Abstract and Key Words

Abstract:  Oscar Wilde’s novel The picture of Dorian Gray reveals the multilevel nature of a novel. This paper analyzes the Mythological Prototype in order to make readers get a more correct and comprehensive understanding of this novel and Wilde himself. The main characters, Dorian Gray and Henry Warton have their mythological prototypes. This paper moves on to discuss this point. That is why in the long controversy, the literary value of The picture of Dorian Gray has not been diminishing. Instead, this novel has already been growing in popularity.               

Key Words：The Picture of Dorian Gray; Wilde; Mythological Prototype

摘要：奥斯卡•王尔德的小说《道林•格雷的画像》体现了小说的多层次性。而本文着重于对神话原型的解读，使读者对小说和王尔德本人有个更正确更全面的认识。作品中主要人物道林•格雷和亨利•沃顿都有神话原型，本文对此做了进一步讨论，体现了作品内容的丰富多彩。这也是该小说在历经多年的争辩中，文学价值没有消失，反而已经越来越受人追捧的原因。

关键词： 《道林•格雷的画像》； 王尔德；神话原型

1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction to the Writer
Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer, poet and prominent aesthete. His parents were successful Dublin intellectuals, and from an early age he showed his intelligence, and was fluent in French and German, then an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day. It was his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray that brought him more lasting recognition. At the height of his fame and success, he suffered a dramatic downfall in a sensational series of trials. Wilde was imprisoned for two years' hard labor after being convicted of "gross indecency" with other men. After release from prison he set sail for Dieppe by the night ferry, never to return to Ireland or Britain. He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six.
To understand Wilde’s works better, we have to acquaint ourselves with his life experience. Because he says that he puts his talents into his works while he puts his genius into his life. And Norbert Kohl proclaims that “any critic dealing with the life and works of Oscar Wilde will realize right from the start that his subject was not only an author, but to his contemporaries and to succeeding generation, an out standing personality on the English cultural scene of the late nineteenth century.” He is the most shinning figure at the turn of 20th century, whose witty remarks are quoted everywhere. His life style shapes his art, for “he was always more of a life——artist than a desk——artist, ‘a man of ivory megaphone rather than of ivory tower.’”