Lecture notes, lecture 7 - Dorian Grey - Desire, Aestheticism and the Horrors of Looking PDF

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Dorian Grey - Desire, Aestheticism and the Horrors of Looking...

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Dorian Grey: Desire, Aestheticism and the Horrors of Looking 

12/13/2014

1890 published originally; it was published alongside Arthur Conan

Doyle 

Republished expanded by Wilde; he censored some of the material

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that was very homoerotic; original version missing the preface He added James Vain subplot however it is missing some of the

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homoerotic content specifically regarding Basil and Dorian It was called morally corrupt and overly feminine Victorian art was focused on the thought that it had to have a moral statement or purpose o Purpose of the Social Novel – govern or expose the politics around an issue o Dorian Grey does not really have an issue – Wilde longingly depicts decadence and it was an affront to middle-class practicality o That being said it is very thinly veiled homosexual themes

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The Preface  “Those who read the symbol do so at their peril”  The moralizing opinion of a work comes from the spectator; the interpretation is a result of the reader and not of the artist The artist is free to create to make only what is Beautiful Aestheticism – art exists for art’s sake; it does not any political

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ideology or didactic use nor should it  The only responsibility of art was to please the senses and evoke a  

kind of refined pleasure Good art is beautiful; it need be nothing else. Often referred to as a cult of beauty that claimed life ought to

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mirror art rather than life acting as inspiration for art. Followers called asethetes

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Opening of Dorian Gray  Opens with long description of decadence and rich beauty which

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surrounds the character of Lord Henry who is himself an object of sensual pleasure Evoke a sense of refined beauty; he is cultivating this sense; calculated to achieve the effect of luxury and beauty

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Philosophical decadence He is exploring the limits of this decadent lifestyle

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Masculinity  As a concept depends on the historical moment  How is masculinity realized in this novel? o Very based on appearance; they appraise each other o Mock other women and judge them o Based on class and wealth o Intellect defines their ability to play with each other and

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circumvent morality o They value Dorian as an aesthetic object The space of aesthetic cultivation in the beginning is Basil’s studio and although he problematizes aesthetics he also cultivates beauty around himself – anti social artist, he is conscious that his art

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means something beyond its aesthetics Dorian Grey is intensely occupied with his own beauty – the definition of the dandy o One who studies above everything to dress elegantly and fashionably; strives to imitate an upper-class lifestyle regardless of actual status; actively seeks to cultivate a sense of self-beauty o “The dandy must aspire to be sublime without interruption; he must live and sleep before a mirror.” o An exclusively male definition

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Lord Henry – he takes on the sort of aristocratic lethargy; this image of aristocratic manliness that manifests in idle rich is

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becoming a problem o He preaches aestheticism more than he lives it There is no strong moral condemnation or support of aestheticism;

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it is more exploring the limits or possibilities of it All three represent an urban masculinity – their lives are very public and visible

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Victorian Private and Public

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Aesthetics lived in a very social world; their ability to move from

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the underworld to the upper world is a show of their power They go out in society to dine, to go to the theatre etc. to be seen

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by others Male freedom to go anywhere and do anything – urbanized visual

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setting Desire to be admired as a physical object; to be admired one has to

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be seen This idea of looking and being looked at is a theme A lot of the action takes place between the home and the social

world – the portrait is hidden away at home quiet and secret and unseen Visualization of Culture  A vision is an external force and in internal one – psychological 

interiority Basil is already afraid of the portrait’s ability to reveal something about himself “the painter on the coloured canvas, reveals himself” o He is aware of the fact that his feelings for Dorian are more

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than just a painter for his sitter Art is the medium through which internal desires and thoughts are

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turned into material visual exposure “It is the spectator and not life that art exposes” – the interpretation reflects more about the viewer than the artist o Dorian sees only himself when he looks at the portrait; this drives him to despair because he sees himself only as an aesthetic object that will fail

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o The portrait will never change and Dorian will lose his aesthetic power o Does this exist in Dorian before he looks at the portrait? The gaze is reflected off the object of looking and is reveals the viewer – the monstrous horrific power of the gaze, one can not

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return to a state wherein one can unsee one’s soul; Dorian cannot escape the view of his own soul Values Sybil as an aesthetic object as he himself is seen – wants to place her on a pedestal to be seen as if in a gallery

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Dorian is slowly drawing on the clothes of the aesthete so as to

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avoid the ravages of time; he can be admired for his possessions when his beauty fades Close description of Sybil’s costumes when she is dressed as a

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man; reflecting himself When Sybil falls from grace which mirrors his own eventual fall – his reaction to her death o He never saw her as a real person in the first place; she is a symbol and her reality makes her unwanted o Without his own outer beauty his own personality makes

himself ugly on the inside The First Moment when the Portrait Changes  Lines of cruelty around the mouth – the portrait has changed

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because Dorian has discovered his own capacity for cruelty and once he has seen this about himself he cannot go back The portrait is hidden in the attic – the psychological hiding away

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within the mind The portrait is a metaphor of the exterior and the internal

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becoming reflective of one another The body as a reflection of the soul – kept locked and dark and

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separate from the eyes of everyone; no one is allowed to look at the portrait except for Dorian for fear of what they might see Dorian the man comes to imitate art and the art comes to imitate

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life The paradoxes of the portrait are reflections of the dualities of the characters o Dorian’s cruelty and vanity are concealed behind his beauty

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on the outside Duality of Character  Lord Henry is the perfect character of duality – saying one thing 

and meaning another His sense of refinement is carefully cultivated to present a certain

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picture – what one sees is not necessarily the truth Dorian invites Basil to look at the portrait to see his soul

o Basil wants to believe that Dorian is the man he sees, he does not want to know otherwise; he does already know Dorian’s true nature but is trying to ignore it or discover the opposite o Fraught with the fear of looking – he does not want to see what cannot be unseen o He is confronting his own denial when he looks at the 

portrait because it shows him what he already knows What does the portrait look like at the end? How does art change only in our view and not in itself

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12/13/2014

12/13/2014...