The Aesthetic Use of Symbols in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of ‎Dorian Gray

Abstract

This research paper is a study of the aesthetic use of symbols in Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) which was published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890. The aim of this paper is not to cover all the symbols in the book, but to offer an explanation of the most significant symbols in the work which add depth and beauty to the text, hoping that this study will help the readers to achieve some aesthetic insight into the text of the novel. The novel’s focus on sensual love and physical pleasure that undercuts Victorian aesthetics and values of order and rationality brought much criticism and heated arguments on both the book and its rebellious author. The paper begins with an introduction that highlights the social values and the aesthetic concept of the Victorian people. But contrary to their expectations, Wilde used extraordinary ideas and symbols to undermine the Victorian code of values. This conflict led to the discussion of the themes of moral decadence, caste system, corruption, crime, and hypocrisy which were popular in the Victorian era. The study explores Wilde’s creative method in dealing with the moral and the social issues of his society in a superb style which distinguishes him from his predecessors. The book’s violation of Victorian traditional values helped it achieve the status of a valuable modern aesthetic text. Wilde’s nondidactic method creates aesthetic feeling in the reader by using wonderful setting, unusual symbols, extraordinary characters, floral imagery, and sublime figurative language.