The Apollonian and Dionysian voices in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Year: 2011
Abstract
This study interprets Oscar Wilde‘s The Picture of Dorian Gray from the perspective of Friedrich Nietzsche‘s theory of the Dionysian and Apollonian voices in order to reveal the relationships between art and a linguistic elaboration of reality. Therefore, this novel is taken as a space where multiple and contrary discourses dialogue among them, creating and elaborating a unique literary universe which represents a metaphor of how human relationships to the world are created. It also discusses the role of morality in the process of artistic creation and the inherent conflict between the artist, art and ethics. Additionally, it shows how art is a subversive discourse that criticizes and undermines the hegemonic ideologies of a certain time, in Wilde‘s Victorian time.
Keywords
esthetics, ethics, illusion, morality, reality, discourse, Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde