OSCAR WILDE.
Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. Another lecture tour, this time in England
and Ireland,helped Oscar to create a name for himself as a leading figure in the aesthetic
movement.!
-In 1888 he published The Happy Prince and Other Tales, a set of stories for children. Two years
later!
he published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.!
His success was confirmed by a series of successful, satirical comedies, not without a vein of
social criticism, including a Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and his
theatrical masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). After trying his hand at poetry,
without any great success, Wilde began to write for the theatre publishing a series of successful
plays. The plays owe their appeal, then as now, to Wilde's gift for brilliant, witty dialogue and
social satire.His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, first appeared in Lippincott's Monthly
magazine in 1890.!
His preface outlines hisphilosophy of art, based on the principles of Aestheticism: art is neither
moral nor immoral, it has no moral purpose, but beauty in itself is a supreme value.!
DEFINITION OF A DANDY: was the embodiment of the dandy, a refined and elegant man who
combined strong taste for elegance and an attention to his appearance, clothes and style. The
dandy often used his spirit to shock other people and to unmask the absurdities of Victorian
moratism.!
THEME OF THE DOUBLE-> Victorian readers, who!
believed that the purpose of art was education and moral enlightenment.The Portrait of Dorian
Gray!
overtly proclaimed beauty as the unique purpose of art and life, and discarded bourgeois morality!
with contempt. However,the novel does teach a moral!
lesson in the end, as Dorian's sins and his hedonistic life lead to his own destruction. His
appearance remains beautiful and innocent, but he is not innocent and beautiful inside, as the
portrait (his double, the dark side of his personality).!
DORIAN- 2 man= AESTETICISM and CRIMINAL SIDE !
Dandy. Idea that life should copy artr and what matters in his life is beauty !
He has a bad life that want to go to the limit of moral side!
STYLE AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE !
Is told by 3 personnarrator- uses dialogue to revel his characters personality. !
-> EPIGRAM = short sentence that are strong message(shock reveal)!
-> PARADOX= he should reflect about the meaning.!
AESTETICISM AND THE BEAUTY. !
Aestheticism was an art movement that developed in Europe in the late 19th century. It claimed
that art exists for the sake of beauty and does not have to serve any moral, political or didactic
purpose. It was a reaction to the utilitarian philosophy of the Industrial Revolution and to Victorian
respectability and morals.!
R. LOUIS STEVENSON.
was born on 13 November 1850 in Edinburgh.!
Poor health->love of reading. His health was still very delicate but he continued to write and
produced some of his most famous works: Treasure Island (1883), A Child's Garden of Verses
(1885) but His masterpiece, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, however, is a far more
complex tale in these era of scientific progress there are in lictrerture A sense of pessimism and
anxiety developed in a society that was full of contrasts.!
PLOT-> good and evil . a man with two identities.!
The scholarly Dr Jekyll escapes from his rational, moral!
identity with a potion that transforms him into the!
depraved, irrational, evil Mr Hyde, allowing him to taste!
the fascination of a world of instinct and sensuality Utterson , which finally reveals mistery of
DOUBLE IDENTITY. I!
