Abstract

This paper focuses on the contradiction between Wilde’s aestheticism propositions and the morality of his fairy tales. Wilde advocates “art for art’s sake”, and no artist has ethical sympathies, however, almost every work of Wilde has a subtle relationship with morality though Wilde never admitted it. This paper firstly introduces Wilde’s aestheticism propositions, and then analyzes the main moral themes of his fairy tales in details.
Wilde insisted to use vice and virtue as materials of making art, yet never tried to comment them in moral aspect. However, the plot, the characters of his fairy tales and some sentences with strong emotion still give readers a moral guide. Dedication, kindness, the praising of pure love, and showing sympathy to the poor, they are all themes of his fairy tales, and those themes all have the shadow of morality.
On one hand, Oscar Wilde wants to play a positive role as a positive writer and a welcome artist; on the other hand, he hates the boring rules of the society and tries to set his sanity free. However, the contradiction does not fade the enchantment of his literary works, and the combination of aestheticism and morality even makes his works more charming and interesting.

Key words: Oscar Wilde, fairy tale, aestheticism, contradiction, morality

摘要

王尔德是出生于英国的剧作家、散文家、诗人，是英国唯美主义运动的代表人物，也是英国文学史上最受争议的人物之一。本文主要分析王尔德唯美主义艺术观点中呼吁摆脱道德束缚的观点，与其童话作品中明显出现的道德色彩之前的矛盾。
王尔德认为并非艺术模仿生活，而是生活模仿艺术，艺术与道德无关，美与伦理观念格格不入。他拒绝为艺术作品增添道德导向色彩，认为善恶都不过是艺术作品的写作素材而已。但是通观王尔德的作品，却没有哪一部是真正跳脱道德色彩而独立存在的，这种矛盾性在他的童话作品中就尤为明显。
一方面来说，王尔德是最富有激情的唯美主义者，在理论上追求艺术的纯粹，美的至高无上，否定艺术的动力性；但另一方面，他又常常背离自己的主张，在其唯美作品中揭露社会的丑陋，鞭社会的不公。
在外人看来放荡不羁的王尔德，并不如他自己及世人所说的那样，是个彻底摆脱道德观念束缚的唯美主义者，在他的作品中，始终贯穿着心灵的挣扎，不觉中揭露出自己浮夸背后不为人知的一面，在他的艺术作品与道德冲突中不断寻求自身定位。然而这种在作品中所体现的矛盾性非但没有减弱王尔德艺术作品的魅力，反倒更为其增添了一种独特的美感，并形成了一种独具王尔德风格的唯美主义。

关键词： 王尔德，童话，唯美主义，矛盾，道德