Analysis Of The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde’s The picture of Dorian Grey’s novel is about a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and believes his beauty should not be wasted and it is responsible for a new mode in his art. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enslaved by Lord Henry's world view. He shows him a new hedonism, and suggests the only things worth following in life are beauty and fulfillment of the senses. When he realizes that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian feels a desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait that Basil has painted would age instead of him. Dorian's wish

What good does it do a man to gain the whole world yet forfiet his soul? None, perfection, the goal we all reach for, yet is it really attainable to become perfect without giving something in return, possibly your soul. This is a theme challenged in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. We see the tragedy of a young beautiful Englishman, Dorian Gray, who becomes a vain sinner dedicated to pleasure. Dorian's inner secrets and weakness of mind becomes his downfall. In this novel Dorian Gray's apparent perfection is destroyed by his weakness of mind and naiiveness, which becomes the downfall of his soul as his mind is opened to sin and Hedonism by Lord Henry Wotton.

The poor ego has a still harder time of it; it has to serve three harsh masters, and it has to do its best to reconcile the claims and demands of all three...The three tyrants are the external world, the Superego, and the Id” (Sigmund Freud).

In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, beauty is depicted as the driving force in the lives of the three main characters, Dorian, Basil and Lord Henry. Dorian, the main character, believes in seizing the day. Basil, the artist, admires all that is beautiful in life. Lord Henry, accredited ones physical appearance to the ability of achieving accomplishments in life. Beauty ordains the fate of Dorian, Basil, and Lord Henry. The novel embodies the relationship of beauty and morality. Beauty is not based on how attractive an object is to everyone, but how attractive it is to one.

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.

Oscar Wilde explores the theme of outsiders in his 1890 novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. He infuses what it means to be an outsider in almost every character in the story. The most important of these characters are Dorian Gray, Henry, and Basil. Each show what it means to be an outsider in his own individual way; whether it is an outsider among society, among a group of friends, or from a person’s own self.

Dorian begins exploring new experiences and avenues of entertainment. In doing so he discovers Sibyl Vane who is the lead actress in a disreputable theater. Dorian is captivated by both her physical beauty and the beauty present in her acting. He appears night after night to watch her performances. He finally approaches her backstage after a play, and after a very short and superficial acquaintance, decides to marry her. This decision shows that Dorian has truly decided to embrace new hedonism, as do his subsequent decisions in regards to her. He informs Lord Henry and Basil of his engagement and takes them to the theater to see her perform, wanting his friends to be as captivated by her as he has been. He is appalled and embarrassed when Sibyl’s

Dorian Gray from The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the player from Doki Doki Literature Club are both the protagonist of their stories and share a similar personality trait- The Two-Face. The Two-Face is a character that expresses two different sides to their personality- one that they keep hidden and the one that they show to others. Dorian’s Two-Face personality is the split of his physical body, which does not age and allows Dorian to do what he wants in his society, and his painting, which changes form to reflect Dorian’s sinful acts; meanwhile the Player’s Two-Face personality share the same body, that of the character who is written to forget the strange or unnerving events that happens within the game, and the person playing the game, who will most likely remember the events for a long time. Both Dorian and the player get what they want without much refusal from the other character. For instance, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Basil, when wanting to paint Dorian’s picture without Lord Henry staying in the room, Dorian begs Basil to let Lord Henry stay, to which Basil agrees, adding “Dorian’s whims are laws to everybody, except himself” (Wilde, 19). This hints at the early whims of Basil giving in to and seeing the good side of Dorian, but it is more of Dorian wanting Lord Henry to stay with him to influence him of his ideology of only liking things for the beauty, not the substance, since Lord Henry gave him a bit of advice earlier in the confrontation of the three men;

Later on in the novel, there is a noticeable shift in Dorian’s attitude that happens quickly and very harshly. Within this shift, he begins to lean towards one of the two forces pulling on him rather than being caught up somewhere in between them. When Dorian first learns of Sibyl Vane’s death, he is overcome with grief and is completely distraught: “Dead! Sibyl dead! It is not true! It is a horrible lie! How dare you say it?” (Wilde 71). However, after a day spent with Lord Henry, when Basil comes to talk to Dorian about the young actress's death Dorian tells him that it is old news and what's done is done (Wilde 79). This certainly proves that the evil residing in Lord Henry is absorbing Dorian, and that his “self-absorbed not caring about anything” attitude is rubbing off on him as well. This is eerily similar to how Lord Henry reacts when he hears later on in the story that his once close friend Basil has gone missing and could possibly be dead. He says, between yawns, that his friend was much too boring to be murdered, and even if he were his art was getting worse anyway so it wouldn’t be much of a loss ( Wilde 156-157).

In the Victorian prose, The Portrait of Dorian Gray explores the idea of duality. The divided self within the character of Dorian Gray begins with his misunderstanding of his self-image, because of the influence of a portrait. Dorian’s fate and transformation connect to the painting, which leads to his downfall. The painting contains Dorian's moral decline as changes to the picture affects his life. Through the portrait, he gains an image of himself as an independent individual compared to his previous characteristics where he followed traditional Victorian standards. The sinful actions of Dorian Gray demonstrate duality, because of the self-image he gains from a portrait allowing him to live morally free until he redeems himself by

In chapter 20 of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian reflects on his past crimes and wonders whether he will ever change and retrieve his innocence again. Throughout the final chapter of the novel, the elements of Gothic novel that Wilde explores conveys the idea of the pursuit of individualism. Dorian’s wild, racing emotions clearly show how much he is driven by his readiness to fulfill his desires under any circumstance. Through this, the use of specific words and punctuation markings highlight Dorian’s personal yearning of removing himself from his past.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde is able to show how possessions can change a man so drastically. Over the course of the book the readers examine how many items such as the painting, the yellow book and much more, shape and alter Dorian from being outgoing, likable, and overall good to secluded, manipulative and most of all deceitful. Dorian gray has many motives for being deceitful that help develop the characters, and change the way they interact with each other.

Sibyl Vane was a woman who was from the outer circle of high british society, she was poor and lived her life honestly and humbly with her family, and for that she would play with her life. Dorian Gray saw the potential of Sibyl Vane as a wife through her amazing acting skills; her ability to become someone else day in and day out allured her to him, even more than her good looks did. Subconsciously Dorian Gray fell in love with Sibyl Vane’s prospects of being a good and proper tool for gaining more recognition, influence and power. Her acting skills, the ability to deceive and to trick, to move other people’s emotions while keeping her own in control, to play one set of rules and then another set if need be, these traits would propel anyone

     Dorian¡¦s rejection of Sibyl came upon one night that Sibyl has lost her magic. A night that her acting lost the power to attract and charm the audiences. ¡§Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are¡¨ (64). That night, ¡§she spoke the words as though they conveyed no meaning to her¡Kshe was absolutely self-contained. It was simply bad art. She was a complete failure¡¨ (93). Sibyl has become herself! She

In Oscar Wilde’s Popular nineteenth century novel, the Picture of Dorian Gray demonstrates the importance of the aesthetic movement in Victorian England. This suggests youth and physical attractiveness is emphasized and are valuable additions to society. Therefore, what matters to Dorian, is not the internal goodness an individual possesses but the appearance they present. Consequently, Dorian is able to forget the violent acts he commits as long as he appears beautiful on the outside. Since external beauty is valued, Wilde argues that people tend to lose their individualism and conform to society’s expectations. With this in mind, Dorian gray grows more corrupt, self-centered as he focuses more on the pleasure for himself as he becomes more vulnerable to his own misgivings. He loses his individualism, because he is conforming to society’s form of asethics. I agree with Wilde’s arguement about Dorian Gray, that individuals lose their sense of idenity when conforming to society’s influence, such as in today’s beauty standards portrayed on social media, racism described through facism, and LGBTQ rights violated by intolerant individuals. (too wordy)