Joseph Carroll's Evolutionary Critique of the Picture of Dorian Gray: A Critical Study

Subject Areas : Philosophy

Ghazaleh Azizi ¹ (PhD Student of Philosophy of Art, Department of Law, Theology and Political Science, Tehran Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)
hadi samadi ² (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Department of Law, Theology and Political Science, Tehran Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran)

Received: 2021-09-24 Accepted : 2021-09-24 Published : 2021-08-23

Keywords: Evolutionary literary critique, Adaptation, The Picture of Dorian gray, Evolutionary Psychology,

Abstract :

In evolutionary literary criticism, literary masterpieces are criticized from the perspective of Darwinian theory of evolution. The main purpose of this type critique is to shed new light on the ambiguous labyrinths of human relations with a new look. Joseph Carroll is one of the leaders in evolutionary literary criticism, and his most famous critique is based on Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray. This article is a critical review of Carroll's evolutionary critique of Wilde's masterpiece. The article argues that Carroll faces this difficulty in his critique that from the evolution viewpoint the biological main purpose of human actions is survival and reproduction, Wilde, on the other hand, introduces an opposite goal to his protagonist, Dorian. Carroll's critique is a valuable literary critique, but it may not be considered a full-fledged evolutionary literary critique because Carroll's focus is primarily on evolutionary psychology and does not use the cultural evolution beyond biological levels in this critique. While by using theories such as De waal's views, this critique can be brought closer to an evolutionary literary critique.