Abstract:The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel that Oscar Wilde wrote as well as one of his works demonstrating his pursuit of aestheticism and his support of “art for art’s sake”. In this novel, the main character, Dorian Gray, pursued art persistently. However, he ignored morality recklessly when he was obsessed with art which made him suffer a bitter life. Through analyzing Dorian’s great passion towards art and his reckless disregard of morality on his way of seeking art, this thesis aims to figure out the origin of Dorian Gray’s tragic fate.

There are three parts in this thesis in general, introduction part, main body part and conclusion part. The introduction part will briefly introduce Oscar Wilde, the main plot of this novel and the theme of this thesis. In the second part, Dorian Gray’s pursuit of art and his moral degeneration will be unfolded separately. The art Dorian pursued included forever youth, the exquisite decorations in his house and an ideal love. Meanwhile, he ignored morality in this process and did many evil things. His indulgence of sense and desire, heartless abandonment of Sybil Vane, concealment of portrait and cruel murder of Basil Hallward all proved his moral degeneration. The conclusion will reveal the origin of Dorian’s tragic fate.

Dorian’s stubborn pursuit of art exactly reflects Oscar Wilde’s aesthetic ideas. Although Dorian pursued art so persistently, he still ended up tragically because he could not get rid of morality completely. Therefore, the origin of his tragic fate was the conflict between art and morality. He was doomed to suffer from his wish for pure arts and the constraints of morality in reality.

Key words: art; morality; aestheticism; art for art’s sake

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

I.-Introduction-1

II.-The Conflict between Art and Morality – The Origin of the Tragic Fate-2

A.-The Persistent Pursuit of Art-2

a.-Forever Youth-2

b.-Exquisite Decorations-4

c.-Ideal Love-5

B.-The Moral Degeneration-7

a.-Sense and Desire-7

b.-Heartless Abandonment-8

c.-Concealment of Portrait-10

d.-Cruel Murder-12

III.-Conclusion-13

Bibliography-15

Acknowledgements-16

致谢-17