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Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray. ENL 3251 November 30, 2010. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). Born in Ireland Father a prominent doctor, mother a well known writer Attended Oxford Won prizes for poetry Moves to London after graduation Marries Constance Lloyd in 1884

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Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

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  1. Oscar Wilde,The Picture of Dorian Gray ENL 3251 November 30, 2010

  2. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) • Born in Ireland • Father a prominent doctor, mother a well known writer • Attended Oxford • Won prizes for poetry • Moves to London after graduation • Marries Constance Lloyd in 1884 • Has two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan

  3. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) • Publishes several poems and children's stories • Writes and stages several successful plays • Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) • A Woman of No Importance (1893) • An Ideal Husband (1895) • The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

  4. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) • Publishes The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) • Meets with critical objections • Suggestions of homoeroticism caused scandal • Meets Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, 1891 • Remain partners for next four years

  5. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) • Sues Bosie’s father, the Marquis of Queensbury, in 1895, for libel • Accused of homosexuality • Wilde winds up arrested for “gross indecency” • Sentenced to hard labor • Upon release, spends several years wandering Europe • Never fully recovers • Dies of meningitis

  6. Wilde and the Aestheticism • Aestheticism was a movement in art and literature that developed in the last decades of the Victorian era • Often opposed to realism • Practiced “art for art’s sake” • More interested in results produced by colors and sensations than on moral purpose • Dante Gabriel Rossetti considered influential • Wilde becomes a symbol of this movement • Often parodied and lampooned in popular press

  7. George DuMaurier: “The Six-Mark Tea-Pot,” in Punch October 30, 1880

  8. Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience (1881) • Follows the character, Reginald Bunthorne • Confesses that he is a sham • “If You’re Anxious for to Shine” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu_Xk_Vl6fk

  9. William Powell Frith, A Private View of the Royal Academy (1883)

  10. Discussion Questions • Should we worry about the moral/message of a work of art? • Does The Picture of Dorian Gray have a moral or message? If so, what is it? How can you tell? • Is there such a thing as an immoral work of art? • How should we read the three central characters of the novel? • What does the novel say about the relationship between art and reality?

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