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The Role Of Aestheticism In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

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In England, 1890 to 1920 was the time of Aestheticism. A time period that changed people 's mindset and is an important part of European history, especially in terms of literature. One of the most famous representatives of the Aesthetic Movement is Oscar Wilde who became well-known among others for his novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" that shows typical aspects of Aestheticism. Aestheticism Aestheticism is an European arts movement from 1890 to 1920. The main idea behind this movement is that beauty has priority and any other aspects of art, literature and music are less important. Back then, people didn 't want to care about any deeper meaning behind arts, they rather regarded the beauty of arts as the highest value, which is said to be a reaction to (the) industrialisation. Follower of the Aesthetic Movement had a completely different mindset than others. Instead of seeing life how it is, with good experiences as well as bad incidences, aestheticists rather believed that life only consisted of pleasures and that one should enjoy it without worrying about possible consequences. They only saw the aesthetic in …show more content…

He thinks that live is a succession of pleasures and beautiful moments, things, and people. For him, the beauty of something is more important than inner values, which is for example the reason why he suggests that Sibyl Vane 's suicide was her own little tragedy with which she wanted to get attention. Although Dorian basically admits that he is the reason for Sibyl 's death, Lord Henry doesn 't want to see the truth because it wouldn 't be as glamorous and beautiful. Because life only consists of pleasures, Dorian simply can 't be the reason for Sibyl 's suicide and therefore her death has to be her way of getting the attention she desired; at least that 's why Lord Henry thinks Dorian isn 't

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