French Decadence

My paper addresses and investigates the use of French Decadence in Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

French Decadence was a movement in western Europe during the late 18th/ early 19th century. The movement was centered around art, literature and included themes of artificiality and decay. 

Brussels

"Thus occupied, thus prepared, were the Yorkists in England; at Brussels, things were carried on more openly, and wore a more promising appearance. The Duchess, Lady Brampton, Plantagenet, triumphed. Sir George Neville anticipated with proud joy a restoration of the fallen race of Warwick, and regarded himself already as another king-maker of that house. Every exile looked northward, and grew joyful with the thought of home. Frion became more busy and important than ever; he had lately gone disguised to England, in pursuance of some project.

The State of Chagres

The scene that Mary Seacole describes at Chagres is brief but compelling. She states that she had "never seen a more luckless, dreary spot" (18). The climate of the area was extremely damp and putrid, causing most of the inhabitants of Navy Bay to be under constat seige from viruses and other sicknesses. Seacole only spent a single night in Chagres, and yet her expertise and medical supplies were used on the men in hopes of treating them. She noted that nothing in her medicine chest could help these men; what they needed was warmth, nourishment, and fresh air.