International Journal of English, Literature and Social Science (IJELS) Vol-4, Issue-4, Jul – Aug 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.4424 ISSN: 2456-7620 www.ijels.com Page | 1073 The significance of the symbols of Mirror and Portrait in teaching Symbolism Nargiza Isakovna Toirova PhD, Fergana State University, Fergana, Uzbekistan Abstract — The article analyses the issue of using symbols of Mirror and Portrait in teaching Symbolism. The ideological-aesthetic unity and peculiarities of the symbol of Mirror present in O.Mukhtor’s “The Man at the Mirror”, symbol of Portrait in O.Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” where the main message is greed where the devil’s play that would ruin a man’s moral character and finally his whole life are investigated in the article. Keyword— symbol, symbolism, portrait, mirror, reflection, inner-self, Aestheticism, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Man at the Mirror, O.Wilde, O. Mukhtor. Learning the factors of defining poetics of literary works on the assumption of the power of emotional-aesthetic impact of the art of a word on the spiritual life of a man has become one of the important problems of the world critical literature studies. That is why the nature of the phenomenon of artistry in the art of a word, spiritual-life basis, the question of learning them comparatively are considered as important tasks of the theory of literature and critical literature studies. From this point of view, the branch of comparative literature study, which has become an objective necessity of the contemporary science, is of great importance. The place of symbols in social, political, spiritual life of the humanity is analyzed based on the idea of the great Chinese Philosopher Confucius who said, «Signs and symbols rule the world, neither words nor laws». Symbol is important for depicting the relations of complex inner world of a man with the world. Such features as allegory and symbol of figurative use of the word which are considered to be an art of using the word in figurative meaning are used widely as a means of strengthening descriptiveness and expressiveness. Though symbol and allegory are close from the point of view of expressiveness, the main difference between them is that a symbol is used in the text in its primary and figurative meanings when allegory shows what the writer intends to describe not the thing being described. It is known that symbols are subdivided into scientific, philosophic, literary and mythological types. When speaking about literary and mythological symbols it is necessary to remind once again that literature, which is the art of using words, consists of symbols and signs. Symbols used in literary works are different according to their character and tasks. A.Sharopov makes a special analysis of relations of a symbol-character and a symbol sign [1, p. 22]. «Divine Comedy» by Dante is inexhaustible source of using symbols and figurativeness. Namely, Dante regards the dark forest described in the beginning of the work («Hell 1, 2-60 p) as the symbol of human life. He meets a leopard – a symbol of treachery and lust, a lion – a symbol of pride and violence and a she wolf – a symbol of vanity and cunningness. It is believed that in the novel «Plague» by A. Camus created after the World War II (1947) a figurative image of fascism is depicted through the symbol of «plague». A literary critic D.Kuronov says that it would be a mistake to understand a literary work only in connection with one historical period though it is a product of a certain period. As «…a real man of art stays beyond the reality in the moments of creative activity, time borders do not exist for him in these divine time – he lives in the realm of a greater time which unifies the past, the present and the future» [2, p. 283]. According to this point of view, we become sure that A.Camus depicted not only the figurative image of fascism, but also a mysterious power, which never retreats in full, appears and stuns people at times. We can conclude that such kind of a situation may appear in every society where indifference and apathy flare up. Using symbolic images take important place in the creative activity of the modern Uzbek writers as well. We must mention such works as «The Plane Tree » written by Askad Mukhtor, «The Tulip Field» by Murod Mukhammad Dost, and «The bird in the Fano Desert» by Asad Dilmurod. Namely, a number of works of Omon Mukntor created in the years of independence are rich in symbolic components and images, which have deep subvalue.