我们活着，该不该享乐？
其实所有东西所有人都是互相制约的。世上存在兔子，就存在狐狸。生活中有快乐的事，就会有不快乐的事。这样才会有所谓的平衡。...
《 我们活着，该不该享乐？》
文 | 费梵
人格的好与坏，都是社会决定的。人格本身并没有好与坏之分。王尔德的名声因同性恋被糟蹋，在一个同性恋不被认可的社会。然后120年后的今天，一个同性恋合法以及被支持的年代，他的人格并不会被人们认为是“荡然无存”吧。“现在我很快乐，所以我很肯定，我的人格已荡然无存。”
——王尔德
不顾同性恋被歧视的年代，王尔德没有隐藏自己对同性的感情，而是大胆跟随自己的内心。当时已成家的王尔德，在一次偶然的机遇下对一位比自己小16岁的Lord Alfred Douglas一见钟情，并写了多封情书表达自己对他的爱恋。王尔德的单恋也渐渐变成了两个人的感情，两人最后变得形影不离。不幸的是，他们之间的亲密交往被Douglas的父亲发现，他认定王尔德是个同性恋，并威胁他的儿子远离王尔德。Douglas没有因此离开王尔德。
但是，外界的流言蜚语指控王尔德与多位年轻男子发生性关系。因此王尔德被关进监狱。2年后，尽管Douglas与王尔德复合，不久后就分手了。Douglas与王尔德之间曾经热烈的爱消失在了当时社会的道德基准中。
因为自己的喜爱之人，被关进监狱，这也算快乐吗？
《道林格雷的画像》中的Lord Henry Wotton以研究他人的心理为自己的快乐，而且从不考虑社会道德与他人的人生。因为朋友Basil Hallward的介绍，他认识了年轻帅气的Dorian Gray。Dorian的美貌和纯贞深深吸引了Henry，于是Henry开始对Dorian灌输了享乐主义(hedonism)的概念。不出Henry的预料，Dorian开始迷恋上永葆年轻，因此失去纯贞，走上了享乐主义的不归路。
“one’s day was too brief to take the burden of another’s errors on one’s shoulders”
Dorian的外表，如他所愿，并没有被岁月腐蚀。他一直都看起来跟他青年时一样年轻。然而，他自己的画像，却看起来越来越穷凶恶极。
王尔德自己认为：“巴塞尔(Basil Hallward)是我心目中自己的形象，道林•格雷(Dorian Gray)是我期望中自己的形象，亨利(Lord Henry Wotton)则是世人眼中我的形象。”
巴塞尔是个很出色的艺术家，并且从来不做违背道德的事，尽管身边有亨利这样的朋友。当王尔德被告上法庭上时，王尔德也的确极力说谎掩盖他的同性恋倾向。而他想成为道林一样的人，为了自己的快乐不择手段，超越道德。同时又品尝为快乐奋斗的痛苦。亨利是真正完全为自己的快乐而活，不受道德约束，却没有饱受痛苦的人。
像一个小婴儿会哭，当他的妈妈不给他奶喝时，因为他的appetite受到约束。但我们活在一个社会，就会有这个社会的道德伦理以及法律，而这些，很多时候约束着人们的快乐。所有人宁愿活在不快乐中，也不敢去挑战这个社会，因为每个人都能想象到挑战后的痛苦。
所以王尔德认为这世上的快乐只能通过人格的毁灭而获得。
尽管王尔德经受了两年的监狱时光，他与道格拉斯在一起，不管不顾的时候，一定也是快乐的。有时候，这个也就足够了吧。毕竟，法律，单凭一个人的力量，是件无能为力的事。
英文原文
On the 30th of June, 1890, soon after the Picture of Dorian Gray was published, a book critic of the Daily Chronicle censured Oscar Wilde for including elements that will blemish every reader’s mind. One of the elements was hedonism, which referred to the pursuit of one’s own pleasure regardless the moral standards, and it terribly violated the conventional Victorian emphasis on morality. In the book, Lord Henry’s hedonism contaminates Dorian Gray’s young mind, and eventually leads to the decay of his soul; the decayed soul later intimidates the life of moral and innocent people such as Basil Hallward and Alan Campbell. Hence, the Picture of Dorian Gray exposes the negative impact of hedonism which ironically attacks the author’s own faith. After all, hedonism in this book is the key to all the tragedies.“Lord Henry is very wicked,” (Wilde 203) as a hedonist; he is also the chief manipulator of the tragedy in the Picture of Dorian Gray. For Henry, his pleasure is to study other people’s psychopath, and do experiments on them. For his belief that “new Hedonism [is] to recreate life, and to save it from that harsh, uncomely puritanism,” Dorian becomes his lab rat (147). From “It [is] delightful to watch him” (65) to “he [will] be a wonderful study,” (84) Henry gradually inserts his philosophy deeper and deeper into Dorian’s soul, and waits to see how Dorian changes. After Sybil’s death, he consoles Dorian by saying that Sybil dies for love on purpose. His seemingly rational explanation orients Dorian’s fault to Sybil, and thus appeases Dorian’s guilt as well as generates Dorian’s affection for Henry. Not only teaching Dorian that he should pursues his passions, now Henry tells Dorian that his own fault is not his. As a result, Dorian becomes addictive to hedonism and depraved since hedonism gives Dorian a sense of security, and hedonism turns into his refuge in which protects him from his own wickedness. This sanctuary, however, is shabby: “my own personality has become a burden to me” (233). Henry’s constant input of his ideology results in Dorian’s miserable struggle between his own nature and hedonism. Eventually, the hideous belief “save” Dorian from puritanism and this world. Henry’s practice of hedonism has a deadly impact on Dorian, and it is also the origin of all the tragedies in the Picture of Dorian Gray.
Being directly affected by Henry’s hedonistic philosophy, Dorian himself is the biggest victim of his own decaying soul. Since hedonism drives him to commit immoral things, he has to struggle with the fear of guilt, which leads to Dorian’s tragic ending. At the very beginning, after hurting Sybil Vane verbally, as a man still with “all the candour of youth” as well as “youth’s passionate purity,” Dorian Gray feels uncomfortable and remorseful when he perceives the cruel smile on his portrait (18). He is aware of Henry’s harmful influence on his morality, so he decides to “not see Lord Henry any more--would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle poisonous theories” (104). At this point, he still believes in morality and he tends to resist hedonism. When he is told about the death of Sybil Vane, he also believes that it is his own fault and feels extremely guilty at first. Later, however, when Henry comes to “comfort” Dorian, Dorian finds that hedonism enables him to escape from guilt. Consequently, Dorian’s soul unwittingly accepts hedonism, which leads to his confusion: “why is it that [he] cannot feel this tragedy as much as [he] want to” (113). He feels guilty--he is moral. But he chooses to be dominated by hedonism as he kills Basil Hallward. Dorian justifies himself by claiming that Basil’s portrait of Dorian contributes to his misery, therefore, he deserves death; and he believes that, “one’s day [is] too brief to take the burden of another’s errors on one’s shoulders” (215). While his fear for feeling guilty keeps conflicting with his faith, he is falling apart. Thereupon, although Dorian attempts to escape his own sins and suffering, he is still choked by his guilt and fear. In the end, when he is struggling to destroy the last thing that hinders his pursuit of pleasure, he dies. Hedonism, thus, maims the mind of the person who is affected by it, and makes them suffer from the struggle between hedonism and morality.
Not only the victim who is directly influenced by hedonism, moral people around the victim are also harmed by hedonism. Basil Hallward is the one who is able to resist Henry’s philosophy in the Picture of Dorian Gray, whereas he still has a tragic ending. Knowing that Henry will affect Dorian in a negative way at the very beginning, Basil tries to protect Dorian from the exposure to Henry and his ideology. When he talks to Dorian about the suicide of Sybil Vane, he finds that Dorian talks about other women while “the girl [he] loved has even the quiet of a grave to sleep in” (122). He is shocked at Dorian’s indifference toward Sybil Vane and his excuse for his own wrongdoing. Despite his effort of making Dorian feel guilty and then regain morality, the hedonism Dorian believes in triggers Dorian’s anger toward Basil: “you come down here to console me...You find me consoled, and you are furious” (124). He loses Dorian’s trust. Many years later, as Dorian goes farther and farther on the path of hedonism, he becomes more and more heinous. Basil attempts to bring morality back to Dorian; this time, however, he is killed by Dorian. And Alan Campbell becomes the second victim of Dorian. He is compelled to clear up Basil’s corpse so that Dorian will not be found guilty. He is forced to betray his morality, so he commits suicide. Hence, hedonism either leads to a decay soul, or harm people who is exposed to it while resist it. Both are tragic.
All in all, despite Oscar Wilde believes that “there is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written,” (xxiii) the Picture of Dorian Gray appears to be an immoral book because of Wilde’s beliefs. On the contrary, the depravity of Henry, the struggle of Dorian, and the doom of Basil and Alan together illustrates the negative influence of hedonism on people and people around, which contradicts Wilde’s philosophy. Furthermore, although we should pursue our own pleasure instead of reputation, hedonism should be based on the standard of morality. It should not be built up on the tragedy of innocent people and it should not be the escape of sins. After all, it is hard to feel genuine delight when one has to deal with a decayed soul.
王尔德说过的话
“努力不过是无事可做的人的避难所。”Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do.
“对于建议，你所能做的，就是把它转送给别人，建议从来就不是给自己准备的。”
The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.
“人生就是一件蠢事追着另一件蠢事而来，而爱情则是两个蠢东西追来追去。”
Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.
编辑 Mirror
配图 电影《道林格雷的画像》
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