Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Aestheticism and Homoeroticism in Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 6 page
paper discussing how these two influences work together in the novel. Wilde is able to
employ his devotion to aestheticism to weave the tale of Dorian Gray and its attached
homoeroticism because he gives all involved a lifestyle in which things can be hidden or
contorted, but always used for the main characters' benefit. In this work, aestheticism and
homoeroticism work together in a manner that if either were missing, then likely the work
would not retain its enduring attraction. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: CC6_KSDorGray.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
romance to aestheticism. Wilde was the most visible of aestheticisms adherents, and in fact is credited with creating the stereotype of gay men dressing, if not effeminately, at least
outrageously (Wikholm wilde). "Victorians perceived sex as chaotic and anarchic, a threat to the social order and to the self" (Reddy 159), thereby
making its treatment in literature require complex strategies. White (1999) states that there was one explicitly homosexual reference in the original manuscript of "The Picture of Dorian Gray," but
that it was removed before the first printing. All other references are by implication, which Wilde makes possible in the environment of aestheticism.
The Pursuit of Pleasure Aestheticism includes hedonism but certainly is not limited to it. The concept of "pleasure" extended for
some beyond Wildes and Grays concept of it to include a pleasure in pursuing social justice or doing a good deed for the benefit of another. That variety of
aestheticism is not Wildes, however, nor was it Dorian Grays. White (1999) writes, "A careless or naive reader, especially during the Victorian period,
could have entirely missed that The Picture of Dorian Gray is a gay book. After all, the protagonist, Dorian, is guilty, among other things, of destroying womens reputations" (25).
Gray exhibits cruelty and faithlessness, certainly not evident aspects of aestheticism, but outcomes of the careless application of it nonetheless. If Gray was nothing else, he was careless in
his application of aestheticist tenets. Aestheticism does have a moral basis in its highest forms, but Gray had no such hindrances as allegiance
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