Christa Giles

concluded that the only reasonable form of government
was the aristocratic, 94 and Barbey saw Brurnmel as a man
who did not work but existed and was therefore ˝a lesson
in elegance to the vulgar mind,˝ as his very existence
implied a rejection of materialism and utility.
Thus, in Barbey’s Les Diaboliques, the dandy tells the
Philistine, ˝My dear fellow, men like me have always
existed for the sole purpose of astounding men . . . like
you.˝ 95 Similarly, in ˝Pen Pencil and Poison˝ the ˝young
dandy sought to be somebody, rather than to do
something. He recognised that Life itself is an art, and has
its modes of style no less than the arts that seek to express
it.˝ 96 The dandies in Wilde’s plays are significantly all
aristocrats, and Des Esseintes comes from an aristocratic
family. They possess money because they have inherited it,
not because (in contrast with the bourgeois) they have
worked for it. Moreover, they value money solely because
it enables them to create works of art in every sphere – for
the dandy is an artist in all things. The dandy has an
obligation, a responsibility, to suggest an unspoken
revilement of mediocrity and vulgarity. He is the
dedicated, ever-vigilant enemy of the good bourgeois who
is the ˝enemy of art, of perfume, a fanatic of utensils.˝ 97 It
follows, then, that the ˝first duty of life is to be as artificial
as possible,˝ 98 and that ˝to be natural is to be obvious, and
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