Christa Giles

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enables man to best express his personality (the multiplicity
of selves), and thus one is ˝perhaps never so much at ease
as when playing a part.˝ 182 It follows therefore that if the
aim of life is self-development, it is possible for the dandy
to conclude ˝that to be good is to be in harmony with
oneself˝ 183 and that ˝no life is spoiled but one whose growth
is arrested.˝ 184 In this way, all externally imposed moral
standards are abrogated.
The process of becoming 185 is seen in A rebours and
The Picture of Dorian Gray, particularly, as being associated
with sensory stimulation, which becomes part of the prism
of experience at the dandy/artist’s disposal. This
predisposes him to an analytical and narcissistic
preoccupation with the self. The dandy/artist, while
functioning within society, by suggesting other categories
or extremes of experience, serves to subvert society. The
self-consciousness and complexity which are the
outstanding characteristics of decadent art are also an
expression of the complexity of the problem of identity as is
suggested by Wilde’s reaction to Robert Browning:
There is something curiously interesting in
the marked tendency of modern poetry to
become obscure. Many critics, writing with
their eyes fixed on the masterpieces of past
literature, have ascribed this tendency to