Decadence and Aestheticism :: History Historical Papers

Decadence and AestheticismMany may wonder if the era of the 1890s was the beginning, end, or change of a virgin age. The era can often be described as modern, advanced, and different. Many people were experimenting, inventing, and trying new things. Decadence and Aestheticism arose.Decadence emerged as a bad side of Romanticism in that it involved forbidden experiences. Decadence was referred to as moral, social, and artistic. As Beckson says, The dark side of Romanticism derived from Poe and other writers who defined it as strangers join with beauty(Page 40). The distinguishing feature of a Decadent is the retreat of reality. For example in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Algernon and Jack have a spend a penny character that they often used as an escape from reality. Decadence represented Symbolism and Impressionism. Also known as fin de siecle, Decadence is described by Arthur Symons, a participant observer who said, it has all the qualities that mark the end of great periods, the qualities that we find in the Greek, the Latin, the Decadence, an intense self consciousness, a restless curiosity in research , and a spiritual and moral perversity.(Altick Page 296). In Aestheticism, life is viewed as an art. Aesthetes found beauty in art and in whatever was fetching in the world. Altick said, The connecting link was Rosetti, whose poetry and painting inspired the Aesthetes( rogue 291). Arts purpose for the Aesthete was for pleasure. The Aesthetics interpreted his artistic aim as the prosecution of beauty separated form social meaning. Oscar Wildes theory towards Aestheticism was that the only reality worth seeking was not material goods but the individual experience. And so Aestheticism involved a complete revulsion against received standards of values. Aesthetics found that through their great interest in beauty, pleasure that is derived form objects of art is much beautiful than other pleasures.The truth about an Aesthete is that the mind is usually more active in a creative sense in the cargo deck of nature than in the enjoyment of a finished work of art. An Aesthete has a great appreciation for nature. One may look at an object, place, or person and perceive it a different way than another person may perceive it. He does not actually see them the way they get on but his imagination gives his perception a memory picture of them. For an Aesthete to obtain pleasure, it is the perspectives of perception that is necessary to an understanding of both appreciation and creation(Langfield page 24).