL.
THE PREFACE - scheda
MANIFESTO OF AESTHETICISM >> NO UTILITARIANISM:
Artist=creator of beautiful things; his aim is to reveal art and hide himself
Critics=they interpret an artistic work personally. If they find ugly meanings in beautiful things, they are corrupted; if they find beautiful meanings in beautiful things, they are cultivated. THEY ARE THE ELECT.
>> DEFENCE: he is saying that he couldn't care less about the critics (he defends himself from possible attacks)
Books are well written or badly written >> DEFENCE: they cannot be judged on the base of social morality
NO REALISM, the picture of society made by realism is ugly
Artist's subject-matter=moral life. But the artist doesn't prove anything and has no ethical sympathies (otherwise it's an unpardonable mannerism of style).
An artist is never morbid (=sinister, connected with sex) >> DEFEND from the accuses of obscenity (homosexuality)
Artist's instruments=thought, language
Artist's materials=vice and virtues
Best form of art=music
Type of feeling=the actor's ones
Art=surface, symbol that mirrors the spectator (not life), and that is difficult and dangerous to interpret >> NO REALISM + Defend and criticizing of the response of critics
Diversity of opinions about a work=the work is new, complex, vital >> DEFENCE and exaltation of his work
He doesn't feel remorse for what he had written >> RESPONSE to the critics
All art is quite useless >> exaltation of USELESS (>> NO UTILITARIANISM)
THE PORTRAIT - Chapter I - . 141
PLOT: Lord Henry Wotton is at Basil Hallward's study. He sees Dorian's picture and tell Basil it's his masterpiece and that he must sell it at an art gallery. The painter responds he cannot sell it because he's affectionate to it.
It follows a criticizing about this choose of Basil pronounced by Henry and based on the exaltation of beauty and youth. Henry thinks that the reason of Basil's choose is that he's envious of the beauty of the person portrayed.
Basil responds that he's really not envious of Dorian because his beauty will cause him to suffer terribly (line 80). He also involuntary tells Henry the name of Dorian; Basil wonted to keep it hidden for protect him, because he's affectionate to him.
Then they talk about Henry's marriage, characterized by lies, deceptions. Henry speaks about it as the model of every marriage, revealing another time his passion for pleasure and hypocrisy.
NARRATOR/ POINT OF VIEW: he adopts Lord Henry's point of view: lines 5-l8 > he describes the scene as if he were Lord Henry. Omniscient (lines 22-23, 36)
CHARACTERS
o Lord Henry Wotton: he's the typical dandy. Higher class (he doesn't work, he smokes -opium cigarettes-, he appreciates and exalts Beauty in every form -nature and man-, he hasn't no moral ideals -he isn't very gentle with his friend Basil; marriage..-).
o Basil Hallward: he's the painter of the portrait; he's not very beautiful but he's intelligent (lines 52-55). He doesn't agree with Henry's theories. He thinks that all we have (his intelligence and art, Henry's rank and wealth, Dorian's beauty) will cause us terrible sufferings. He is a friend of Dorian's and really loves him, he wants to protect him. He's gentle also with Henry and tells him he's a good person (even if from Henry's words we have the opposite impression).
LANGUAGE: symbolical, abstract, lyrical in some parts (nature).
THEMES
o Presence of NATURE AS A SYMBOL OF BEAUTY (lines 1-l8, 108-l10)
o AESTHETICISM, HEDONISM, cult of art, beauty, youth (Lord Henry's words)
o Beauty is better than intelligence
o Importance of GLORY, REPUTATION, SUCCESS (Victorian age..) (line 44)
o Dandy's life (no work, cult of yourself, SEPARATION FROM THE PROLETARIAN CLASS -lines 30-34)
o BAD DIVINITIES: line 80: "we shall all suffer for what the gods had given us"
o Church is not important, is a stupid thing: priest, bishops don't think but simply always say what the Church tells them. >> HARD CRITICIZING OF CHURCH (lines 60-63)
o HYPOCRISY of Victorian age (marriage - lines 95-l00, 106)
LIVE! BE AFRAID OF NOTHING -Chapter II - scheda
PLOT: Basil is painting Dorian's portrait. Lord Henry has come to meet the young gentleman. To give Dorian a little rest from sitting for his portrait, he takes him into the garden.
Here Henry does a long monologue in which he exalts Dorian's beauty, Hedonism, the brevity of youth, . because the young man is sceptical about the importance of his beauty. Dorian listen to and remain in silent, thinking about Lord Henry's words.
NARRATOR / POINT OF VIEW: external, no character's point of view.
NARRATIVE TECNIQUES
o Use of a lot of metaphors and similes in which Beauty and Youth are ed to flowers.
o Monologue, dialogue
LANGUAGE philosophical rhetorical: Lord Henry wants to convince Dorian.
Semantic field of nature
CHARACTERS:
o Lord Henry: (see the analysis before). Here he exposes in a monologue his theories about Beauty and Youth. He wants to convince Dorian of his extraordinary beauty and so of his power.
o Dorian Gray: A young gentleman. Initially he's sceptical, he doesn't care about he's beauty. Then Lord Henry's words make him reconsider his idea indeed in the final part we understand that he had accepted his view: he's afraid because he now comprehends the brevity of this wonderful period, but at the same time he's enthusiastic for being a so beautiful man.
THEMES
o HEDONISM (=cult of pleasure - the original hedonists were ancient Greeks-). Beauty "is higher than a genius" because it needs no exation
>> Beauty is superior to intelligence.
o NATURE=symbol of BEAUTY, YOUTH
o TIME: brevity of youth. Differently from flowers, our youth and beauty will never come back.
o DIVINITY: lines 26-27: "Gods have been good to you [Lord Henry is speaking to Dorian]. But what the gods give, they quickly take away".
THE PORTRAIT - Chapter II - scheda
PLOT: Basil had finished the portrait. He says it's Dorian's property. Gray looks at it for the first time. He feels initially PLEASURE, then JOY, then AWARENESS of his real beauty (Lord Henry was right), and finally a great PAIN for the future: the paint will remain always young, but he will drew old and will lose the unique thing really important, beauty. He's terribly JEALOUS of his portrait.
He cries and accuses Basil to consider himself as simply a good-looking subject; when he will had lost his youth, Basil will be no longer his friend. The painter is disoriented, he is really affectionate to Dorian and cannot listen to words like that from his friend. He says he will destroy his work because he doesn't want that a portrait (even if it's his masterpiece) destroys their friendship.
NARRATOR / POINT OF VIEW
The narrator is no longer external but internal: he adopts first Dorian's (lines 23-27) and then Basil's point of view (line 50). RETICENT (he doesn't tell us that the desires of Dorian -"Oh, if it were only the other way"- will be granted)
NARRATIVE TECNIQUES
o Free indirect thought (lines 23-27, 50)
CHARACTERS: see the precedents analysis and the plot.
THEMES: Triumph of Lord Henry theory on Dorian
DORIAN'S DEATH - Chapter XX (the end) - e 145.
PLOT: Dorian reflects on his life.
He's still young, because the portrait is become old instead of him.
But he had lost his purity and innocence. During his life he had committed crimes (he had murdered Basil and other people), he had been hypocritical (=ipocrita).
He asks himself if it's possible to change.
He's tormented by his portrait because it is become a mirror of his corrupted soul.
He thinks that probably if he changes his behaviour the signs of his crimes will disappear.
He thinks about his last behaviour with a girl and consider it as a sign of generosity. He goes to control if the portrait is changed, fateful it is so. But he discovers that his portrait is still horrible and also worse than before. Even that act of apparently generosity had been only a vain (=vanitoso), curious, hypocritical act.
Seeing no alternatives, he decides to destroy the portrait for destroying the only prove against his crimes and for trying to cancel his sense of guilt.
He hurt the portrait.
He dies. The portrait return splendid and Dorian is transformed in what the paint ured.
SETTING: Dorian's house. Night.
NARRATOR / POINT OF VIEW: RETICENT, OMNISCIENT, UNOBTRUSIVE. The narrator eclipses and adopts Dorian's point of view. The external third person reappear only in the last part (lines 116-l39), after Dorian's death.
NARRATIVE TACNIQUES: FREE INDIRECT THOUGHT; argumentative (Dorian tries to find reasonable proves of his innocence) monologue.
THEMES
o HYPOCRISY (lines 8-9)
o SENSE OF GUILT and REMORSE (lines 25-29)
> Dorian's desire has been granted: he's remained young, but he hasn't have a happy life for that.
>> FAILURE OF THE THEORY OF HEDONISM > it gives NO SALVATION
o DIVINITY: lines 23-30, 91-92: man should pray to be punished for his iniquities, not to be forgiven (=perdonato) for his sins, if there were a "most just God". "there was a God who called upon men to tell their sins to earth as well as to heaven".
ETERNITY OF ART: the portrait return wonderful as initially, instead Dorian dies.
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