Abstract

Oscar Wilde was not the inventor of Aestheticism, but he was a great advocator and practitioner of artistic aestheticism and an important writer in English literary history. He insisted that art should be separated from morality. Characters in his fairy tales are seemingly all transcendent over ethical reality since he made great effort to implement his aesthetic principles in all his writings. Wilde thinks that art should be escaped from morality and it should not be meant to instruct and should not concern itself with social, moral, or political guidance. He holds the thinking as the prominent advocating of aestheticism．

Wilde tried to put his aesthetic ideals into practice by fairy tales, in which one can fully extend one’s imagination and keep distance with the reality. However, it is impossible for literary works or any other forms of art to be completely separated from society. As Oscar himself brought his values in the stories and readers interpret the stories by their values, Wilde’s aestheticism can only be an artistic ideal which is impossible to be realized.

Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales have the same function as traditional fairy tales which serves as moral instructions. His fairy tales fails to avoid moral reference and his characters all aim to be didactic．

Traditional fairy tales serves as moral instructions and they are didactic. Wilde tried to avoid to be didactic and intended to surpass the moral reality. However, each of his fairy tales is able to be connected the real life and give the readers moral instructions. His characters, such as the happy prince, the swallow, the reed and the remarkable rocket, all reflect certain ethical values. Therefore, Wilde’s literary practice fails to accord with his aesthetic views.

This thesis makes an deep analysis of Wilde’s fairy tales“The Happy Prince” and “The Devoted Friends”．From his tales，moral examples are represented by the good deeds done by happy prince and the little swallow and the moral implication of the faithful friend．

Keyword: Oscar Wilde; Morality; Fairy Tale; Victorian Society; Love

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 A Brief Introduction of Oscar Wilde and his Fairy Tales-1

1.2 Background and Significance of the study-2

2. Literary Review-3

2.1 Studies Abroad-3

2.1.1 The early period-4

2.1.2 The middle period-4

2.1.3 The late period-4

2.2 Studies at home-4

3. Methodology-5

3.1 Introduction to the historical-biographical approach and traditional literary criticism-5

4. The contradiction between Wilde’s Aesthetic views and moral themes in fairy tales-6

4.1 Aestheticism's Emphasis on Imagination and Individuality-6

4.2 The Tension between Aestheticism and Moral Reality-7

5. Wilde’s Ethical Intention-8

5.1 Hypocrisy of Victorian Morality-8

5.2 Emphasis on Love-12

6. Conclution-15

Reference-16