The Picture of Dorian Gray

the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde

Emilia Parziale and Alessia Raucci

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oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde emerged in late XIX century London as the living embodiment of the Aesthetic movement. He won fame as a drammatist, poet and novelist whose ideas on art, beauty and personal freedom formed a formidable challenge to Victorian puritanicalism. Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 and died in 1900 in Paris. He was a dandy, which is a central figure in the XIX century constructions of masculinity and social class, associated with men who devotes fastidious attention to dress .

"people say sometimes that beauty is only superficial. that may be so,but at least it is not so superficial as thought is. To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearences."-lord henry wotton

Summary

Dorian has his portrait painted as a young man by Basil Hallward. Dorian wishes to be beautiful forever persuaded by Lord Henry Wotton. The portrait takes on Dorian's sins and his signs of aging everytime he commits a bad action. Dorian spends 18 years living a hedonistic lifestyle. Ultimately, Dorian dies tries to break the curse becoming a better person ,but when he notices that nothig changed he throws a knife at the painting, and he was found dead.

Moral

Wilde himself spoke about the moral of his novel: "All excesses as well as all renunciation brings its own punishment."

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