Notes about Life as the Greatest of the Arts pg 395 by O. Wilde (29/5/12)

Oscar Wilde could not publish the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in England, so he was compelled to publish it in the United Satates. The main character is Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is obsessed by the idea of the eternal youth. To obtain it he sells his soul to the evil: he will be always handsome and young, apparently innocent, while his portrait decays. The portrait is the metaphor of his wicked soul and it recalls Doctor Faust story, who sells his soul to obtain knowledge and whatever he wants.
The picture becomes the alter-ego of Dorian Gray and it represents the double nature, a typical vision of the Victorian Age. As the novel shows, human being is disturbed by his limited condition.

The extract is taken from the eleventh chapter of the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The main theme of the extract is that to make of life a work of art, the person has to use the senses. The language used in the extract represents this concept because it appeals to the senses.
Right from the start the aim is to make people experience beauty. Dorian is supported by Lord Wotton in everything and the people invited at his house are selected. Every detail in his house is selected because he wants to see beauty. The narrator says also the guests are young boys, who admire him. Dorian Gray has grace and distinction: these features are part of aesthetic beauty.
People want to be invited to his house because he recalls to their mind what Dante said about people that reach perfection throughout the cult of beauty.
The function of the first sequence is to present the atmosphere an aesthete likes and also the people he sees regularly.
In the second sequence the concept of "art for art's sake" is introduced. Here it is also presented the dandy: to be a dandy is an attempt to assert the absolute modernity of beauty. Dorian Gray exhibits his behaviour and his elegance and he wants to attract attention.
Dorian Gray has very high expectations for his life. His point of reference is classical culture: he says he does not want to be "arbiter elegantiarum" but something more. To be handsome and admired are the way to create a new system of life. Dorian Gray thinks that courting spirit is courting the senses.