Oscar Wilde 's The Picture Of Dorian Gray

“A picture is worth a thousand words”. The true personality of a person can be revealed through their character and actions unlike their words. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray focuses on the corruption that envelops Dorian when he exchanges his soul for everlasting youth and beauty. Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, thoroughly demonstrates Dorian’s narcissism as it grows throughout the book and the struggle between good and evil as Lord Henry Wotton, one of his friends, negatively influences Dorian causing the downfall of his soul.

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 the book, The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, there is a character named Lord Henry Wotton. He is the story's antagonist and whom critics often think most resembles Oscar Wilde. Wilde remarks "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks of me: Dorian what I would like to be-in other ages perhaps." Within the preface of The Picture Of Dorian Gray, there lie the lines "Those who go beneath the symbol do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their own peril." From Wilde's statement, we can assume that there is a part of Wilde represented in each of the main characters, but how they represent him is up for the reader to decide.

Theme: In a society that mistakenly values beauty and influences over individuality, one chooses to be in the known without any life consequences, thus causing one to sacrifice their true self and abandon their morals, and as a result it alters one as a person to be someone who they truly aren’t.

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

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.

Throughout the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde tells a tale about a young man named Dorian whose entire life changes after he meets Basil Hallward, who paints a portrait of Gray that ultimately leads to Gray’s demise. At the same time, Dorian also meets Lord Henry, who eventually plays a bad influence over Dorian. The portrait shows the man Dorian has become

Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray, exhibits the growth and development of the titular character throughout his lifetime. Dorian Gray’s wish to preserve his youth while his portrait carries the burden of his aging, was granted without his initial knowledge. After realizing that his appearance would always remain young, he maintained a different outlook on how his soul would alter based on outside influences. The most significant influences on Dorian Gray were his closest friends, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton, and the book given to him by Lord Henry as a gift. Basil was immediately taken with Dorian after their first meeting at Lady Brandon’s party.

Oscar Wilde prefaces his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, with a reflection on art, the artist, and the utility of both. After careful scrutiny, he concludes: “All art is quite useless” (Wilde 4). In this one sentence, Wilde encapsulates the complete principles of the Aesthetic Movement popular in Victorian England. That is to say, real art takes no part in molding the social or moral identities of society, nor should it. Art should be beautiful and pleasure its observer, but to imply further-reaching influence would be a mistake. The explosion of aesthetic philosophy in fin-de-siècle English society, as exemplified by Oscar Wilde, was not confined to merely art, however. Rather, the proponents of this philosophy extended it to life itself. Here, aestheticism advocated whatever behavior was likely to maximize the beauty and happiness in one’s life, in the tradition of hedonism. To the aesthete, the ideal life mimics art; it is beautiful, but quite useless beyond its beauty, concerned only with the individual living it. Influences on others, if existent, are trivial at best. Many have read The Picture of Dorian Gray as a novelized sponsor for just this sort of aesthetic lifestyle. However, this story of the rise and fall of Dorian Gray might instead represent an allegory about morality meant to critique, rather than endorse, the obeying of one’s impulses as thoughtlessly and dutifully as aestheticism dictates.

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)

Freud’s belief was that mental health and psychological wellness requires a harmonious relationship between the different parts of the mind and a lack of harmony can lead to neurosis. Plato invented the original tripartite and Freud expanded on it in 1923. The tripartite is divided into the sections: The Superego, the Ego, and the Id. The Superego is basically the conscience of our mind. The Ego is consciousness created by the combination of the Id and Superego. The Id is having thoughts of instincts and drives which are necessary to satisfy. In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, we see the main characters representing the Superego, Ego, and Id.

Vanity and undeniable ego are characteristics of self-destructive properties. In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde shows how these can lead to a man’s downfall. He displays this through the character of Dorian Gray. The novel explains how as Dorian grows up and through his life, he is ultimately destroyed by his own ego, vanity and inability to change or realize how what he does affects not only him but the lives of those around him. Dorian Gray struggles throughout the novel with the daunting facts that he is Vane, has an enormous ego and cannot realize the full extent of his own actions

Influence in the dictionary is defined as having power over a person, the ability to sway a person’s thoughts, and falling under someone’s influence is unavoidable when a person does not establish a sense of identity. The definition of influence in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is, “there is no such thing as a good influence...because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul…he becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him” (Wilde 18). “In The Picture of Dorian Gray”, Dorian’s portrait alters as Dorian himself alters his personality which exemplifies more of an influential transformation compared to Jekyll’s addiction to becoming Hyde in “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Lord Henry, in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" points out that there is "something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence” (33).

Though Wilde held the view that art was not obliged to carry a moralistic meaning or meant to teach, however, is novel The Picture of Dorian Gray can easily be classified as a tragedy and identified with Christopher Marlowe’s great tragedy, Doctor Faustus. Marlowe’s tragedy presents the tale of Doctor Faustus who gave up his soul to the devil in the quest of his unquenchable thirst for utmost power. Wilde seems to resound his tale through the character of Dorian Gray. “The soul is a terrible reality. It can be bought and sold and bartered away.” Dorian sells his soul for immortal beauty. Having received his wishes, he lives his life in hedonistic pleasures and even turns to murder. The fate of both the protagonists is same, the fatal fall of their pride, ignorance and life itself. The novel, thus, holds a moralistic note.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was not received well by critics when it was published in 1890. This was because it contained themes of homosexuality and was considered scandalous. Now, it is just considered a philosophical novel dealing with morals.