The article analyzes Oscar Wilde's aesthetic novel The Portrait of Dorain Gray from the perspetive of ethical literary criticism. The novel displays its moral ideal of the Victorian era, though Wilde consistently argues for his hedonist morality and insists on the irrelevance between art and morality. Wilde has not abandoned his moral pursuit; on the contrary, he pursues a moral of higher level fulfilled in his aesthetic art. Morals and aesthetic art coincide with each other in Wilde' s works. This article further analyzes the moral phenomenon of the Victorian society, and elaborates on the in...
