Oscar Wilde Essay Examples - Free Research Paper Topics on StudyDriver.com

Subcategories

Oscar Wilde Civil Disobedience

If no one ever disobeyed what was considered unacceptable, a nation or group would never reconsider their way of life to recognize if they are wrong and correct their mistakes. It is the original thought and action that progresses our world. In other words, disobedience drives social progress. Disobedience, through history, is a valuable human trait in light of the fact that it promoted cultural change, has exposed the unjust, and empowered the inevitably weak. First off, disobedience can be […]

Oscar Wilde’s the Importance of being Earnest

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest takes place in the Victorian Era and follows Jack Worthing, a man who creates a fake identity named Earnest in order to escape his home life and win the heart of Gwendolyn Fairfax, an aristocrat from London. It also follows Jack’s friend Algernon Moncrieff, who later also pretends to be named Earnest in order to marry Jack’s ward Cecily Cardew. Both Gwendolen and Cecily have a silly belief that they are destined to […]

The Influence of Oscar Wilde’s Sexuality | English Literature Dissertation

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a writer whose homoerotic texts pushed the social boundaries of the Victorian era. Born to a family of unabashed Irish agnostics, the self-proclaimed “dandy” valued art, fashion, and all things physically beautiful. After receiving a comprehensive education from Oxford, Wilde made a name for himself in London first as a novelist, penning the now famous The Picture of Dorian Gray. A string of successful plays followed, among them “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “An Ideal […]

Aesthetic Principles in Oscar Wilde’s the Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is one of the most famous figures linked to literary Aestheticism. He was generally viewed as a controversial symbol for Aestheticism, mainly because of his appearance. In his article The Life of Oscar Wilde,Hesketh Pearson argues that Wilde got introduced to the aesthetic principles by his college teachers, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. He kept Patter’s words of philosophy with him everywhere and named them his “Golden book,” because to him they were life changing. Ruskin inspired […]

A Queer Theory Reading of Oscar Wilde’s: a Picture of Dorian Gray | English Literature Dissertation

Aestheticism dictates that life should be lived by an ideal of beauty and a movement embodied by the phrase of ‘art for art’s sake.’ There is perhaps no greater advocate of such beliefs as Oscar Wilde, and the characteristics of aestheticism run through much of his work, both plays and stories, particularly in the character of the dandy. It would be difficult to analyse any of Wilde’s work without considering his own personal life and consequently, almost impossible to analyse […]

The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay: the Life of Secrecy

In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, secrecy greatly affected Dorian Gray and the weakness his mind had caused a tragic downfall. Dorian Gray was an innocent, beautiful, handsome young man who sold his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influences changed him from an innocents into an evil person who blames others for his action and into someone full of dark secrets. He admires his beauty so much to the fact that only his beauty is what remains […]

The Transformation of a Selfish Giant

As people, we often become self-absorbed. Sometimes without meaning too, we become selfish. The word selfish is used to describe someone who is devoted to oneself. Often, selfish people end up lonely, due to the lack of caring. The question that one may ask is; can one person transform themselves for the better? The answer is yes, one person can certainly change for the better. In the story “The Selfish Giant” Oscar Wilde portrays what it is like being both […]

Wilde’s Purpose in Writing

Wilde’s purpose in writing this play about Victorian society was to expose the foolishness of the society and show readers that the posh people and their social values were ridiculous. During that time, Victorian society cared mostly about wealth, social status, bloodlines and other irrelevant qualities of a person. Wilde displays these concepts as foolish. We can sense his attitude towards this during the part in the story when Lady Bracknell is questioning Jack to see if he would be […]

Satire in the Importance of being Earnest

The surface overview of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest paints the image of an amusing comedy merely for entertainment purpose. Evidently, Wilde employs numerous techniques such as trickery, sarcasm, and jokes which are central to humor studies. Although a majority of the readers, critics, and reviewers agree that The Importance of Being Earnest is pretty funny, it justly castes a satirical limelight on the Victorian era (Wilde also wrote during the Victorian era). Victorian era was mainly characterized by […]

A Revolutionary Outrage

The importance of being earnest is a trivial comedy by Irish and poet Oscar Wilde. Jeremy Lalonde’s article A Revolutionary outrage: The importance of being earnest as social criticism discusses the main argument about the homosexuality and marriage in this play. Realizing personality in the importance of being earnest by Sarah Balkin is talking about one’s personality that is relating with all art and mode of acting. Third article by W.Craven Mackie Bunbury pure and simple is a letter which […]

The Women Announce

In Act III of The Importance of Being Earnest, the play picks back up in the country home where Gwendolyn and Cecily are waiting to hear what Algernon and John have to say for themselves. In the previous act, Algernon and John were both caught lying about being Earnest by the women. The men enter into the room and both women immediately demand explanations for their actions. Algernon and John explain the situation and why they did what they did, […]

The Picture of Dorian Gray Quotes and Characters Analysis

Setting (Jasmine) The Decadent Movement was an artistic and literary movement occurring in Western Europe that portrayed an aesthetic style of satire, critique, and artificiality. The novel was both written and set in London, England sometime in the 1890s. Dorian travels freely between two major parts of London; the wealthy West end, and the run-down East end. These two sides of London represent the two sides of Dorian Gray. On the west side, Dorian is a gentleman, the local celebrity. […]

Internal and External Conflicts in the Picture of Dorian Gray

The novel The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde during the late 1800s is a story that follows the life of Dorian Gray who is described as a young man of extraordinary personal beauty (Wilde 3). Over the course of the plot, Gray struggles with internal and external conflicts that are coincidentally connected. As the main character has difficulties overcoming his vanity, he experiences paranoia and trust issues, which lead up to a dramatic and suspenseful death. When […]

Lord Henry is the Root of Dorian Gray’s Corruption

In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde, the main character Dorian Gray is corrupted by his acquaintance Lord Henry, who ultimately leads to Dorians demise. Throughout the story Lord Henry fills Dorians head with all types of immoral thoughts and lies. Lord Henrys flawed philosophical theories alter his mind and eventually lead Dorian down the wrong path. As a result of this, Dorian ends up murdering his dear friend Basil Hallward, after he confronts Dorian. […]

The Picture of Dorian Gray and the Victorian Era

In July 1890, esteemed Irish author Oscar Wilde’s first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published, making its first appearance to the public (Buzwell). The novel’s main character is Dorian Gray, a young gentleman who becomes in possession of a portrait that ages for him, in addition to bearing the brunt of his sins, leading him down a path of immorality and destruction. The novel sent shock waves late Victorian England with its references to topics that, […]

New Hedonism in the Picture of Dorian Gray

In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray undertakes a life of new hedonism after it is espoused by Lord Henry Wotton (Wilde 94). This new hedonism values pleasure and beauty above all else and drives Dorians desire to stay youthful and beautiful forever. Dorian Grays pursuit of the hedonistic lifestyle brings harm to those around him, as it promotes the idea of living solely for oneself and ones own pleasure. While the tenets of […]

Dorian Gray: a Parable

Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray is a controversial novel about the vanity of youth and how it corrupts the very heart of the human soul. Wilde intended this novel to be a parable, warning its readers about the nature of humanity and how easily a human soul can be corrupted. From the very beginning, Dorian Gray is depicted as a handsome youth; however, as a young man, he is still na??ve about the ways of the world. As […]

Themes in the Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, first published in 1890, was extremely controversial. Many considered it morally wrong because of the things it portrayed (SparkNotes). But the main elements it portrayed, its themes, were common ones. The idolization of beauty and youth begins on page one and continues on through until the end. Art is also introduced on page one, before page one really, and its effects are felt throughout the entire book. A constant battle between good […]

Dorian Gray: Fear or Corruption

In the book, The Picture of Dorian Gray, it is believed by many people that Lord Henry has corrupted Dorian Gray, but this may not be true. Many believe, that Dorian Gray hates Lord Henry because he is alone in the world. Having someone just like himself scares him; Therefore, Dorian Gray lets Lord Henry believe that he has corrupted him, but why? It is possible that Dorian Gray wants to have someone in the world like him. Dorian Gray […]

Misogyny in the Picture of Dorian Gray

In Oscar Wildes novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray is influenced by his friends Basil and Lord Henry. Basil is portrayed as the good influence because he always tried to keep him from following any evil patterns. On the other hand, Lord Henry was considered a terrible influence towards Dorian, for he taught this character that pleasure was the most important quality in life. Being more intrigued by the path of pleasure, Dorian strikes a corrupt sense of […]

Oscar Wilde Essays

Subcategories