Lord Henry Wotton
“He was brilliant, fantastic, irresponsible.” (Wilde, O., 2000)
Lord Henry Wotton is a man of upper-class London, England. He lives his life comfortably, daily enjoying the company of some friend or other either at the men´s club, opera or in someone´s sitting room preferably joined but a puff on his cigar (which, according to the times, contains opium). The Lord is married and, in his own opinion, happily so thought his opinion might differ a great deal from the common one. Hi sees his wife merely as a necessary accessory, required in modern society. They spend next to no time together and they do not have any children. All in all Lord Henry is, to the public eye, a very common-place man who has left the prime of his youth behind and is headed towards the golden years of his middle-ages. Great descriptions!
Now that the essentials are covered one can move on to what is actually very interesting about Lord Henry Wotton. Over everything else Lord Henry is a man of many philosophies, in fact he seems to have a philosophy for everything, though it may have taken shape on a whim with the one object to suit the occasion, and he is always ready to share his ideas with anyone who cares to listen, however he is not one of those people who do not care whether his audience listens or not. He finds an enormous pleasure in carefully forming others through his words, which are always impeccably well chosen, and has made it his project to study the human reactions in an attempt to decide where soul ends and body begins, when passion is displaced by reason. To return to his many philosophies one should also add that even though he is immensely skilled at choosing his words to suit not only the occasion but also the aim, he does not take so much care when it comes to his conclusions. In fact it seems he builds his philosophies on the basis that the common one is quite the opposite so that his may stand out, not as a rational one but as one rather amusing, forbidden and absolutely vain and self-centred. By making such theories he is more likely to reach his audience and cause some sort of a stir, most commonly a slight embarrassment at having listened to such a shameful idea blended with laughter. What he does not take into account when making up his ideas of life and society is the consequences his words may cause, the fruit of his endeavours which sometimes appears quite rotten. Indeed.
Oscar Wilde has in the making of Lord Henry Wotton created one of the most interesting characters I have ever come across. One can easily tell that he is far from a lazy, stupid rich man of the 19th century England but a rather clever man who has an extraordinary gift when it comes to communicating. I am absolutely convinced he would make an incredible politician, sweeping every one off their feet with his brilliant speeches (though once in power he might not be quite so brilliant). I cannot help feeling annoyed and at the same time perfectly amused when I read about yet another of his theories, smiling not only at the absurdity in some of the things he says but also at the absolute perfection in the way he says it. Had I been Dorian Gray I should probably be as fascinated by Lord Henry Wotton as he is. Really there is no better way to describe him than the words used by Oscar Wilde himself: “He was brilliant, fantastic, irresponsible.” (Wilde, O., 2000)
// Elin Stendahl (14 May 2013)
Sorces:
Wlide, O. ed., 2000. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 2nd edt. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Lord Henry Wotton is a man of upper-class London, England. He lives his life comfortably, daily enjoying the company of some friend or other either at the men´s club, opera or in someone´s sitting room preferably joined but a puff on his cigar (which, according to the times, contains opium). The Lord is married and, in his own opinion, happily so thought his opinion might differ a great deal from the common one. Hi sees his wife merely as a necessary accessory, required in modern society. They spend next to no time together and they do not have any children. All in all Lord Henry is, to the public eye, a very common-place man who has left the prime of his youth behind and is headed towards the golden years of his middle-ages. Great descriptions!
Now that the essentials are covered one can move on to what is actually very interesting about Lord Henry Wotton. Over everything else Lord Henry is a man of many philosophies, in fact he seems to have a philosophy for everything, though it may have taken shape on a whim with the one object to suit the occasion, and he is always ready to share his ideas with anyone who cares to listen, however he is not one of those people who do not care whether his audience listens or not. He finds an enormous pleasure in carefully forming others through his words, which are always impeccably well chosen, and has made it his project to study the human reactions in an attempt to decide where soul ends and body begins, when passion is displaced by reason. To return to his many philosophies one should also add that even though he is immensely skilled at choosing his words to suit not only the occasion but also the aim, he does not take so much care when it comes to his conclusions. In fact it seems he builds his philosophies on the basis that the common one is quite the opposite so that his may stand out, not as a rational one but as one rather amusing, forbidden and absolutely vain and self-centred. By making such theories he is more likely to reach his audience and cause some sort of a stir, most commonly a slight embarrassment at having listened to such a shameful idea blended with laughter. What he does not take into account when making up his ideas of life and society is the consequences his words may cause, the fruit of his endeavours which sometimes appears quite rotten. Indeed.
Oscar Wilde has in the making of Lord Henry Wotton created one of the most interesting characters I have ever come across. One can easily tell that he is far from a lazy, stupid rich man of the 19th century England but a rather clever man who has an extraordinary gift when it comes to communicating. I am absolutely convinced he would make an incredible politician, sweeping every one off their feet with his brilliant speeches (though once in power he might not be quite so brilliant). I cannot help feeling annoyed and at the same time perfectly amused when I read about yet another of his theories, smiling not only at the absurdity in some of the things he says but also at the absolute perfection in the way he says it. Had I been Dorian Gray I should probably be as fascinated by Lord Henry Wotton as he is. Really there is no better way to describe him than the words used by Oscar Wilde himself: “He was brilliant, fantastic, irresponsible.” (Wilde, O., 2000)
// Elin Stendahl (14 May 2013)
Sorces:
Wlide, O. ed., 2000. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 2nd edt. London: Penguin Books Ltd.