Christa Giles

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entitled ˝La Révolte˝ (and in particular in the poem ˝Les
Litanies de Satan˝), had glorified revolt against the divine
will of God. By extension, he believed that the dandy was
‘the last representation of what is best in human pride.˝ 194
The decadent dandy, while still a rebel, did not express his
rebellion in direct action. Rather, the dandy’s very mode of
existence suggests an oblique protest against the
established order. On one level the dandy’s rebellion
manifests itself as an attraction to criminality. Des
Esseintes’ motive in attempting to ˝make a murderer˝ 195 of a
young boy by corrupting him becomes apparent when he
says with satisfaction: ˝I shall have contributed, to the best
of my ability … one enemy the more for the hideous society
which is bleeding us white.˝ 196 At the end of A rebours he
shouts in powerless rage: ˝Well, crumble then, society!˝ 197
Similarly, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry never
actually engages in criminal activities; rather, he does so
vicariously, as the tempter. Indeed many critics have seen
Dorian as a Faust and Lord Henry as a Mephistophelian
figure. The seductive quality of many dandy and satanic
figures (such as Madame Chantelouve in Là-bas or Lord
Henry in The Picture of Dorian Gray) is often suggestive of, if
not explicitly identified with, demonic powers.
Furthermore, the dandy’s ability to seduce is closely allied