论文总字数：30503字

摘 要

1. Introduction. 1
2. Literature Review 2
   1. Literature review of Aestheticism 2
   2. Literature review of Freudianism 3
3. The Analysis of the Characters 5

3.1 The moral dimension of the three characters...................................................5

3.2 The awakening of moral consciousness...........................................................6

3.3 Dorian Gray’s moral crisis...............................................................................8

1. Conclusion 10
   1. Collapse of ethnic ethics between people... 10
   2. The reality guiding sense to our moral practice...............................................11

References 12

Acknowledgments

I really want to thank those people who were in support of me when I was writing this thesis.

At the beginning, I would like to give my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Liu Nonghong, who has offered me constant guidance whether from the beginning of the topic selection or in the process of writing. Her profound knowledge, emollient attitude, and personality charm has far-reaching influence on me. In conclusion, Prof. Liu gave me instructions in my studies as well as positive impact on my thought and life.

Next, my gratitude should be given to the professors in the School of Foreign Languages and Literature in Nanjing Tech University. They have shared their academic knowledge, broaden horizon and profound thinking with me, which creates a great academic atmosphere for me, so that my paper could be more rigorous.

Then, I feel like giving my appreciation to my friends accompanying me when I was confronted with barriers in both thesis and life. I enjoy communicating with them and without their help, I couldn't successfully solve all kinds of difficulties in life.

Last but not least, I would like to express my profound love to my family, whose unwavering care and strong support in life contributed a lot to the successful completion of the present paper.

Abstract

Oscar Wilde is known as the most significant and typical writer in the Victorian age since his works are considered to be the representative of the aestheticism. And he always declares that we can’t comment on the art by a moral standard, and he insists that it is not the art that reflects nature, but it is nature that reflects art, and that the function of art is to produce enjoyment. In fact, there is no literature that could get rid of moral judgement completely. As the most famous novel among all those works of him, the publication of the Picture of Dorian Gray has earned him a world-wide reputation. So far, this book has been discussed from different perspectives by people. This dissertation devotes its effort to explore the complicated relations between Oscar Wilde’ works and his moral outlooks on the analysis of the character in the novel with the personality structure theory. In the meantime, this thesis will reappraise his works from a new angle. In fact, Oscar Wilde is not an escapist, his aestheticism is another weapon to expose social reality. This seemingly immoral novel is entirely moral. Oscar Wilde used art to awaken people and call them to break the traditional and backward social norms.

Keywords: Oscar Wilde; Dorian Gray; moral outlooks; Freudianism

中文摘要

王尔德一直以来是维多利亚时代久负盛名的作家，他的作品被认为是唯美主义的代表。而他总是宣称人们不能用道德的角度来评判艺术作品，他认为不是艺术反映生活，而是生活模仿艺术，艺术仅仅是为了享乐而存在的。事实上，没有一部文学作品能完全摆脱道德评判而存在。作为王尔德最有名的小说，《道林格雷的画像》让他声名鹊起。到目前为止，这本小说仍然被人们从不同的角度讨论着。本篇论文通过运用弗洛伊德人格结构理论对小说中人物分析，尽全力揭示隐藏在王尔德这部小说中的道德观，事实上，没有艺术能完全摆脱道德的影响， 一切与道德背道而驰的美都会走向自我毁灭。与此同时，本篇论文也会从一个新的角度重新评价《道德格雷的画像》这部小说。事实上，王尔德不是一个逃避者， 他的唯美主义是揭露社会事实的工具。这本看上去不道德的小说，事实上是完全符合社会道德的。王尔德希望能够通过这部小说对人们起到警示作用，呼吁人们对抗传统老旧的社会规范。

关键词：王尔德； 道林格雷；道德观；弗洛伊德

南京工业大学本科毕业设计（论文）

Introduction

Oscar Wilde is one of the greatest British writers and artists in the 19th century, as well as the pioneer of aestheticism and British art progress. His life fleets like meteors across the sky, which cannot remain. He came from a wealthy family in Ireland and went to Oxford University in 1874. During his college years, Wilde was famous in London society for reason of his striking clothes, witty talk and maverick style. Some magazines even published satirical articles about him. He loves to criticize himself, because it saves time, no one will argue with him, and his life is the same. Such a realm of life is worth learning. In real life, Wilde went to prison after the gay trial. The hard life in prison made him unbearable, and also prompted him to reflect on his previous behaviors and ideas. He pointed out that in his days with Douglas, he didn't create any works that satisfied him. He thought Douglas would bring inspiration, but Douglas jeopardized him step by step and designed to put him in prison. For those days in the past, he said, "I never regret enjoying life, but it has no other use except to kill the inspiration for the good things." (Oscar, 1991). It can be seen that all beautiful things cannot exist without reality, and the beauty contrary to morality ends in tragedy. Aestheticism is a loose organization movement which appeared in the field of British Art and Literature in the late 19th century. Aestheticism is a struggle against Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism emphasizes that the value of literature and art lies in changing people's behavior by influencing people's feelings, values, and thoughts. Therefore, these works are full of political, economic and moral connotations. However, Aestheticism emphasizes that the value of art lies in itself. Aestheticists allege that any material purpose realized in the form of art is ugly. As a pioneer of aestheticism, Oscar Wilde creates The Picture of Dorian Gray, a classic work of aestheticism, which strongly expresses Wilde's pursuit of aestheticism. Moreover, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a masterpiece of aestheticism at the end of the 19th century, which can be regarded as the unique thought of art for art’s sake in drama novel and painting.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Literature Review

2.1 Literature review of Aestheticism

Aestheticism means pursuing absolute beauty, advocating "art for art’s sake", emphasizing pure beauty is beyond life, pursuing perfection and art. Aestheticism refers to an art proposition that takes the form beauty of art as absolute beauty, which is divorced from reality (Zhang, 2000). Aestheticism pursues suggestion rather than statement, sensory enjoyment, a large number of symbolic techniques and the relationship between things. Wilde sets the death of basil as the work of Dorian Gray, because Dorian Gray is the source of Basil's art. Wilde was born for the art of aestheticism and is killed by the art of non-aestheticism, which shows that aestheticism is Wilde's pursuit of life. Art is his life, if art does not exist, his life will disappear.

In view of the brutal reality of Victorian era, Wilde conceived a Utopia of aestheticism, in which material scarcity, institutional oppression and alienated labor were eliminated, art became the highest form of personality development, while the highest value of individualism was met, ultimately contributed to the realization of cosmopolitan ideal. This plan reconciles the relationship between art and morality, self and others, and embodies a view called "cosmopolitan individualism". It not only conforms to Marx communist ideal, but also eliminates the deep-rooted utilitarian tendency in the British Utopian socialist tradition. Oscar Wilde highlights art’s functions which rebelling against the cultural tradition of British conservatism from Burke to Matthew Arnold (Hu, 2008). Oscar Wilde can also be regarded as a great integrator of British Utopian thought, and thus he had an important inspiration for contemporary philosophers. Wilde, like Matthew Arnold, pursues "human perfection". Art is absolutely utilitarian and self-discipline, only through art can we achieve perfection. Similarly, only through art can we resist the despicable danger of reality. It can be said that: the liberation of material, system, labor and art constructs a free society without external oppression, which provides objective conditions for the expression of individualistic values and the realization of individual development. The individual dominates himself in art, gets rid of the despotism of soul and body, and has absolute freedom. Moreover, the individual strengthens his own personality in art, creates his own personal works, and realizes the value of individualism completely. Art disturbs and destroys the single type, the enslavement of custom, the autocracy of custom and the degradation from man to machine, protects and strengthens personality, and enables man to get rid of alienation. Art has the function of consolation and salvation. It creates a more real world than reality itself, a nobler world, a "safe house" that makes people forget their troubles and enjoy happiness. It leads people's soul to a state that is in harmony with knowledge and intelligence, tends to the sacred harmony of spiritual life, and finally saves individuals in the turbulent and desperate era.

2.1 Literature review of Freudianism

When Freud studied personality, he found that different parts of personality may conflict at some time, and even some self-contradictory situations may arise. So Freud created the structure model of personality according to this special situation, which is divided into three parts: id, ego and superego (2018).

ID: It is the most primitive part of personality structure, which has existed since birth. The elements that make up the ID are the basic needs of human beings, such as hunger, thirst and sex. When the demand of ID comes into being, the individual demands immediate satisfaction. Therefore, based on the principle of dominating human nature, what dominates ID is the principle of music. For instance, if a baby is hungry, it requires immediate feeding regardless of the mother's difficulties.

Ego: After the birth of an individual, it is generated by the differentiation and development of the ID in the real environment. If the needs from the ID cannot be satisfied immediately in reality, people must accommodate the limitations of reality and learn how to meet the needs in reality. According to the principle of dominating human nature, it is the principle of reality that dominates self. In addition, the ego is between the ID and the superego, which has the function of buffering and regulating the impulse and superego.

Superego: It is the highest part of the personality structure, which is gradually formed because the individual receives the education of social culture and moral standards in life. There are two important parts of superego: one is self-ideal, which requires that one's behavior conforms to one's ideal standard; the other is conscience, which stipulates that one's behavior is free from mistakes. Therefore, the superego is the moral part of the personality structure. From the principle of dominating human nature, the principle of perfection dominates the superego.

The three levels of personality structure interweave with each other to form an organic whole. They have their own responsibilities, which respectively represent one aspect of personality: the ID reflects the biological instinct of human beings, acts according to the principle of happiness, and is the "primitive human". The self seeks to satisfy the instinctive impulse under the condition of environmental conditions, and is the executor of personality, acts according to the principle of reality, and is the "realistic human". The superego pursues perfection, and represents the social nature of human beings “A moral person ". The three levels of personality structure interweave with each other to form an organic whole. They have their own responsibilities, which respectively represent one aspect of personality: the id reflects the biological instinct of human beings, acts according to the principle of happiness, and is the "primitive human"; the self seeks to satisfy the instinctive impulse under the condition of environmental conditions, and is the executor of personality, acts according to the principle of reality, and is the "realistic human"; the superego pursues perfection, and represents the social nature of human beings “A moral person".

In general, the ID, ego and superego are in a state of coordination and balance, thus ensuring the normal development of personality. If the three maladjusted or even destroyed, it will produce psychological obstacles and endanger the development of personality. According the theory of Sigmund Freud, id, ego, and superego are the three divisions of the personality. The id operates to the pleasure principle, regardless of the morality. The superego is the idealist part of the personality, which operates to the moral principle. Both id and superego are the unconscious pars, while the ego is a conscious part and operates to the reality principle.

Chapter 3 The Analysis of Characters

3. The Analysis of Characters

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel written by Oscar Wilde, who is the most famous British dramatist and novelist at that time. It is also the only novel of Oscar Wilde. The novel began to be serialized in July 1890 in the magazine of the United States, and was published in a separate edition in the following year.

3.1 The moral dimension of the three characters

The Victorian Era is an era full of contradictions. And the Victorian morals, which are obstinate and rigid, unavoidably show its influence while they dominate the whole society. As the representative adherent of the aestheticism movement, Oscar Wilde holds the revolted banner. He criticizes and overturns the traditional morals with a decadent attitude. He tries his best to resist the dark reality and to express moral thoughts in unmoral opinion. To some extent, the novel is a reflection of the contradictory triple personalities of the author: the three main characters, Dorian, Basil and Henry, faithfully reflect the three levels of Oscar Wilde’s personality-the id, the superego and the ego. And all the characters are created for expressing the author’s critic attitude towards the society.

In the story, Dorian Gray has two friends who are totally opposite in character and interest. One is Lord Henry Walden, who is cynical and has a playful philosophy. He has nothing to do all day, even persuading people not to restrain themselves, not to be bound by the so-called moral concept, to indulge their desire for sensory enjoyment. The other character is Basil, a talented painter who takes the pursuit of beauty as the highest artistic goal. He has infinite yearning and pursuit for beauty, and he thinks that social morality is the criterion of his existence. Henry, who took hedonism as the essence of life, gradually activated the id in Dorian's personality, which had been suppressed all the time. Before encountering Henry, who believed in Hedonism as the essence of life, the beautiful young Dorian Gray was a good person with complete moral conscience and work in line with the moral norms at that time.

Chapter 3 The analysis of characters

The id in Dorian's personality obeyed Henry's guidance very obediently. Therefore, driven by Henry's hedonism, Dorian began to pursue a kind of so-called beautiful life which is actually a degenerate life. With his extremely beautiful appearance, he did whatever he wanted, and pursued sensory stimulation everywhere. Finally he committed crimes.

According to Sigmund Freud (2018), id, ego, and superego are the three divisions of the personality. The id operates according to the pleasure principle, regardless of the morality. The superego is the idealist part of the personality, which operates according to the moral principle. Both id and superego are the unconscious pars, while the ego is a conscious part and operates according to the reality principle.

Dorian Gray, the protagonist who changes from an innocent youth to a degraded killers in the process of pursuing the sensual pleasure and eternal youth. Basil, who behaves as the conscience in the novel, is the best reflection of Oscar Wilde’s superego, and his final murder just symbolizes the sharp conflict between the id and the superego. Henry is the reflection of Oscar Wilde’s ego, which functions as mediation between id and superego. Freud had a good analysis of homosexuality. He believes that homosexuality originates from narcissism, which is the self-idealization or partial self-personification in another person, so as to solve the internal conflict of self. The love of Basil and Henry for Dorian is the externalization of this conflict. They have always maintained mutual opposition and compromise. The contradiction between the three characters symbolizes the complex innermost being of the author. Life itself is an art, and the true artist presents himself as the finest work.

3.2 The awakening of moral consciousness

When Dorian saw the portrait that the painter Howard had made for him, he found his amazing beauty. Under the demagogue of his friend Lord Henry, he made a wish to the devil: the beautiful youth will be forever, and the vicissitudes of all the years and the sins of the youth will be borne by the portrait. Dorian didn't think so at first, but when he played with an actress’ feelings and caused her to commit suicide, he found that there was an evil change in Dorian in the portrait. The Dorian of fear did not restrain, but indulged his desire even more. The beauty of Dorian remains the same, but the portraits become ugly day by day. Eighteen years later, based on his hatred of the painter's works and his ugly soul, Dorian murdered the painter, Later, the actress's younger brother came to seek revenge, and finally died unexpectedly. It was the death of the actress's younger brother that awakened Dorian's conscience. He raised his knife and stabbed the ugly portrait. As a result, he died strangely. His face became ugly and old, but the portrait retained as young as ever.

The novel is full of homosexuality: the painter Howard falls in love with Dorian Gray's beauty, Lord Henry covets Dorian's passion and purity, while Dorian falls into a deep narcissism of his body, such as narcissus in Greek mythology, falling in love with his reflection in the river. At the beginning of the novel, Dorian is infatuated with his own portraits. Art does not affect behavior, it will eliminate the desire for action. Art is extremely useless. The so-called immoral books of the world show the shame of the world itself. That's all. Fortunately, the last paragraph of the destructive ending of the whole novel sublimates its artistry to the climax of satirical tragedy, and the surreal story can be concluded with surreal ending as desired. After Dorian traded his soul, he had an old face and extraordinary charm. Both men and women, with the exception of Sir Henry, were attracted by his deadly charm.

Although the soul was traded out, Dorian could not enjoy life at ease, because there was a morality that bound him. Pleasure and morality are mutually exclusive, so in the novel, every time Dorian confesses, there will be a person who will die: Sibyl, Sibyl's brother James, the painter, Baker, and finally Dorian himself. At the end of the novel, he confesses the most deeply and thoroughly, so the people who died have the greatest influence on him - the people who died are himself.

According to Wilde's life and thought, it is better to trade out morality when trading souls. In this way, enjoyment can be complete and pure. Moral intervention in things produces not beauty, but goodness, aestheticism, beauty as the highest, which is not beneficial to beauty. It can be abandoned.

Dorian Gray, like a good student, became a practitioner of Henry's theory step by step. At first, Sibyl's death brought him sadness and shock. However, when he found that the stain of soul and the ferocity of heart were projected on his face and on the paintings that he had borne instead of himself, his awe for the good and the beautiful was lost. Not only that, but also that they are pondering and observing their own changes, or degeneration.

Seeing the ending, I couldn't help thinking, maybe the whole story is an illusion? The portrait does not bear for him aging and sin, but the hero is wishfully thinking to escape this fact, in order to obtain inner comfort. In fact, no one can escape the trial of the soul. If you lose the fear of life, life will slap your face hard.

The pursuit of beauty in his mind is the same as that of his own art, so the pursuit of both is no more than two results: first, in the real world, it has been unanimously recognized by people, including his own values and his own art itself, which is the most ideal result. Whereas, in the eyes of the society at that time, it is the most unlikely result, Oscar Wilde’s tragic ending is enough to explain everything. Oscar Wilde once said that it is the most immoral behavior is to be constrained by the secular. For this reason, he would rather die. In reality, Oscar Wilde would rather choose death in order to achieve his own artistic goal and complete his own pursuit. Just as Dorian Gray in the novel chooses suicide in order to take leave to his evil self and return to his most beautiful self. Such an extraordinary correspondence expresses Oscar Wilde's thought.

3.3 Dorian Gray’s moral crisis

In the early stage of the story, gray, the protagonist of the novel, as a simple young man who is new to the society and is not familiar with the world, is experiencing the conflict between self-identity and role confusion in the youth period that Eriksson said. Because he is eager to stay in a good Youth period forever, he is unwilling to enter the next stage of life. He is afraid and refuses to grow old. His self-development is fixed in a certain stage. His personality cannot be developed and perfected normally, and he cannot smoothly assume his due social responsibility and social role. The real gray in the book symbolizes the self in the youth, while the portrait Dorian Gray, which gradually grows old and indulges to become evil, is like releasing all the hedonic factors of the id. The conflict and contradiction between the two symbolizes that gray can't recognize his role. Moreover, the contradiction and difference between the portrait and the self-reflect Gray's inner sense of fragmentation, which is the embodiment of the role confusion. Wilde's Victorian era is full of "the end of the century" mentality. With the rapid development of capitalism, the British aristocracy in the 19th century generally self-proclaimed as the representative of spiritual noble, rich and extravagant material life, and the gap between the rich and the poor in the British society gradually widened（Zhang, 2000）. In the words of Lord Walton, Wilde said that the British upper class people of that era were mediocre and silly. They“filled their minds with rubbish and foolishly hoped to maintain their status”(Oscar Wilde, personal communication, 1890). These people are naturally pretentious, despise the poor people, and prefer the false and artificial social relations. The contradiction with this cultural background is also the social factor that Greg is out of line with the surrounding environment and falls into the crisis of self-identity.

Gray in the novel is a case of failure. He is eager to have a new personality, afraid of being mediocre and unwilling to grow old. However, he is overcorrected and clings to a kind of childish and crazy thinking circle, which leads to the destruction of self-identity and the confusion of roles. In the Victorian era when material desires exploded and ideological beliefs collapsed, Wilde pondered the mysteries of the times and sought a way out for the development of young people. He inquired about the darkness and hypocrisy of the society with a tragic ending, and analyzed the tragic fate of the characters through their spiritual world and psychological desire. While pursuing aestheticism, his works show the reality and complexity of life, the difficulty and helplessness of life. The portrait of Dorian Gray reflects Wilde's Thoughts on human nature. In the last scene of Gray's book, he died miserably. On the one hand, his pursuit of beauty to death embodies the aestheticism and even the life principle advocated by Wilde; on the other hand, it contains Wilde's thinking about the spiritual state of the times he lives, and his worry about people falling into the crisis of self-identity. He dissects society in the most civilized way and reflects on its morality. He knows all secrets and exposes all hypocrisy.

Chapter 4 Conclusion

4. Conclusion

4.1 Collapse of ethnic ethics between people

The portrait of Dorian Gray has a beautiful style. Wilde, who was born in the aristocracy, is a representative writer of aestheticism. In his novels, he can write about the extravagant life style and the dignified manners of the upper class. The whole novel looks more like Wilde's fantasy through autobiography. It seems that Wilde, a 36 year old middle-aged man in 1890, fully grasped the social insight under the hedonism of the id, and taught himself, in the way of time and space, the incarnation of innocence and goodness at the age of 20. Dorian Gray’s ego, in an attempt to make him reach the terrible state of thought that the ID is beyond the social morality, and killing the superego Howard has become the necessary cost of this transformation process. Wilde saw through the fate of the indulgent ID, and the gorgeous price was that ID went on the road of crazy self-destruction. He himself can create such an ending, which seems to have made a choice to the world. In 1895, Wilde angered Douglas's father for his love affair with his same-sex partner, Douglas, and was charged with two years in prison. After that, Wilde went bankrupt and separated from his wife. Even the upper class society could not accept him. The literary circle completely ignored the drama master, and only Bernard Shaw was willing to speak for him. His lover Douglas also abandoned him. Only his lover Rosy accompanied him until he died. Rosy and Wilde were finally buried together after his death. Freud and Wilde are in the same era. On June 20, 1890, The Portrait of Dorian Gray began to be serialized in the press. Freud put forward the concept of psychoanalysis in 1895 and finally published the analysis of dreams in 1899. Wilde's unconsciousness shows us the complex relationship between consciousness and the ID, ego and superego in subconscious writing earlier than Freud's. "Art for art’s sake" is Wilde's goal in his whole life and Wilde's weapon to challenge the Victorian social system. Wilde has always gone away from his own way. He can stand up to others' criticism and abuse, talk and laugh, and practice his aestheticism theory, but the reality gradually deviates from his original intention; He hates the upper class society, but he is obsessed with luxury life; He criticizes pragmatism, but he is deeply aware of the importance of money; He criticizes the hypocrisy of morality and advocated that the work should be completely independent of morality, but in his works, he makes the advice of abandoning evil and promoting moral outlooks. In conclusion, Oscar Wilde is not an escapist, his aestheticism is another weapon to expose social reality. He used art to awaken people and call them to break the traditional and backward social norms. Undoubtedly, his art glorifies life.

4.2 The reality guiding sense to our moral practice

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