Oscar Wilde Research Paper

Oscar Wilde’s life, with his lack of concern towards ethics and dedication to the Aestheticism movement, served as a source of inspiration for many of his works, one being The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novel becomes a reflection of Wilde through his own eyes and the eyes of society as well as his philosophy of aestheticism over morals. It shows that ethics and aestheticism cannot harmoniously exist and that the ideas of aestheticism contradict morals. One must choose to be purely artistic or purely moral. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde suggests that there is a direct conflict between art and morality and one cannot be both moral and artistic.

The Aesthetic Movement of England had a major influence on both Oscar Wilde and his works. As

Art is completely severed from morality and according to aestheticism, is autonomous from society’s expectations and views during any age (Shewan 97). Oscar Wilde himself even states in the preface of Dorian Gray that “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all,” which strongly reflects the ideas of aestheticism and its independence from moral influence (1). Whether a person views an artwork as moral or aesthetic also depends on a person’s outlook. For example, if one has an artistic nature, they will appeal more to the beauty of a work. But if someone appeals more strongly to ethics, they will see the moral (Benson). As stated in Benson’s article, “If a man sees the artistic beauty of a thing, he will probably care little for its ethical import” (Benson). The separation between art and morals eliminates conflict between the two spheres, and prevents corruption and friction seen in Dorian Gray’s character