Aesthetics in Oscar Wilde’s Only Novel The Picture of Dorian Gray

Abstract

Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a classical novel that treats the philosophical study of beauty and taste. This philosophical novel associated mostly with art. Wilde introduced 'aesthetics' in the novel and he represented it throughout his main male characters (Dorian Gray, Henry Wotton; and Basil Hallward). The purpose of this study was to know how Oscar Wilde promoted the philosophy of art throughout the novel, and to claim if it evoked an erotic pleasure within the characters. The main characters treat all the aesthetics’ issues and reflect Oscar Wilde’s personal life. Wilde represented “homosexuality” and “art” in the characters’ personality. As a result, the three male characters are the representative of art and what he has lived during the Victorian age. It means that he saw Basil Hallward as an artist who creates beautiful things and Dorian Gray as an artwork or the object of pleasure to both Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward. However, Henry Wotton was the critic and the philosopher who criticizes a framework. We can say that the characters had an erotic or a homosexual relationship and the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was considered as an artistic piece of work.