CAUTIONARY TALES: DECONSTRUCTING THE VILE NATURE OF MEN BY ILLUMINATING THE SHADES OF AESTHETIC ILLUSTRATION IN UGLINESS

This study is qualitative .in nature that employs content analysis. Furthermore, the study utilized a Formalistic Approach and Deconstruction in identifying and discussing the different attitudes of the characters and the binary oppositions present in different elements in the novels, The Moon and Sixpence and Perfume. To conclude, different Principles of Aestheticism by Oscar Wilde were used to explain the meanings of the prevailing ideologies established in the novel. The results showed that the ideas of Oscar Wide presented in this book appeared to be true in the novels through the actions of the protagonists. As portrayed, both protagonists, despite the ugliness present in their physique and social conditions, had a significant concentration of vision and intensity of purpose that led them to exclude their moral or ethical judgment. This portrayal proved another idea of Wilde in The Decay of Lying right, for he said that the artist often conceals his identity behind a mask without knowing that the mask reveals them even more because the disguise intensifies the artist's personality. These different portrayals led to several binary oppositions, namely Typical/Eccentric, Affectionate/Stoic, Hero/villain, Normal Gifted, and, Accepted/Outcast, which by using Deconstruction, the meaning of the binary terms was dismantled from the natural order to the meaning revealed by the text itself. The privileged opposition was undermined, making the inferior opposition superior. Hence, the subversion of the prevailing entity in the hierarchy gives authority to the non-privileged ideologies.