THE ROLE OF ARTISTIC DETAILS IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE NOVEL ʺTHE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAYʺ BY O. WILDE

Abstract

The article deals with the role of the artistic detail portrait in O. Wilde’s novel The picture of Dorian Gray. It is established that this artistic detail has a multilayered semantics, embodying different meanings: philosophical, psychological, and mythophothetic. The artistic detail in the work of O. Wilde returns with different faces and meanings, becoming an expressive symbol that acquires various interpretations. Functions of the artistic detail portrait in the novel by O. Wilde are diverse. Changes in the portrait reflect the actions of the hero, his sins and the depth of moral decline. On the other hand, the portrait reflects his psychological states, thoughts, contradictions, and feelings of guilt. In addition, the portrait as an artistic detail combines the gothic and mythological tradition, real and fantastic. The portrait is the artistic center of the work, the intersection of its plot lines, the beginning and end of the life’s destinies of heroes. The artwork a portrait is closely connected with the art of paradoxes, the theory of aestheticism and philosophical reflections of O. Wilde.