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The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) manifests the aesthetic perception of Oscar Wilde in terms of a choice between objective reality and subjective sensing. Wilde privileges the subjective over the objective modes of experience since he believes in the power of knowing through impulses. The novella continuously calls for the intuitive world of pleasure through subjective experience. In this world of detached reality, Dorian experiences the world non-purposively through subjective sensing. Non-purposive experience coincides with Immanuel Kant’s concept of disinterested free beauty which is perceived subjectively as discussed in the Critique of Judgement (1790). Hence, free beauty and the way of knowing through the senses in Kantian terms seems to be the model for Wilde’s protagonist as Dorian’s judgements arise spontaneously. Such purposeless perceptions dominate Wilde’s novella and Dorian’s world of senses as aesthetic pleasure becomes a necessary supplement for Dorian’s life. Within this scope, this study aims to elucidate Kant’s theories in the Critique of Judgement (1790) as reflected in Wilde’s novella. However, Kant’s idea of a mutual agreement between rationally knowing and subjectively sensing seems to be disregarded by the novelist, as Wilde perceives reality and objectivity as antagonists. It is with this critique in mind that I have pursued the aesthetic aspect of Wilde’s novella. In this respect, this paper attempts to analyse Wilde’s sensing the world as opposed to knowing it. Taking from Kant’s judgement, Wilde’s attempts to separate two ways of knowing is elucidated through the depiction of inner and outer spaces, Dorian’s attachment to his portrait and artistic objects, and detachment from reality as exemplified by the deaths of Sibyl Vane, the actress and, Basil Hallward, the artist.

A Kantian Reading of the Picture of Dorian Gray