n is announcing that nature has nothing to tell us. Art is where we learn how to "see" things. He is declaring the inadequacies of nature and its inferiority to an artist's vision of nature (Behrendt, 111). Our conceptions of nature are produced through art. Vivian is suggesting that art socially organizes our conceptions thus producing a knowledge of how to see things. Art shapes our perceptions, and has shaped our perceptions of nature. It is not really "beautiful." It is full of things that are not beautiful but we look past this because of "the cultivated blindness of the man who looks at her." He does not fully "see" nature, he only "looks." He is blind to nature's imperfections. This man is "cultivated" by the norms of society, norm which Vivian rejects.
             Wilde (Vivian) then proceeds to ironically critique the norms of society. Vivian states that:
             Thinking is the most unhealthy thing in the world, and people die of it just as they die of any other disease. Fortunately, in England at any rate, thought is not catching. Our splendid physique as a people is entirely due to our national stupidity. I only hope we shall be able to keep this great historic bulwark of our happiness for may years to come; but I am afraid that we are beginning to be over-educated; at least everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching-that is really what our enthusiasm for education has come to. (Wilde, 1859)
             In this passage Vivian is using irony to illustrate a problem with society, specifically English society. Vivian is implying that we should think more about the world we live in and "look" at. He is suggesting that we take the things we "look" at as fact, and we do not think about what we are actually looking at (Pine, 319). We do not "see" it (Pine, 319). We are objectifying things by merely looking at them. He i...