A Treatise Of Human Nature

As time goes by one would think the world is evolving in a positive manner. With all the new technology and new resources, we would assume to be better people than the generation before us. Many would argue that we are better because we are always well informed by the tabloids and social media of what is happening in the world. Unfortunately, we as humans are evolving in a negative manner. Our human nature since generations before us show how cruel we are. In the book, Maus written by Art Spiegelman shows us how malicious and inhuman people can treat each other. The novel illuminates our understanding of human nature as being evil as well as deceiving individuals, who do not act to better the world as time goes on.

The only account of true wickedness in Frankenstein was the determination to become godly and control life and death. However, the amount of sin mentioned in The Picture of Dorian Gray is chiefly greater. From the time Dorian first stated “’I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die’” (Wilde 29), to the account of murder in the last few chapters, his reoccurring impure actions are proof that his pure and innocent mind is far

“England is bad enough I know, and English society is all wrong” (Wilde, 145). The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Ernest are both ingenious literary works by the witty Oscar Wilde. The lead roles Dorian Gray and Jack Worthing are the perfect examples of how the Victorian society was phony. Although one is tragic and the other comedic both works by Oscar Wilde offer a social comment on the hypocrisy of the Victorian Era. Through the protagonist’s superficiality, deception and consequence of living a double life such comments are presented. While their superficiality and ability to deceive people are quite similar their consequences for their actions differ a great deal.

In analyzing Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, concepts such as influence and the origin of evil in Dorian Gray play an exceptionally valuable role in understanding the motives of the characters. Although some critics argue characters such as Lord Kelso significantly influence Dorian’s corruption, Lord Henry Wotton’s toxic personality undeniably impacts Dorian the most. Throughout the course of the novel, Lord Henry remains the ultimate source of evil and uses deception and persuasion to poison Dorian from a naïve boy to a destructive monster.

Most people are taught from a young age what is right, and what is wrong. These teachings set up the basis for later discovering one’s personal values. In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, these same principles are applied and challenged by Wilde. Not only does he question morality and human nature, but also the ideas of the Aesthetic movement- which influenced the ideals and behavior of Dorian Gray. Through Dorian’s morally ambiguous character, Wilde asserts that one is not purely good or evil, but a mixture of the two; Wilde establishes this theme when Dorian breaks up with Sibyl Vane, murders Basil Hallward, and stabs his decaying portrait.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel laced with sin, treachery, and raging battles of inner conflict, is Oscar Wilde’s sole novel. Considered immoral and scandalous upon publication, the book centers around a young man named Dorian Gray, who does not age or reflect the darkness of his heart outwardly, and instead a portrait of him bears the damage his destructive life wreaks on his soul. However, the meaning of the story extends past the simple fact that Dorian lives a life of immorality—he walks the path that takes him there with his two friends, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotten. The two attempt to guide and influence Dorian throughout the novel in their own ways, and are a vital piece of Dorian’s tale. Basil and Henry act as character foils as well as a symbolic angel and devil for Dorian Gray’s character, and also contribute themes of choosing one’s own fate.

In Genesis the word of God leads humanity in the direction of self preservation, urging them to procreate, to ”Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 9:1), and to minimize hostility and violence among people. As Freud asserted, “Besides the instinct to preserve living substance and join it into ever larger units, there must exist another, contrary instinct seeking to dissolve those units and bring them back to their primeval, inorganic state” (Freud 77). Genesis exemplifies the struggle between the two opposing human instincts, with God acting as a moderator between them. Forms of justice are put into place in an attempt to control these drives, one example being the proclamation that “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6). The ethics and laws that develop throughout Genesis seek to “prevent the crudest excesses of brutal violence” but are unable to control “the more cautious and refined manifestations of human aggressiveness” (Freud 70). Since they cannot be completely eradicated, the scriptures instead play into the more negative aspects of human nature, especially narcissism, and manipulate them into a force for conservation rather than annihilation.

Human nature by essence has been the cause of many entrepreneurial paths, all follow to known the essence itself behind of what we conceive as life. Moreover it’s righteous description and abstract content, that many great man has humbly studied and that for centuries have made a path closely enough to the understanding of it, yet far from the light, it seems to be and unsolvable question that gives us a “Raison d'être” to our existence in this world.

Texts are a reflection of human concerns of morality and values which remain universal despite the varying contextual and historical influences in which authors of different periods are subject to. Mary Shelley’s epistolary novel, Frankenstein (1818) explores the irrational behaviours and immoralities of Romantic Prometheanism within the realms of science, ideology, politics, and the dilapidation of humanity brought about by the Industrial Revolution, Romanticism and the period’s technological and scientific innovation in areas such as galvanism and evolution. Shelley utilises the unique narrative form of personal recounts by three characters Victor, the Creature and Walton, to comment upon the overlapping fears of society towards man’s inherent

One of the most vital concepts incorporated into The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the representation and depiction of the duality of mankind. Jekyll works to find a solution which will separate him into his reckless, immoral persona and his respectable, Victorian self. After consumption, this potion causes him to completely transform into a man who is known as Hyde. As Hyde, he can express himself in immoral, evil ways. This not only includes moral and immoral wants but rational and irrational wants. Not only does this transformation enable him to keep his good reputation even while he does horrid, unacceptable things, but it allows him to do things which he most likely would not even

Most people believe everyone is born with a certain amount of innocence and as time goes on, one’s experiences and peers shape his morals. Dorian Gray is a character who is a prime example of this belief system. In the tragic story of Dorian Gray, it shows how innocence is lost over time and morals are distorted. In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde delineates the loss of Dorian Gray’s innocence due to Lord Henry Wotton’s corruption as an indication that a focus on perpetual youth, vanity, and extravagant luxuries will deprave a person.

The intriguing literary masterpiece The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, portrays the story of a ravishing young Englishman who exchanges his soul and discards his innocence for the desperate gift of eternal youth and beauty. The author develops the theme that there are negative consequences to being influenced by others and that naivety can eventually lead to one's downfall and corruption. The ones closest to Dorian Gray ultimately influenced change in his personality and behaviour, which leads to his downfall. The theme is shown significantly through the characterization of the gorgeous actress Sibyl Vane, whom Dorian mistakenly believed he was in love with greatly. He convinced himself that he truly loved her, only to prove in the end, that his love was shallow, and he tactlessly broke her heart when he was no longer impressed with her acting skills.

One of the greatest forces in the world is the influence the human soul has among individuals. Laurence Sterne wrote No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two project of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time. In Oscar Wilde’s work, Dorian Gray was profoundly conflicted internally by forces that had opposing principles and ideologies which ties into the one of the biggest themes in the novel, good vs. evil. On the one hand, there’s the evil that breeds hedonism- Lord Henry.

Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, chronicles the transformation of Dorian Gray from an naive youth to a corrupted monster. The simplicity of the storyline contrasts the complexity of Dorian Gray; specifically, the cause of his corruption. The cursed portrait, and characters such as Lord Henry and Basil, play a significant role in the Dorian’s journey to pernicity, but neither of three can be held entirely responsible. Dorian Gray’s initial innocence conceals an inner evil within him; the amalgamation of the three outside influences in Dorian’s life reveals his inner monstrosity.

Human Nature is defined by Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as "the fundamental dispositions and traits of humans." Throughout the world, however, there are many different groups of people, all with varying personalities and characteristics. One recent article that brought up this issue was What's Really Human? The trouble with student guinea pigs. by Sharon Begley. Begley states that "given the difference in culture between the U.S. and East Asia, no one claims the American way is universal." This suggests that one's environment, not one's nature, shapes one's characteristics and features. This separation of cultures also leads to a different view of good and evil throughout the world; murder is generally bad and charity good, but not everyone may care about murder or think charity necessary. The only way to find human nature may be to look at the time before the first cultures developed. Thomas Hobbes referred to this time as the state of nature, where every man competes for resources, driven on by greed. This greed is considered to be a bad trait by today's society, making human nature apparently evil. I believe that humans are evil in nature and need parameters to be good because of the writings of twentieth century authors, Chinese philosophers between the Qin and Han dynasties, and pre-Enlightenment philosophers.