The Spaces of Addiction in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray
| dc.contributor.advisor | Battis, Jes | |
| dc.contributor.author | Kaus, Destiny Wynnelle | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Johnston, Susan | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Clausson, Nil | |
| dc.contributor.externalexaminer | Rogers, Randal | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-12-13T16:13:31Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-12-13T16:13:31Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-05 | |
| dc.description | A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in English, University of Regina. vi, 115 p. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | My thesis focuses on the role of opium and addiction in Dorian Gray. Opium is present throughout the entire novel, and this particular drug is very significant in Dorian’s life, yet the significance of this drug is often overlooked by critics. Up to this point, the main focus of commentary on Dorian Gray has been about the painting and its supernatural qualities, theatre in late Victorian London, and Dorian’s homoerotic desires. My thesis builds on these current academic contributions by arguing that opium is Dorian’s central addiction in the text, influencing his secondary addictions to aesthetic pleasure and sex and drastically affecting how Dorian relates to other people. These addictions are also connected to unique spaces of addiction: Dorian’s opium addiction connects to the space of the opium den; his addiction to aesthetic pleasure connects to the space of the theatre; and, his sexual addiction connects to the queer spaces in London, such as molly houses. These physical spaces are important to my discussion because they all provide a space that Dorian can escape to so he can indulge in his addictions. Just as his addictions to opium, aesthetic pleasure, and sex allow Dorian to escape from himself, the physical spaces allow him to escape from himself as well; they too act like a drug in this way. Dorian’s opium abuse causes him to filter other pleasures, such as aesthetic pleasure and sexual pleasure through an addictive lens. I show that after Dorian succumbs to Lord Henry’s philosophy of New Hedonism, Dorian’s opium addiction enhances his secondary addictions and causes him to view them as outlets for escape as well. All three kinds of addictions cause Dorian to degenerate morally as they turn from pleasures to pain. To help us gain a fuller perspective on Dorian’s opium addiction and how that particular addiction manifests in the text, I draw on work by Walter Pater, Jacques Derrida, and Sigmund Freud in order to clarify the role of opium in Wilde’s novella. Combining the theories of Pater, Derrida and Freud to analyze this text offers a valuable perspective on Dorian’s character, how his addictions affect his character, and how his addictions affect all of his relations with other people. Pater provides one of the reasons why Dorian chases pleasure through his addictions—to achieve a state of ecstasy where he can escape from himself. We can also understand Dorian’s patterns of addictive behaviour through Derrida’s notion of the pharmakon and Freud’s theory of repetition. Pater adds to this discussion with his philosophy of life and art, which is very similar to Lord Henry’s theory of New Hedonism, and Derrida’s notion of the pharmakon helps us see the two sides—pleasure and pain—that each of Dorian’s addictions includes. With his theory of repetition Freud adds to my discussion as well by giving us a pattern through which we can track and explain Dorian’s own addictive behaviour. I contend that once we grasp the significance of opium in Dorian’s life, we have a lens by which to view the importance of aesthetic pleasure and sexuality in his life as well. | en_US |
| dc.description.authorstatus | Student | en |
| dc.description.peerreview | yes | en |
| dc.identifier.tcnumber | TC-SRU-9327 | |
| dc.identifier.thesisurl | https://ourspace.uregina.ca/bitstream/handle/10294/9327/Kaus_Destiny_MA_ENGL_Fall2020.pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10294/9327 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina | en_US |
| dc.title | The Spaces of Addiction in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
| thesis.degree.department | Department of English | en_US |
| thesis.degree.discipline | English | en_US |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Regina | en |
| thesis.degree.level | Master's | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Arts (MA) | en_US |