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‘Decadents’, ‘Symbolists’ and the Gothic in Literature and their influence on Oscar Wilde. By Chang Sheng. Introduction. This presentation focuses on Decadents, Symbolists and the Gothic and their influence on literature and particularly Wilde
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‘Decadents’, ‘Symbolists’ and the Gothic in Literature and their influence on Oscar Wilde By Chang Sheng
Introduction • This presentation focuses on Decadents, Symbolists and the Gothic and their influence on literature and particularly Wilde • Decadents- People who would challenge social norms, especially on sensitive topic such as depression, sexuality. • Decadent movement: A 19th century literary movement that supported emerging left-wing ideas. • Symbolists- People who express meanings largely through symbols. Symbolists emphasize on dreams and ideals • Symbolist movement: The rise of popularity in symbolism in the 19th century • The Gothic- East Germanic culture • Gothic fiction: Genre that contains both horror and romance
Decadent’s Influence on Oscar Wilde • The Picture of Dorian Gray contains many themes which are commonly in the decadent movement • Themes include Aestheticism, homosexuality, morality, responsibility and hedonism. • The main character Dorian Gray shows many aspects of the Decadent movement- Such as being a Dandy archetype • Dorian’s moral decline over the course of the story due to his decadence was also a focus of the text. • The text criticizes the traditional values, exposing hypocrisy and stagnation in the upper class but is also wary of the failings of the new Decadent movement
Symbolist Influence on Oscar Wilde • In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian’s desire to be perfect reflects the Symbolists ideas of an ideal world. • Dorian’s portrait however reveals the truth about Dorian’s character. However the portrait is not the focus on most of the text, but it nonetheless important. • The portrait itself is a metaphor for Dorian’s soul or conscience • Lord Henry himself also reflects Symbolists ideas of a perfect world, but does it indirectly.
Gothic Influence on Oscar Wilde • The Picture of Dorian Gray is in itself a Gothic Fiction, with strong themes of horror and romance. • Aside from Sibyl Vane, most romances are not shown directly, but hinted through dialogue. • Horror portion of story is most strongly present in Dorian’s portrait as well as his moral decline. • Fall of Dorian Gray mirrors the fall of Faustus in several ways.
Combined Influences on Literature and Oscar Wilde • The late 19th century saw the emergence of many left-wing movements, not just the decadent and symbolist movement. • As shown in The picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde was fully aware of the shortcomings of both the traditional ideas and the emerging ideas. • Interestingly, Wilde’s later life would imitate that of Dorian Gray’s, with excessive spending and immoral acts. • In particular, The ideas of the decadent movement were practiced by Wilde to extremes. It was the cause of his excessive spending and exploration into the homosexual underworld.
Reflections on Oscar Wilde from Today • Oscar Wilde lived in a time of great ideological change. • Wilde’s rejection of the traditional ideas meant that he could only embrace the emerging ideas. • However, most emerging ideas then were not fully established then and had dangerous ideological holes, which Wilde likely fell into. • Wilde’s downfall was due to his inability to control his success, and his long-term blindness.
