THE AESTHETES DORIAN ANDREA The famous writers

THE AESTHETES: DORIAN ANDREA

The famous writers Oscar Wilde and Gabriele D’Annunzio are chronologically next. They belong to the second halves of the eight hundred, but they lived in different countries, Uk and Italy. Both writers represent the most important representatives of the artistic and litirary movement of aestheticism. The aesthete transforms his life in an artwork despising bourgeois vulgarity and conformist reality of the time. For them, the hero is an impersonation of their ideals. This idea was in contrast with the tendencies of the time, dominated by nationalism, scientism and by emphasis on what was useful they both aimed at the ideal of dandy (a man who is vain and who pays excessive attention to his appearance and is often effeminate) in their lifestyles. But there is a big different between the two writers: D’Annunzio moved to patriottic ideals, while Wilde wasn’t a patriot.

Both Dorian Gray and Andrea Sperelli are typical dandies who live looking for beauty and elegance; they despise whatever is trivial and mediocre. Sperelli and Gray are two guys that devote their life at pleasure searcing. Gray is described like a shallow amateur, for Wilde, infact, the very aestheticism is an old with a young face, a mask that hide the time signs and that conceal the corruption. While Andrea is a guy but with evident signs of his experience and not ashamed of that.

The plot of «The picture of Dorian Gray» The novel is set in London at the end of the 19° century. The protagonist is Dorian Gray a young man whose beauty fashinates a painter, Basil Hallward, who decides to paint him. While the young man’s desires are satisfied, including that of eternal youth, the signs of age, experience and vice appear on the portrait. Dorian lives only for pleasure, making use of everybody and letting people die because of his insensitivity. When Basil sees the corrupted image of the portrait, Dorian kills him. Later the protagonist wants to free himself of the portrait. In the very moment of death the picture returns to its original purity, and Dorian’s face becames «Withered, wrinkled, and loathsome» .

The plot of «Il Piacere» Andrea Sperelli lives in Rome and loves Elena Muti, a woman with a strong personality. But she goes away from Rome for getting married with Lord Heathfield, an english man. Far that, Andrea starts a frenetic life and he has a querrel with his cousin. Infact during the stay at his cousin’s house, he knows Maria Ferres, a very sensitive woman. He loves her but he calls her Elena, so Maria leaves him and remains alone. The despire of Andrea can’t stop the ultimate getaway of Maria the book closes with the auction of women’s goods: at Andrea remains only a wardrobe, symbole that summarizes his defeat.

The setting and experiences The picture of Dorian Gray The setting The story is set in London. Dorian Gray wants to Experiences realize his whishes and his dreams. Il Piacere The story is set in Rome. Andrea Sperelli is sensitive, he wants to do new experiences because he is very nosy. They have the same conception of art: «Art for Art’s sake»

London 1890

Rome 1890

The main characters and tastes The picture of Dorian Gray The main chatacters Tastes Il Piacere Dorian, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Andrea Sperelli, his father, Elena Muti, his cousin and Maria Ferres. Dorian Gray likes beauty and loves art. Andrea Sperelli likes beauty, he loves art and the avidity for pleasure.

Beauty and Corruption The picture of Dorian Gray Beauty Dorian believes that beauty is synonymous with youth and happiness. Dorian thinks that the corruption is an instrument Corruption to reach his wishes and his dreams. Il Piacere Andrea wants to reach it at any costs, becoming important and refining taste. Andrea thinks that the corruption is an instrument of elevation and refinement.

The exaltation of aristocratic values Both Andrea Sperelli and Dorian Gray are two dandies. They are two aristocrats and their elegance is symbol of superiority of their spirit. Their interest are: beautiful clothes, good conservation, delicious food, handsome boys and girls.

The relationship with other characters Andrea Sperelli loves Elena Muti and Maria Ferres; he is helped, involuntarily, by his cousin because he meets Maria thanks to him. Dorian Gray is urged by Lord Henry to became a dandy and to understand that youth is synonymous with beauty. Sperelli hasn’t got all the characteristics of the aesthete because his father wants him to became a dandy, but Andrea is weak so his moral, pleasures and hopes are destroyed. He isn’t a dandy like Dorian who always wants to be handsome and young at all costs. The conclusions of the novels are similar: at the end, we have the failure of both and all their projects of aesthetes, fail too, but in different ways. Dorian died because destroying the picture, he has the punishment for all his since and Andrea is left by Maria and by Elena.

AESTHETICISM AND DECADENCE Finally, Decadentism was characterized by a sort of extremism, because the main traits of Aestheticism underwent a process of refinement which developed until it got into the absurd, the distasteful and the futile. Decadentists felt totally different from the mass and were attracted by the unusual. They found an escape from the reality in their selves with the help of drugs which brought them into the so called “Paradise artificiels” where the illusions replaced reality. Decadentists found beauty even in evil and decay, according to the poems of Charles Baudelaire.