1. Starter: Glossary homework
Which terms were new for you?
What did you learn about the Gothic through this activity?
Don’t worry if you struggled with some of these terms – we will use them and discuss them as we continue to read The Picture of Dorian Gray.

2. Understanding the context of The Picture of Dorian Gray
LO: to understand how Wilde’s novel responded to and reflected concerns of the 1890s (AO3)
Read the quotations below. What do they mean? Which do you agree with?
The art of any country is the exponent of its social and political views. (Ruskin)
Poesy, [is] a speaking picture [...] to teach and delight. (Sidney)
Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. (Wilde)
All art is quite useless. (Wilde)
I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art. (Fischer)
Culture [has] its origin in the love of perfection [...] the moral and social passion for doing good. (Arnold)
All art is but imitation of nature. (Seneca)
Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. (Degas)
An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. (Wilde)

3. Oscar Wilde’s life and times – the key facts
Born in 1854 in Dublin
Studied at Oxford and became influenced by Walter Pater and followers of the Aesthetic Movement
Renowned as a flamboyant, colourful, outrageous character, but also charming and entertaining
Spent much of his time with high society in London – precisely the milieu he writes about in his plays
Highly successful and popular writer, although some of his works, in particular Salome and The Picture of Dorian Gray attracted criticism for seeming to promote immoral behaviour
Married Constance Lloyd and had two children
Affair with Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas led to public discredit due to Bosie’s father’s violent and aggressive attitude. Court case led to arrest for ‘indecent’ behaviour and he was sentenced to 2 years hard labour - almost tantamount to a death sentence since the work was so hard.
After release, he lived in France and died alone in Paris in He never saw his wife or children again – his wife changed her name to escape the scandal.

4. Aestheticism, Décadence and the fin de siècle
Towards the end of the 19th century, people became increasingly concerned about the morality of their civilisation as the century drew to an end. This led to the term ‘fin de siècle’, which is often associated with ennui, degeneration, pessimism and decadence. Art from this time, such as TPODG, reveals these feelings and responses to it.
Read this article and answer these questions:
What did the Victorians think art was ‘for’?
How did Charles Algernon Swinburne challenge these ideals?
What did Walter Pater argue in favour of?
What did Wilde think the relationship between art and life was?
How did mainstream Victorian morality respond to ‘art for art’s sake’?
How does ‘art for art’s sake’ link to Décadence?
What was The Yellow Book?
What was Décadence associated with by the 1890s?
How do these concerns link to Oscar Wilde’s trial in 1985?

5. Oscar Wilde as an embodiment of Aestheticism
“a great green coat that hung down almost to his feet…the collar and cuffs were trimmed with seal or otter and so was the material for the round cap, various described as a smoking cap or a turban. Beneath the coat could be discerned a shirt with a wide Lord Byron collar and a sky-blue necktie, vaguely reminiscent of the costume of a modern mariner. He wore patent leather shoes on his small feet.”
Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde, pp.150-1, cited in York Notes on The Importance of Being Earnest.

6. The Preface to Dorian Gray
In 1891, Wilde wrote the Preface to ‘teach [the journalists] to mend their wicked ways’, after he received much criticism for the novel’s supposed ‘immorality’.
Read the Preface. How does it reflect the ideals of the Aesthetic movement?
Daily Chronicle: ‘effeminate frivolity’
Scots Observer: ‘for not but outlawed noblemen or perverted telegraph boys’
Scots Observer: ‘matters only fitted for the Criminal Investigation Department or a hearing in camera’
Daily Chronicle: ‘studied insincerity’
St James’ Gazette: Wilde ‘airs his cheap research among the garbage of the French Décadents’
Contemporary reviews of The Picture of Dorian Gray
Christian Leader: ‘a service to his age’

7. In what ways is this language similar to the Preface?
epigram: a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way.
Wilde is particularly famous for his epigrams, which were tongue-in-cheek and intended to be humorous or ironic.
Complete the worksheet of some of Wilde’s famous quotations. What do you notice about the way language is used for impact?
In what ways is this language similar to the Preface?

8. How does this relate to the ‘Gothic’?
Hints:
Liminality – the turn of the century
Moral ambiguity
Focus on sensuality
Associations with immorality
Transgressing social codes

9. Plenary: easy as 1-2-3 In groups, label yourself 1, 2 or 3.
What does ‘art for art’s sake’ mean?
What is an epigram?
When and why did Wilde write the Preface?
If you get stuck...