Oscar Wilde's vicious passion and "The Picture of Dorian Gray", which became the most famous and unsuccessful novel of the writer

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The name Wilde translated from English means "irrepressible, ardent, passionate." Such was this mysterious writer. Always with a live flower in his buttonhole, in breathtaking outfits, handsome and talented. He was called "the prince of the aesthetes". And he did not hesitate to talk about his genius.

The test of time

True, his contemporaries, critics and writers, did not consider him a genius. Less than a week after the death of the writer, an article appeared in the English newspaper Pall Mall. The journalist found it possible to leave such a review:

The most iconic and most famous work of Oscar Wilde was the novel "The Portrait of Dorian Gray". Today, reading this particular work has become fashionable. A delightfully handsome young man does not age, and vices do not leave a shadow on his beautiful face. Dorian Gray has a secret. A portrait is kept in the attic in a dark corner. The enchanted picture is conscience. The worse the owner behaves, the more disgusting the image becomes.

Someone else's idea

The fame of this novel today has overshadowed other works by Oscar Wilde, but "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is not the author's most successful work. The novel is greatly overrated. Wilde got the idea from Honore De Balzac. It was Balzac who first invented the magic talisman. "Shagreen Skin" is the story of the collision of a naive and innocent person with a vicious society. A flap of enchanted skin fulfills the wishes of a young man, keeps him healthy and young. But with each request fulfilled, the object decreases in size and takes life from Raphael.

… Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

So, the idea of a "portrait of Dorian" is not new, but why paint it then? The answer is hidden in the biography of the author. At the time of writing, Wilde has given up sexual relations with his wife, Constance Lloyd. After the birth of two children, she became very stout and no longer attracted the writer. Now he is carried away by young men. And he begins to write his first and only novel. He describes a young hero, possibly one of his lovers. The writer endows the young man with incomparable beauty, and Wilde endows his wise friend Dorian - Lord Henry Wotton with his features. He puts his favorite philosophical aphorisms into his mouth.

Heroes - mannequins

Lord Wotton is a rather sketchy figure, but with his help Wilde will express a lot of biting and proud phrases. This character can be considered an ode that Wilde devotes to himself.

In the first part of the work, you can see with what accuracy the author leads the story, how he pays attention to details, how carefully he works out the behavior and actions of his even minor characters. But not used to writing voluminous texts, Oscar Wilde seems to be losing control. Or maybe his not smart, empty Dorian, just bored with the writer?

Snowball storytelling

Events are developing rapidly. Gray's days and nights are mingling. How exactly does he burn his life? What is the rake thinking? Are there moments of remorse? Dorian Gray's twenty years of life fit into one glamorous chapter. The author seems to be disgusted with this character and as if he wants to finish the story as soon as possible. Dorian Gray never gains depth. His character and description will remain very superficial until the very end of the book.

Expected finale

mThe talented thinker and philosopher Oscar Wilde could not help but notice that the novel's narrative crumpled and lost its coherence. And he kills his hero easily. Without a doubt, pity, and even without a detailed description.

The corpse of an old man with a knife in his chest will be found by the servants. The obvious ending is boring to read. Wilde does not pay close attention to Dorian's death. He writes coldly and restrained, without a shadow of drama. No one regrets Dorian Gray, not the servants, not the author, not the reader.

Pearls of Wilde

You can get acquainted with Oscar Wilde's gift as a writer in other works. The Irish author reveals himself as a subtle artist in his plays. He was the leading playwright of his century. "A woman not worthy of attention", "Salome", "An ideal husband" - these are the true pearls of his talent.

Special attention should be paid to fairy tales: "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Young King", "The Birthday of the Infanta". Non-standard, sad, magical and not so much. The tales of this writer have nothing to do with folklore. They are an example of a flight of fantasy.

If you are interested in Oscar Wilde as a person, then read his "Confessions". He wrote this letter in prison. Wilde, convicted of homosexuality, turns to his beloved Alfred Douglas. An honest and highly emotional text can tell a lot about the author's personality.

Wilde is read, staged in the theater, endlessly filmed and loved. His grave in the Pere Laches cemetery in Paris is particularly popular. The stone monument is strewn with traces of kisses. So fans confess their love to him. Today we can say with confidence that Wilde was not mistaken when he called himself a genius.

Few people know, but exactly Oscar Wilde helped women put on their pants … But that's a completely different story.