Aestheticism Essay: The Role Of Aestheticism

Similarly, the role of Aestheticism is to illustrate Mrs Laura Cheveley’s moral propriety as refreshingly sophisticated where her determination is anomalous from Victorian English customaries that confine women’s transgression to autonomy. Nevertheless, Wilde portrays Mrs Cheveley as the antagonistic figure of disorder where Aestheticism superficially resembles her rebellion to aristocratic ordinance but also masks her ravenous greed is by a decorous façade. Her pretence assists her power dynamics to criminally manipulate Sir Robert Chiltern and indirectly Lady Gertrude Chiltern. Therefore, Wilde portrays this concept through not only static characters that obliquely characterises her ambiguous gestures, but also her wringing dialogue with

In Act 1, Scene 1A, Mrs Marchmont and Lady Basildon introduce to the audience the impact of aristocratic credence on socialites where “Their affection of manner has a delicate charm” (1.1A). This is evident from the stage directions describing Lady Markby and Mrs Marchmont as “two very pretty women” (1.1A) and that “They are types of exquisite fragility” (1.1A). Ultimately, Wilde illustrates Lady Markby and Mrs Marchmont solely devote importance to their feminine “pretty” semblance as influenced by Victorian English gender inequalities. Both women repeatedly attend “Horribly tedious parties” and “Never know why I go, Never know why I go anywhere” (1.1A) signifying their obligations to shadow societal strictures. Hence, these static characters contrast Mrs Cheveley by her unchaste costume and gestures shaped by Aestheticism to be unimpeded by social etiquette. Wilde characterises Mrs Cheveley as “tall and rather slight” (1.1A) with “lips very thin and highly-coloured, a line of scarlet on a pallid face” (1.1A). A heavy emphasis on the colour, red, symbolises sexuality, mysteriousness and suggests to Victorian English men of an unideal sexual appetite rather than just emotional satisfaction where her “Rouge accentuates