Aestheticism

Question 1

Fin de Siècle

Answer 1

• “End of the century” —> 1880-1914
• Feeling that an epoch had ended
• Time of change —> feminism; psychoanalysis; Darwinism; urbanisation
• Excitement and anxiety
• Reaction against morals and beliefs of the Victorian age

Question 2

Aestheticism Characteristics

Answer 2

• “Art for art’s sake” (“L’art pour l’art”) —> no moral message, no didactic aims
• Beauty is more important than morals
• Art is more important than life
• Figure of the dandy

Question 3

Oscar Wilde

Answer 3

Main works:
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (novel)
• The Soul of Man under Socialism (political essay)
• Lady Windermere’sFan(play)
• A Woman of No Importance (play)
• An Ideal Husband (play)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (play)
• De Profundis
• The Ballad of Reading Gaol (poem)

Question 4

Oscar Isaac Trials

Answer 4

• Relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas (“Bosie”)
• In 1895, Bosie’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry, leaves a note addressed “Wilde, sodomite”
• Wilde sues Queensberry for libel
• Wilde arrested for “gross indecency”
• Sentenced to two years hard labour —> De Profundis, The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Question 5

Decadence

Answer 5

• Intense refinement
• Artificiality prefered to nature (J.K. Huysman, A rebours)
• Attitude of ennui/boredom
• Interest in transgression and perversion

Question 6

The Importance of Being Earnest

Answer 6

• A Trivial Comedy for Serious People
• Hugely successful but also beginning of end of Wilde’s career
• Comedy; humour, wit
• A farce?
• Satire of Victorian social norms and institutions, esp. marriage
• Themes: triviality of life in the upper classes, norms surrounding courtship and marriage
• Linguistic humour, play on words

Summary:
• The Importance of Being Earnest is the most renowned of Oscar Wilde’s comedies.
• It’s the story of two bachelors, John ‘Jack’ Worthing and Algernon ‘Algy’ Moncrieff, who create alter egos named Ernest to escape their tiresome lives.
• They attempt to win the hearts of two women who, conveniently, claim to only love men called Ernest.
• The pair struggle to keep up with their own stories and become tangled in a tale of deception, disguise and misadventure.
• The elaborate plot ridicules Victorian sensibilities with some of the best loved, and indeed bizarre, characters to be found on the modern stage.

Question 7

The Edwardian Period

Answer 7

• Boer War (1899-1902)
• Suffragettes
- Vote for women (established in1918)
- The Women’s Social and Political Union founded by Emmeline Pankhurst (1903)
- Radical tactics (hungerstrikes, arson, bombs, etc.)

• Critical of Victorian themes and attitudes
• Emancipation of women
• Subject of nostalgia