The Nature of Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray - Essay Example

The Nature of Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray The nature of art has been a much debatedtopic throughout the ages beginning as early as the ancient Greeks, for whom art represented the absolute perfection of form and shape. The debate changed often through the centuries, finally reaching the conclusion that art was the best way of imparting specific morals or societal values by the time it reached the Victorian age (roughly considered to have occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria of England from 1837 to 1901). These debates regarding the philosophy of art and the philosophy of beauty have come to be known collectively as aesthetics (Manns, 1998, p. 3). During Victoria’s reign, though, significant changes were occurring in society and in the way in which people thought, affecting not only the way in which people lived their lives with increased industrialization, colonization and modernization, but also the way in which they thought with advances in psychology, philosophy and physical science. Not surprisingly, the concept of aesthetics became even more hotly debated during these times, taking on yet another form as Victorians discussed the values and philosophies inherent in the concept. Despite all these debates, a solid definition of the term ‘aesthetics’ remains difficult to come by. The American Heritage Dictionary offers us five plausible definitions: “The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty, as in the fine arts; In Kantian philosophy, the branch of metaphysics concerned with the laws of perception; The study of the psychological responses to beauty and artistic experiences; A conception of what is artistically valid or beautiful; An artistically beautiful or pleasing experience” (2000). In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Victorian author Oscar Wilde, several of these concepts are explored in detail as the author tells the story of a beautiful young man in England’s high society who immerses himself in the beauty, or at least full exploration, of life. To understand both how Wilde’s book emphasizes as well as differs from the established thought of Victorian society of his day, it is necessary to understand the aesthetic heritage to which he was exposed. The questions of not only what designates beauty, but also what values should be included and sought for in art became prime concerns during the Victorian era. There were two prevailing concepts at the time regarding the general purpose of art. One involved looking at art for art’s sake, as this concept was originated by Immanuel Kant and expounded by Wilde’s greatest influence Walter Pater. The second, and the one most endorsed by the Queen, advocated looking at art as a moral and ethical progression in man as it expressed, both consciously and unconsciously, the cultural aspects of its creator as well as revealing a greater purpose in the world in general – an idea that also rose out of Kant’s theories of purposeful form but grew from the exploration and writings of Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel. Much of what the Victorians knew, and by extension Oscar Wilde, of Kant’s philosophy regarding the aesthetics came from his third book of Critiques, The Critique of Judgment. Publishing this book approximately 100 years prior to Wilde’s Dorian Gray, Kant set forth the basic ideas regarding the principles of aesthetics that would have many Victorians insisting that the purpose of art was simply to be art leading to the development of the popular phrase ‘art for art’s sake’. “The uniqueness of Kant’s approach consists in his effort to strike a harmony between, from one side, the singularly personal nature of aesthetic experience that led Hume (and so many others) to characterize it as subjective, and, from the other side, the sentiment accompanying this experience, prompting us to feel that others ought to be enjoying it as we are – that there is a universal element to aesthetic experience” (Manns, 1998, p. 157). In other words, although he recognized the subjective nature of art and aesthetic sense, he also argued that there exists a “universally communicable pleasure” (Manns, 1998, p. 157). To illustrate this, he claimed that nature is God’s purposive or intentional system, developed to help us understand that He exists. “This system’s organisms (humans, animals, plants, etc.), which Kant calls ‘the purposes of nature’, are, Kant says, God’s ‘unfathomably great art.’ Since he believed that the goal of art is beauty, Kant apparently concluded that organisms (or rather their form), which are God’s art, must be beautiful because if anyone could achieve the goal of art, God could” (Dickie, 1997, p. 21). To formulate an understanding of what Kant intended in the use of the word ‘beauty’, it is necessary to understand that he did not feel beauty was a concept that was present in the world, so aesthetics necessarily focused instead upon judgments of beauty and judgments of pleasure. Summarizing his theory of beauty must, therefore, include the four key concepts that indicate both the subjective and universal nature of beauty: “A judgment of beauty is a disinterested, universal and necessary judgment concerning the pleasure that everyone ought to derive from the experience of a form of purpose” (Dickie, 1997, p. 22). To understand this, it is necessary to delve further into Kant’s ideas regarding disinterest, universal, necessity and purpose. In terms of disinterest, Kant referred to the importance of keeping judgment of the object dissociated from the interest in its real existence (to appreciate the beauty of the variations of green in the apple rather than concerned about the apple itself). This disinterest indicates that the enjoyment of the object is not the result of subjective opinions on the part of the observer, but is rather evidence of universal qualities inherent in the object itself. This recognition further leads to the insistence, the necessity, that other people agree with the assessment. The final ingredient in Kant’s theory, that of the form, relates to the recognition of the form itself as it occurred as the result of some purposeful action on the part of the creating agent. By the time Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray, much of Victorian high society felt art should exist to demonstrate a higher purpose, as it had been suggested by Hegel. “Hegel was an art lover and a student of the arts, and developed a more complete philosophy of art than most philosophers before him. In keeping with his emphasis on the historical development of ideas and of consciousness, he claimed that art expresses the spirit of particular cultures, as well as that of individual artists and the general human spirit [and] there is progress in art” (Clowney, 2006). Building on the ideas of Kant’s purposeful form, Hegel combined theories from Schiller and Schelling to conclude that art reveals a truth in a direct and intuitive way. Within his writing, he divided the arts into three main categories based upon their depth of sophistication in denoting an ideal. These categories included symbolic, classical and romantic art, in which meaning always played a large role (Clowney, 2006). Despite their popularity, these theories were argued against directly by the rising aesthetic movement of which Wilde was a part. This aesthetic movement held that art was created as a means of separating the emotion from the object so that it could be seen as it really was (Arnold, 1865). “Much Victorian aesthetic theory makes the eye the most authoritative sense and the clearest indicator of truth. Victorian poetry and the Victorian novel both value visual description as a way of portraying their subjects” (Hudson & Adams, 2006). This concept can be easily traced in the very descriptive phrases Wilde includes in his story, carefully illustrating with words the scene he sets before his reader: “From the corner of the divan of Persian saddlebags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect” (Wilde, 1891, p. 8). In addition, the way in which the society in which he lived viewed Dorian Gray as a fine upstanding young man, despite his actions, his associations and his incredible ability to retain his youth through a period of many years hints at this simple acceptance of the concept that everything beautiful to look upon must be good. Despite all his depravity, even his closest remaining friend tells him “You are quite perfect. Pray, don’t change!” (Wilde, 1891, p. 159). Because of his perfection of form and appearance, Wilde depicts the English society as being incapable of looking below the surface of Dorian Gray to see the real person. The principles of the Aesthetic movement, namely its concentration on art for art’s sake, can be traced throughout the novel in several ways. There is first the contempt for bourgeois morality as expressed in the character Lord Henry Wotton, followed by the concept that Dorian himself need not do anything other than remain beautiful to remain valuable to society. Dorian’s simple pursuit of pleasure in the luxuries of his world further exemplifies this ideal. Finally, several of the basic ideas of the Aesthetes are expressed in the words of Basil Hallward. To fully understand the principle role Aesthetics plays in the portrayal of these characters, it is necessary to look at them each individually. Lord Henry Wotton epitomizes the ideals of Wilde’s tutor Walter Pater, often quoting him throughout the book (with no actual reference of course). It is Lord Henry that first sets Dorian Gray on his odd adventure by introducing him to the idea of taking pleasure in existence, in the narcissistic appeal of concentrating on one’s own self-development and pleasure: “I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream – I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of medievalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal” (Wilde, 1891, p. 20). In this and several other statements throughout the novel, Lord Henry embodies Wilde’s contempt for the morality of the times. “He speaks almost exclusively in epigrams, designed by Wilde to shock the ethical certainties of the burgeoning middle class” (Quillhill, 2006). It is Henry who encourages Dorian to hold onto his youth for as long as he can because “Beauty is a form of Genius – is higher, indeed, than Genius as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its divine right of sovereignty” (Wilde, 1891, p. 23). These statements almost echo the statements of Kant in his explanation of beauty as something that is beyond concept as a thing in its own right. Dorian himself is a shining example of art existing for art’s sake alone. From his very first introduction, Dorian Gray is presented as little more than a piece of artwork being shaped and refined by those around him. Indeed, the first glimpse we have of him is as he appears on Basil’s easel in the studio: “In the center of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself” (Wilde, 1891, p. 7). The boy in the image is described as a Narcissus, “a brainless, beautiful creature, who should be always here in summer when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence” (Wilde, 1891, p. 9). As Dorian is introduced in person, he appears to be little more than the blank canvas upon which Basil is painting, only the artist has become Lord Henry and the art has become aestheticism. After rejecting Sibyl Vane for her poor performance one night, Dorian turns to Lord Henry for consolation. “Under Lord Henry’s tutelage, Dorian finds that he can regard her death coldly, as an aesthetic event, and he then notices that the painting has changed; it has acquired a look of cruelty about the mouth” (Carroll, 2005). “Beautiful but deadly Dorian will drive many such admirers to suicide before he destroys his portrait and himself. A young boy of the guards; Adrian Singleton; Allen Campbell -- Dorians victims are many. To all of them Dorian must have seemed something other than what he was. Yet for a long time double life is a ‘pleasure’ to Dorian, who asks, ‘is insincerity such a terrible thing? I think not. It is merely a method by which we can multiply our personalities’” (Gates, 2001). More than realizing what has happened and that he will be able to retain his beauty while his portrait takes on the stain of his sins, thereby releasing him from the telling signs of a deeper meaning, Dorian resolves to experience pleasure as deeply and fully as he can in whatever form he can, which further supports the ideals of Aestheticism. His immersion in studying various arts and luxuries through several periods that are described in detail are in keeping with Pater’s concept of “a tremulous wisp constantly re-forming itself on the stream … that continual vanishing away, that strange, perpetual, weaving and unweaving of ourselves” (Pater, 1980, pp. 187-188). That these treasures he collects as he studies these things become the envy of the experts all around, but are merely stored in chests throughout Dorian’s home, presumably not taken out again once Dorian has ceased study of these things support Pater’s statement that “not the fruit of experience, but experience itself is the end” (Pater, 1980, p. 188). Only toward the end of the book does Wilde begin giving hints that not everyone remains fooled by Dorian’s good looks, with dark hints regarding sneers in the streets, finally culminating in Basil’s final confrontation with him: “Staveley curled his lip, and said that you might have the most artistic tastes, but that you were a man whom no pure-minded girl should be allowed to know, and whom no chaste woman should sit in the same room with … Why is your friendship so fatal to young men?” (Wilde, 1891, p. 117). It is interesting that Wilde allows Basil to be the one person to see the portrait in all its ugliness before he meets his end as it is primarily through Basil that we, as readers, are able to get a glimpse both of the fundamental principles of the Aesthetic movement as well as the lie contained within the idea of art with no purpose other than art. His first theories regarding art are expressed to Henry before Dorian steps into the story: “An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them. We live in an age when men treat art as if it were meant to be a form of autobiography. We have lost the abstract sense of beauty. Some day I will show the world what it is; and for that reason the world shall never see my portrait of Dorian Gray” (Wilde, 1891, p. 15). However, Basil realizes that something else has happened with the portrait he has done of Dorian. “For Basil, Dorian appears as an ideal, as the motivation for what he calls an entirely new manner in art, an entirely new mode of style. Dorian’s mere visible presence enables Basil Hallward to represent emotions and feelings that he found inexpressible through traditional methods and themes” (Radford, n.d.). In addition to recognizing more meaning in his own art than he had intended to show, Basil later indicates there is greater purpose to art than its mere expression as he seeks to comfort Dorian regarding his infatuation with Sibyl Vane: “To spiritualize one’s age – that is something worth doing. If this girl can give a soul to those who have lived without one, if she can create the sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly, if she can strip them of their selfishness and lend them tears for sorrows that are not their own, she is worthy of all your adoration, worthy of the adoration of the world” (Wilde, 1891, p. 66). Unfortunately, it is also Basil’s belief that a man whose soul is as depraved as Dorian’s must show it in some respect, which leads him to completely trust Basil until the last moment of his life as it was necessary for Dorian to walk directly past Basil in order to grab the knife that would end his life. Despite his adherence to the Aesthetic appeal in these ways, the two principle pieces of art contained in the story contain significant importance outside of the realm of purely art. These include the portrait of Dorian Gray itself and the mysterious book that Lord Wotton gives to Dorian to such a large effect. The importance of the picture is glaringly obvious fairly early in the story as it becomes apparent, with its change in appearance at Dorian’s first act of evil, that it is a key piece in the story’s development. The picture’s ability to reflect the inner soul of Dorian indicates that this is not simply art for art’s sake but rather something much deeper and expressive. Even before it takes on its supernatural characteristics, though, the picture is seen to take on specific meaning for all three characters who have seen it. “[Basil] raises an important issue about the real subject of the painting when he goes on to say, ‘The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul’” (Gillespie, 1995, p. 39). By the same token, Dorian’s response on seeing the completed work, inspiring him to utter his fateful prayer that he and the portrait exchange places because of its sheer perfection of form, shows him drawing back from the picture in pleasure and surprise “as if he had recognized himself for the first time” (Wilde, 1891, p. 25). Lord Henry, the most superficial of the group, pronounces it the “finest portrait of modern times” (Wilde, 1891, p. 25). That the picture has such an intimate connection to Dorian’s soul recalls the interpretation of the purpose of art as depicting religious meaning in earlier times. The same can be said about the yellow book that Lord Henry loans to Dorian mid-way through the story. Like the picture, this book, though never named, demonstrates an uncommon ability to depict more than mere words on a page. Instead, it proves life-changing for Dorian, so much so that he himself begs Lord Wotton never to share the book with anyone else. “The novel also offers a theory of how to approach aestheticized things. To read the ‘yellow book’ at the center of Dorian’s sexual and domestic life, we must be willing to experience not only the thing as text, an approach well-known to literary criticism, but also to experience the text as thing, a thing that exceeds the narratives – and narratibility – of the normative domestic scene and its inhabitants” (Namie, 2006). This suggestion of an intertextual meaning in the yellow book, like the picture and like the artist who painted it, suggests an intertextual meaning in Dorian Gray far deeper than the meaning set forth in black and white text on the page. Although the narrative digresses into a detailed description of Dorian’s activities and studies during this time period, the suggestion that he is fascinated with the psychology enclosed in the book suggests a deeper psychology to be read in the passages contained. Throughout the novel, Wilde presents his readers with examples of art as both art for the sake of beautiful expression as well as art with a deeper, more moralistic message. Even the book itself conveys a morality of its own, depending upon the way in which a reader approaches the various subjects within. In the end, Wilde seems to be indicating that it is only by the artist’s ability to stand back and allow art to come into being for its own purposes that it is allowed to retain the ambiguity necessary for the type of wide reading that has been enjoyed by The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Lord Henry’s stance as a cynical observer of the events and people around him, taking them always at face value, at once indicates a broad view is imminently possible only through the unbiased eyes of an observer, but also that a resistance to seeking below the surface blinds one to some of the most important aspects of life. “Lord Henry Wotton initiates his corruption of Dorian Gray by saying, ‘All I want now is to look at life. You may come and look at it with me, if you care to’. Dorian Gray’s terrible end suggests, of course, that such complete detachment is impossible” (Byerly, 1997, p. 186). Recognizing that a significant portion of the meaning in art comes from the observer, Wilde’s theory seems to incorporate both the theory of art for art’s sake as proposed by Pater as well as the theory of art as symbolic meaning as had been widely accepted throughout much of the Victorian period. References American Heritage Dictionary. 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Retrieved 24 August 2006 from Wilde, Oscar. (1891; reprnt. 1988). The Picture of Dorian Gray. Donald L. Lawler (Ed.). A Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. Read More