Life As The
Greatest of the Arts Analysis

The extract
is taken from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; one of its aims is to
make people understand the importance of beauty.

The extract
gives the reader many lots of information about Dorian's lifestyle and about
the house in which he lived. The reader can also come to know that Dorian was
considered as a model to imitate by his guests and by the young people around
him, that look at him as if he were Dante.

In the
first sequence the reader understands how was a typical aesthetic atmosphere.
Grace and distinction are considered necessary to create the aesthetic beauty.

In the
second sequence another piece of information is given to the reader; it is
embodied in the slogan " art for art's sake" which is the motto of the
Aesthetic movement. In addition, this sequence is extremely important because
it purposes Oscar Wilde's definition of " Dandy" ( lines 22-24).

The third
sequence makes a comparison between D.Gray's position, the imperator Nerone and
the arbiter elegantiarum , author of the Satyricon, from which
the character wanted to take distances.

The
following sequence is about the " worship of the senses" a theme perfectly in
line with the Aesthetic theory. It also underline the problem of the true
nature of the senses: they are never been perfectly understood, they have only
been killed by paint.

In the last
sequence the narrator expresses the aesthetic vision of life: life can really
reach a sense only if people can perfectly experience the aesthetic moment .

There is
also a quotation taken from Water Petar in line 64: both of them used the
expression            " Fruits of
experience" in a negative way, both of them looked positively to the aesthetic
moment and believed that it is an incredibly representative moment in one's
life.