Dandyism in Oscar Wilde s Works

1.1.Dandyism- a rebellion against Victorian norms

Dandyism represented a very important and significant social phenomenon in 19th century
Europe. It was linked with literary concepts such as aestheticism and decadence, used as tools
by the dandies in their rebellious performances in Paris and ondon, manifesting the
contradiction between the spiritual and the material, the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, and art and nature, as
Kohl (19!9" #$% points out in his work Oscar Wilde: The Works of a Conformist Rebel. &he
critic further on establishes a connection between 'audelaire and (. )ilde as both
representing the era of the dandies" the social backgrounds and life experiences of audelaire and Wilde
influenced their transformation into dandies during the time of the !"#" Re$olution and the %ictorian period
respecti$ely, Kohl (19!9" *+%. ,harles 'audelaire defined dandyism a state where one elevates
-sthetics to a living religion, and added that the dandy.s mere e/istence comes in
contradiction with the responsible citi0en of the middle class" &andyism in certain respects comes
close to spirituality to culti$ating the idea of beauty in their own persons, of satisfying their passions, of feeling
and thinking the excessi$e delight in clothes and material elegance. 's the symbol of the aristocratic superiority
of the mind.
(ne might start by briefly defining the term dandy, which referrs to a man 1also known as a
beau or gallant% who places a great importance upon physical appearance, refined language,
and leisurely hobbies, pursued in a called cult of 2elf as Peter Raby 11993" *4% shows in The
Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde. &he critic also underlines that with their strong sense
of fashion and style, and their elegant ironic use of language, the dandies focused on the
importance of artificial forms 5 themselves included 6 in daily life and work. &he dandies7
concern was pleasure seeking through consuming the visual and actual. &o this end they
developed uni8ue aesthetic theories regarding evil9 they looked for the beautiful in the ugly
and repulsive. :t the same time, critici0ed the hypocrisy of bourgeois morality and values,
showing the genuinely ugly and evil reality beneath bourgeois industrial society. ;sing the
city as their stage, and their uni8ue aesthetic theories as tools, the dandies directed and acted
in a drama focusing on revolt and resistance against the bourgeois world. &heir opposition of
the rising bourgeoisie, despising their vulgar appearance and hypocritical morals, and
deliberately established an image as cold, arrogant, well5dressed and graceful, so as to
differentiate themselves from the bourgeoisie.
&he new dandies were represented most prominently by (. )ilde, a controversial writer well5
known for his bi0arre dress, lu/urious style, absurd use of parado/, and out of the ordinary
behavior. :ccording to Peter Raby 11993" *!%, (. )ilde pursued artificial art, emphasi(ed self)
image, worshipped urban life, sought sensual pleasure and obsessed with eccentric things* all gestures of
resistance against the ideology of the %ictorian age. It is his opposition with the <ictorian set of values
that is most strikingly observed in his comedies such as +ady Windermere,s -an 11!9#%, .
Woman of /o 'mportance 11!9*%, .n 'deal 0usband 11!9$%, and The 'mportance of eing
1arnest 11!9$%, but mostly in his novel The 2icture of &orian 3ray.
1.#. Oscar Wilde s Plays: Narcissism and oral !mbi"alence
In Critical 1ssay son Oscar Wilde 11991% Regenia #agnier discusses the dandies in )ilde s
comedies, including ord Darlington in +ady Windermere4s -an 11!9#%, ord Illingworth in .
Woman of /o 'mportance 11!9*%, and ord =oring in .n 'deal 0usband 11!9$%. >er starting
point is that for )ilde, the moral standards of the bourgeoisie were utilitarian, materialistic,
infle/ible and hypocritical, and their response to that was to turn themselves into a kind of art.
>e understood the idea of the self becoming art in order to rebel against the bourgeoisie.
)ilde was fascinated by the pleasure derived from the contemplation and admiration of his
own body and self as well, the main principle of aestheticism. &herefore, he depicted many
vivid and colorful dandies in his plays, for e/ample ord Darlington in +ady Windermere4s
-an or ord =oring in .n 'deal 0usband who even pay attention to their buttonholes.
:estheticism was also to be understood as a philosophy of the superficial as ord Illingworth
advises in . Woman of /o 'mportance, ?/ot to be put off with any old)fashioned theories about
life5.2eople nowadays are so absolutely superficial that they don6t understand the philosophy of the superficial.
5 7entiment is all $ery well for the buttonhole, but the essential thing for a necktie is style. . well)tied tie is the
first serious step in life. &his furtheron leads to narcissism, a cult of 2elf and the depiction of such
characters turns it affects in a very interesting manner the dialogue.
:part from beautiful language, )ilde7s plays e/cell in a complicated and exaggerated aesthetic taste,
humorous and witty characters, and ostentatious life)stye principles, which all make his language florid,
brilliantly simple, and yet contradictory and full of paradox, as Regenia #agnier11991" 4$% further
shows. :lthough there are variations in style, the work still blends into one harmonious whole
to ama0ing effect dialogues, especially between dandies, are more like monologues than
interactions between two parties. :s such, they e/press the ?narcissism and e/treme
sub@ectivism of the dandy. ord =oring is a very typical e/ample. Aany of ord =oring7s
utterances, such as with his servant Phipps, are not real conversations but about presenting
himself to an audience, even if it is an audience of only one. ord =oring vividly
demonstrates )ilde in daily life with his super narcissism and characteristic dandy speech, a
way of looking down on the world. In a word, his language is good performance.
:s the leader of aestheticism, which was the first manifestation of the European mind7s
rebellion against the morality of the bourgeois age, )ilde preferred moral ambivalence to the
certainty of moral conventions. :ccording to )ilde, evil may come out of kindness, and good
may come out of evil, a kind of rebellion and a subversion of the moral values of bourgeoisie.
In +ady Windermere4s -an, Ars. Erlynne is re@ected by high society because she elopes with
someone when she is young. 89ou don6t know what may be in store for you, unless you lea$e this house at
once. 9ou don6t know what it is to fall into the pit, to be despised, mocked, abandoned, sneered at : to be an
outcast; >er crime lies in the fact she betrays the moral standards of high society, infuriating
the noble class, and she achieves infamy. 2he tries to atone for her crime, but is re@ected. >er
daughter opposes her 6 the decent7 ady )indermere. It is Ars. Erlynne, the abandoned
woman, who is considered depraved and evil, but who saves the fame and family of ady
)indermere, the so5called decent woman. Binally, unable to establish herself in high society
Ars. Erlynne leaves9 this appears glorious but is hypocritical and shameless. In .n 'deal
0usband, the boundary between good and evil is further blurred. 2ir Cobert ,hiltern sells the
national secret9 however, such an ugly act makes him an important politician and a pillar of
the state. &hrough Ars. ,heveley, )ilde e/presses his criticism and disapproval of traditional
bourgeois morality.
1.$. %he Pict&re o' Dorian #ray. !estheticism and the Relation bet(een !rt and
orality
)hat distinguishes the dandy (. )ilde from more conventional aesthetic displays and
concerns is the fact that he sees that evil and ugliness also provides an opportunity to enhance
human aesthetic e/perience. &he dandy sees that beauty also e/ists in evil and evil produces
beauty. &his is close to denying the relationship between art and morality, and it involves a
radical re5appreciation of the aesthetic and meaning of evil. )ilde develops the e$il
consciousness perfectly by creating morbid artistic images, as Kohl (19!9" *D% points out. In his
masterpiece novel, The 2icture of &orian 3ray, the main character commits evil acts @ust for
personal sensuous en@oyment, killing others to cover up his guilt. 'oth works engage their
readers in a kind of shocking and morbid beauty. :ccording to )ilde, not only can art e/ist
without morals, it can also be independent.
Cegarding the relationship between art and morality, )ilde argues that artists are creators of
beauty. &heir only purpose is to pursue beauty rather than lecture morals. 8There is no such thing
as a moral or immoral book. ooks are well written or badly written. That is all. :rt is not dependent on
morals for e/istence. It has its own independent life and value. )ilde pointed out that the
sphere of art and ethics are totally different, and therefore his art should not be @udged by a
morals The 2icture of &orian 3ray was slammed so fiercely by reviewers in ondon upon
publication was that )ilde did not draw a clear distinction between vice and virtue although
he builds a dichotomic pair of characters" ord >enry, cynical and disillusioned and 'asil,
earnest and idealistic, according to Kohl (19!9" 4D% )ilde said in the Preface to The 2icture
of &orian 3ray, ?%ice and $irtue are to the artist materials for an art and 8no artist has ethical
sympathies, an ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. iterature creates a
sense of beauty that is irrelevant to social morals.
>e was fascinated by good and evil9 indeed, the structure of his novel is based on the tensions
between beauty and ugliness and good and evil, which drive the plotlines of the story. >e
described the book7s hero, Dorian =ray, as follows" 3race was his, and the white purity of
boyhood, and beauty such as old 3reek marbles kept for us. >e is so gorgeous that the painter
'asil e/claims that he was created to be worshipped. &he aesthetic function of life goes to
such e/tent that people are ob@ectified, seen as works of art, Dorian stands for Esimply a
motive in artE found Ein the curves of certain lines, in the loveliness and subtleties of certain
coloursE as lord >enry presents him. &he main point of the novel is not beauty but the
hypocrisy and evil behind it. Farcissism, as discussed by Breud, constituted an important part
of dandyism. =uerin notes that ?during the #+th century, psychological criticism has come to
be associated with a particular school of thought" the psychoanalytic theories of 2igmund
Breud and his followers. Breud7s famous essay On /arcissism: .n 'ntroduction e/plored the
relationship between the self and the e/ternal world. :ccording to him, a sufferer from
narcissism always treats his body as a lover and se/ual partner. Farcissism is the se/ual root
of dandyism, particularly in the basic characteristic he stresses of the aesthetic adoration of an
older for a younger man, and The 2icture of &orian 3ray depicts this by the homose/ual
nuances of the relation between the painter, 'asil and his worshipped figure, Dorian.
1.). *oncl&sions
&aking into consideration his style, (. )ilde proves to be true aesthete, with an e/traordinary
power of description and his language contains shape, voice, color, temperature and smell
which can inspire our sensory organs and provoke response, according to Peter Raby 11993"
$D%. &he e/ample he provides is one from the very beginning of The 2icture of &orian 3ray,
there is this description" ?The dim roar of +ondon was like the bourdon note of a distant organ. The low
and unclear organ $oice depresses expresses the widespread depression of the social reality. :t the end of the
19th century, 'ritain was surrounded by a stodgy7 atmosphere e/actly like the low voice
created by organs. 2o we can conclude that )ilde en@oyed provoking emotion using pictures
and painting. Aoreover, )ilde skillfully uses metaphor. &he aspects of dandyism6
artificiality, beauty in form and self worship 6 coincide e/actly with the artistic concepts of
aestheticism. Dandyism typically reflects the aesthetic nature of modern culture as a way of
life, as well as aesthetic @udgment of art.
Kohl+ Norbert. Oscar Wilde: The Works of a Conformist Rebel, ,ambridge ;niversity Press,
19!9
Peter Raby, The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde, ,ambridge" ,ambridge ;niversity
Press, 1993
Regenia #agnier, Critical 1ssay son Oscar Wilde, Few Gork" =.H. >all. 1991