Social novel:

It is an early example of the social novel in which Dickens satirizes the hypocrisies of his time, including child labor,
the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. 
It is a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized
through its effect on the characters of a novel".

Social criticism: The term social criticism often refers to a mode of criticism that locates the reasons for malicious
conditions in a society considered to be in a flawed social structure. It may also refer to people adhering to a social
critic's aim at practical solutions by way of specific measures either for consensual reform or powerful revolution

Social Realism: “Social Realism developed as a reaction against idealism and the exaggerated ego encouraged by
Romanticism ... With a new sense of social consciousness, the Social Realists pledged to “fight the beautiful art”,
any style which appealed to the eye or emotions. They focused on the ugly realities of contemporary life and
sympathized with working-class people, particularly the poor. They recorded what they saw (“as it existed”) in a
dispassionate manner.” (George Shi)

Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist (1837)

Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell —for its realism,
comedy, prose style, unique characterizations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James,
and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth.
Oliver twist is notable for its unromantic portrayal by Dickens of criminals and their sordid lives, as well as for
exposing the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century.
Themes:
Poverty and social class
Poverty is a prominent concern in Oliver Twist. Throughout the novel, Dickens enlarged on this theme, describing
slums so decrepit that whole rows of houses are on the point of ruin. In an early chapter, Oliver attends a pauper's
funeral with Mr. Sowerberry and sees a whole family crowded together in one miserable room.
Symbolism
Dickens makes considerable use of symbolism. The many symbols Oliver faces are primarily good versus evil, with
evil continually trying to corrupt and exploit good, but good winning out in the end.
The "merry old gentleman" Fagin: has satanic characteristics: he is a veteran corrupter of young boys who presides
over his own corner of the criminal world
The London slums: have a suffocating, infernal aspect; the dark deeds and dark passions are concretely
characterized by dim rooms and pitch-black nights, while the governing mood of terror and brutality may be
identified with uncommonly cold weather. I
The countryside: where the Mayflies take Oliver is a bucolic heaven.

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1980)

Aestheticism:

He is known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism : is an intellectual and art
movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than social-political themes for literature. This meant
that Art from this particular movement focused more on being beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning- ' Art
for Art's sake'. 

At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and
incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde. The magazine's editor feared the story was
indecent, and without Wilde's knowledge, deleted roughly five hundred words before publication.  The longer and
revised version of The Picture of Dorian featured an aphoristic preface—a defense of the artist's rights and of art for
art's sake—based in part on his press defenses of the novel the previous year. The content, style, and presentation
of the preface made it famous in its own right, as a literary and artistic manifesto.
Themes:
Aestheticism and duplicity:

The greatest theme in The Picture of Dorian Gray is Aestheticism and its conceptual relation to living a double life.
Throughout the story, the narrative presents aestheticism as an absurd abstraction, which disillusions more than it
dignifies the concept of Beauty.  Wilde highlights the protagonist's hedonism: Dorian enjoyed "keenly the terrible
pleasure of a double life", by attending a high-society party only twenty-four hours after committing a murder.

Moral duplicity and self-indulgence are evident in Dorian's patronizing the opium dens of London. Wilde conflates
the images of the upper-class man and lower-class man in Dorian Gray, a gentleman slumming for strong
entertainment in the poor parts of London town. Lord Henry philosophically had earlier said to him that: "Crime
belongs exclusively to the lower orders. ... I should fancy that crime was to them what art is to us, simply a
method of procuring extraordinary sensations"—implying that Dorian is two men, a refined aesthete and a coarse
criminal.
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” 
― Oscar Wilde, the Picture of Dorian Gray
“What of Art?
-It is a malady.
--Love?
-An Illusion.
--Religion?
-The fashionable substitute for Belief.
--You are a sceptic.
-Never! Skepticism is the beginning of Faith.
--What are you?
-To define is to limit.” 
― Oscar Wilde, the Picture of Dorian Gray
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.
Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” 
― Oscar Wilde, the Picture of Dorian Gray

George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (1913)

Through Realism, Shaw wants his audience to face the “unpleasant facts”.
Ibsen, “the father of Realism” (E.g.: A Doll's House is based on a real-life situation, which Ibsen turned into
an aesthetically shaped, successful drama.): Art should be based on believability and should be true-to-life.
Verisimilitude= appearing to be true/real.
Shaw is against disembodied ideas. He believes that ideas need to be embodied in real life/people. (The
character of Higgins is actually inspired by The Phonetics professor Henry Sweet).

The play is a sharp lampoon that exposes the ugly reality of class differentiation and gender discrimination.
As a Fabian and a Socialist, Shaw is a staunch believer in social change and the possibility of betterment.
People are judged by “externals” such as accent and appearance, which are “social markers/determiners” of
identity and acceptability in society. (William Savage):“It is alright. He is a gentleman. Look at his boots” + cockney
is the accent of the working class. It is unrefined and ugly.
William Savage: “Language is the talisman that will enforce admiration or beget contempt; that will produce
esteem or preclude friendship; that will bar the door or make portals flight open.”
Eliza is the victim of social assumptions (mistaken for a prostitute/drunkenness: “I sold flowers, I didn’t sell myself”).
She is objectified and robotized. She becomes a “live doll” in the hands of Higgins/ a monkey aping the middle class.
Britain is a class-ridden society, which obeys strict hierarchy/stratification: Higgins has a socialist stance as he
attempts to eliminate those distinctions/ barriers and fill “deepest gulf that separates class from class and soul from
soul”. Shaw criticized charity as he believed that it is a way used by the upper class to maintain authority. It is a
“disguised form of self-interest”. Manners are not a matter of class despite the assumption that good decorum is
associated with the upper and middle classes: Eliza teaches Higgins “ask me to sit first” + his inappropriate use of
“bloody”)

Shaw advocated for Art to be effective, affecting and influencing the audience. It enhances people’s vision of life and
stir/appeals to their thoughts and emotions.
It has to have a humanizing, ennobling and refining effect. It has to be both appealing to the senses and has a moral
lesson  fruitful/purposeful/ productive
Arch must be essentially didactic. It should carry a message, raise questions and make people more insightful.
Shaw wants the audience to “face unpleasant facts” instead of sugaring/embellishing/ coating reality in sugar. He
believes that Art believable and “true-to-life”
“For Art’s sake alone, I would not face the toil of writing a single sentence”
“Art is a great teacher”
“I write to instruct and not to entertain”
Virginia Wolf: “Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four
corners.”

“Masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of
thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind a single voice.”