I thought we might try something a bit different on the writing side of this blog... essays! Today's essay briefly explores the concepts of Plato's theories on art and imitation, and how Oscar Wilde responded to this as well as how these themes are explored in The Picture of Dorian Gray. I hope you enjoy!
To understand the concepts of Art as Lies, one must delve into the depth of Plato’s mind, wherein Reality sat upon a gilded throne, tormented by a dark antagonist: Art. Plato’s “Theory of Ideas”, as seen in The Republic, conceived the notion that thoughts are the ultimate of Reality. Ideas, in their spectral form, are the highest embodiment of a “thing”, with that physical thing, therefore, being an inferior imitation (Plato, 2013). Plato goes on to suggest that, consequently, Art is a thrice removed reproduction of the thought, diluting the value of the Art from thought to creation. Art, to Plato, held no value in society, it aimed to distance one from Reality, throwing in romanticised and untrue concepts of the perfect thought, instead of further igniting the fires of Reality (Nasrullah Mambrol, 2017). The passion it could inspire was a danger to society, and in the wrong hands could become the proverbial Pied Piper, leading the masses astray. Art was, is, therefore, deception. One has only perfected their artistic craft once one has deceived the onlooker of this imperfect facsimile being Reality (Plato, 2013). To Plato, this imitation was a wholly negative thing, placing art as some beguiling swindler seeking to tempt one away from the superlative form—Reality.
Oscar Wilde’s The Decay of Lying proves both the work and author’s penchant for wit and irony long before the prose has even begun to unfold. Wilde sought to use a Platonic dialogue throughout the piece, arguing how Art, in all its many glorious forms, imitates nothing but Art itself, all the while, the dialogue takes place between two men named after his own, very real, sons, Cyril and Vivian. Already, his use of Platonic form sews the seeds of satire throughout this text, in which, Wilde proclaims the supremacy of Art over Reality, going so far as to suggest that the sole value of Art lies within its rejection of the confines of Reality (Mariana, 2006). In The Decay of Lying, Wilde travels the opposite path of Plato, arguing that Art, not Reality, is perfection. The statement, “Art finds her own perfection within, and not outside of, herself. She is not to be judged by any external standard of resemblance. She is a veil, rather than a mirror” (Wilde, 2016), personifies Art to some mystical, ethereal creature that will stand the test of time and judgment, for she, like a Deity, is perfection of her own making. As a Romantic, and proud Aesthete, Wilde was cursed by the hand of fate that determined he be born in the infancy of the Realism movement. His lament for the decay of lying, and therefore the decay of Art and Romanticism, is continuously expressed within this text, from the title down to prose (Wilde, 2016). Therefore, although both Plato and Wilde are in agreement that Art and Lying are one and the same, the two yield opposing blades in the battle of victor between them.
Lying—as a synonym of Art—, Aestheticism, and the temptation of Art over Reality are concepts explored heavily within Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. The preface of the novel serves as a summary to Wilde’s Aesthetic philosophy, as well as an indirect synopsis for the novel itself. Wilde states:
“All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their own risk.”
(Wilde, 2017, p. xiv)
Which becomes true of both Hallward and Gray, where one finds the Realism of his Art to be too terrifying a portrait of his concealed desires and Truth, and the other who seeks the preternatural beauty of the Art within Reality, to the detriment of both him and Hallward.
Whereas Dorian Gray might be the protagonist, some consider that he is also the antagonist, whilst others suggest it is Lord Henry Watton, the man who demonstrates to Gray the Reality of his Beauty, as well as introduces him to the Yellow Book. If I may be so bold, and though this may sound Platonic, I would like to suggest that the true antagonist of the novel, or the true temptress into the darkness and ultimate downfall of the young man, is Art itself. From Basil Hallward’s painting of Gray, which acted as the river did to Narcissus, to the Yellow Book, which fed Gray the first morsels of decadence, only to then become a feast, Art both constructs and demolishes Dorian Gray as a concept. The portrait by Hallward becomes an ugly reflection of Reality for the artistic subject. It serves as a mirror into the dissipated world in which Gray finds himself as he teeters on the edge of Art and Reality. The mysterious Yellow Book, however, acts as a map between the world of Decadence and that of moralistic restrictions. Within the preface of the novel, Wilde writes that there is no such thing as a moral or immoral book (Wilde, 2016), which sets up the Yellow Book as being superfluous to Dorian’s descent into sin. Wilde’s ideas around Art having no basis in morality directly conflict with Plato’s theories, which would suggest he almost feared Art as some bestial weapon that could be used to taint the purity of mind and soul. Plato’s ideational component continues his exploration of Art versus Reality, for Hallward thinks his work is too much a reflection of Reality, whereas Dorian sees Art itself as the Reality, and it brings the bitter demise of both men. Relating this to Wilde’s proclamations of Art and Reality, and how they cannot reflect one another, nor, therefore, can Art be held to moralistic account as that of real actions can, one can begin to see how The Picture of Dorian Gray might begin to be held as a cautionary tale between Truth, or Reality, and Lying, or Art.
The Picture of Dorian Gray almost acts as a direct mockery of Plato’s theories, taunting the idea that Art is any more immoral than Reality, or even a reflection of it. Whereas Plato sees Art as dangerous, Wilde venerated the superficiality of it all, going so far as to directly mock Plato by comparing the proverbial Music, Plato’s greatest Artistic foe, to the melodies of the fallen Marsyas opposed to Apollo, who shields from Reality and the “shadow of the cave”—Plato’s parallel of the human condition (Wilde, 2016). The fact is, Wilde’s life was a confused tangle of Truth and Lies. His public Reality was one of Deceit, where his reflection upon the walls of the cave would be one of a man who lived the life of a happily married husband and father of two boys, the aforementioned Cyril and Vivian. His hidden Reality was that of a repressed, queer man, living extravagantly and seemingly without shame in a time where moralistic limitations wrapped a tight noose around the liberties of civilised Victorian society. Where those two lies met was Art, in which he poured his philosophies, spread his mantras, and controlled the script to paint a contrived caricature of his Real self (Belford, 1997). Wilde even reflected on his self-insertion in The Picture of Dorian Gray, seeing himself in Hallward, Watton, and Gray, each one mirroring a different image of him, as well as confessing that Dorian Gray’s path of debauchery was one he too was heading down (Lawler and Knott, 1976). This blur between Art and Reality was also what led to his own imprisonment, with his Art brandished as the ultimate weapon of his guilt during the trials. Lies and Truth, Art and Reality, became a motley of ambiguity smeared across Wilde’s life, blurring the lines between the two, and sentencing him to final days blackened by destitution and solitude.
If Plato was right, and Art can never be used to replicate a true image of Reality, if it serves no moral or societal purpose, then it begs the question of how it could be relied upon so heavily in Wilde’s court cases, as one example of many. Equally, if one is to trust in Wilde that Art and Reality can never reflect one another, that Art is perfection, unable to be judged by Realty’s moral standards, then one must ask the same thing. It would seem, in some ways, that both Plato and Wilde feared, or revered, the same thing: the dissipation of man through Art and Lies.
Reference list
Belford, B. (1997). On Becoming Oscar Wilde: Transformations Seen In a Biographer’s Journal. American Imago, 54(4), pp.333–346.
Lawler, D.L. and Knott, C.E. (1976). The Context of Invention: Suggested Origins of “Dorian Gray.” Modern Philology, 73(4, Part 1), pp.389–398.
Mariana, C. (2006). Oscar Wilde, Fernando Pessoa, and the Art of Lying. Portuguese Studies, [online] 22(02), pp.219–49. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41105265?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents [Accessed 2021].
NASRULLAH MAMBROL (2017). Literary Criticism of Plato. [online] Literary Theory and Criticism. Available at: https://literariness.org/2017/05/01/literary-criticism-of-plato/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2021].
Plato (2013). Plato, Republic. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Wilde, O. (2016). The decay of lying : an observation. Richmond, Surrey: Alma Classics.
Wilde, O. (2017). The picture of Dorian Gray. London William Collins.