THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY AND MORALITY IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: AN AESTHETIC AND ETHICAL ANALYSIS
Keywords:
aestheticism, morality, Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray, hedonism, Victorian literature, beauty, corruption, ethics, decadenceAbstract
This article examines the intricate relationship between beauty
and morality in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Through an aesthetic
and ethical lens, the study explores how Wilde challenges Victorian moral
conventions by presenting beauty as both a liberating and destructive force. Drawing
on Lord Henry Wotton's hedonistic philosophy, Dorian Gray's moral degradation, and
Basil Hallward's idealistic vision, the article argues that Wilde deliberately
deconstructs the Platonic equation of beauty with virtue. The portrait functions as a
moral mirror, exposing the fatal consequences of privileging aesthetics over ethics.
Textual analysis and close reading serve as primary methodologies.
References
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