The Picture of Dorian Gray - Preface - Aestheticism and Wilde's View on his Audience

The preface of A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde deals with aestheticism and Wilde's attitude towards his audience. Aestheticism was a movement in British and American art that sought the acceptance of artistic beauty and taste as a fundamental standard. Oscar Wilde was a firm supporter of aestheticism and tries to explain it to his readers in the preface. He tells of the difference between being corrupt and cultivated,  the lacking of ethical sympathies in artists, and other ideas of aestheticism. Wilde uses two metaphors in the preface, the first being: "the nineteenth century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass" (vii). This metaphor utilizes the character Caliban from Shakespeare's The Tempest, a savage human, to symbolize society. This metaphor explains that society doesn't like Realism because it brings out the ugly truth in the world. The second metaphor is: "the nineteenth century dislike of Romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass" (vii). This metaphor explains that society does not like Romanticism because it is too unlike society, too fanciful and unbelievable. In the end, many members of society may never be fully happy with art until they just try to appreciate it for what it is and not what they want it to be.

Wilde's attitude towards his audience is one of acceptance with minimal disagreement and disappointment. Wilde, having heard and read that there are diverse opinions about his book, explains that such varying opinions are normal. He says that these diverse opinions "[show] that the work is new, complex, and vital," turning a possible negative into a positive and accepting that there will be critics (viii). Wilde disagrees with what some of the opinions are claiming stating that "there is no such thing as a moral or immoral book" (vii). This statement relates to Wilde's views of aestheticism where morality does not play a role. He is telling his readers that he is writing the book with the ideas of aestheticism in mind and that he wants the readers to try and think this way as well. He is writing the book because he wants to send out a message and wishes for his readers to try to understand the message along with how the book is written.