The Picture Of Dorian Gray

When Dorian is told that his beauty will be lost once he outgrows his boyhood, he makes a desperate wish: “[i]f it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that I would give everything” (Wilde LOC 64). From this point forward in the novel, Dorian remains forever young and the picture assumes his burdens of age and sin. Dorian’s unchanging face causes those around him to falsely believe he is incapable of evil. This can be seen in Basil’s disbeliefs of the rumors surrounding Dorian when he states, “[b]ut you, Dorian, with your pure, bright, innocent face, and your marvellous untroubled youth— I can't believe anything against you” (Wilde LOC 360). Dorian even gets away with murder because the people of London refuse to believe that someone of his appearance is capable of sin. Lady Narborough later confirms this when she says, “‘Lord Henry is very wicked… but you are made to be good— you look so good’” (Wilde LOC 431). Dorian’s charming good looks contradict the monstrosity of the portrait, proving that people are not always what they seem.

Wilde also was famous for his leading of the aesthetic movement and his imprisonment for propagating homosexuality. The Picture of Dorian Gray tells a story about a degradation of a young man Dorian Gray. At the beginning, an artist Basil Hallward paints a portrait of the kind and innocent Dorian Gray and, after seeing the artwork, Lord Henry Wotton - a vain and snobbish class man - requests to meet him. Influenced by eccentric Henry Wotton’s philosophy, Dorian begins to become vain and cruel but while his external appearance remains unchanged, his appearance on the painting alters every time he commits a sin. The novel explores many issues, one of them is aestheticism - exaltation of art and beauty, leading to the eternal question - can a beautiful person be moral and a moral person be beautiful, which always have and will stir society’s curiosity. Oscar Wilde once said that "All art is quite useless" and in The Picture of Dorian Gray, he tends to juxtapose various expressions of art with the routine of Dorian Gray and a shallow life in the nineteenth century. As a tool to reveal the concept of a life at the end of the 19th century Wilde uses art of pretty - but meaningless - things used to please one’s vanity and create a mundane environment. This raises the question: what did Oscar Wilde want to imply by and how does he use art to develop the theme of morality in The Picture of Dorian Gray? It was impossible to avoid art in any of its expressions (parties, theatre, clothes, etc.) in even the most regular lives in the 19th century and of course it influenced the way of thinking, created the social status and the image of oneself, so, after all, art had a huge impact on the individuals of the 19th century. And, as often beauty does, art encourages greed and vanity, which Oscar Wilde demonstrates through the usage of art in the novel.

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.

Some of these themes - such as the extravagant lifestyle of the high class, may have left a stronger impression back in the author’s time, but manages to remain a theme that is still seen in modern day literature. Classic novels always succeed in creating timeless themes, which is something Wilde also succeeds in with Dorian Gray. Within the tale of the downwards spiral of Dorian Gray’s life, readers can see how much influence one man can bring to another, the fragility of beauty, and the questioning of the meaning of “art”. These themes are still applicable to society and its problems today, despite the novel itself being 127 years old as of this year. There is no reason why these themes should not be relevant 50 years later, as the nature of man and society fundamentally have remained the same since the beginning of

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.

There is a continuous battle between good and evil forces throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde eloquently crafts the storyline as he uses self-pleasures and indulgences against purity and spiritual correctness. Through the author’s use of expressive diction, it can be shown that Dorian Gray is the focal point of the controversies throughout the story. Dorian is cast into a lifestyle with all focus on temptations and pleasures when he first meets Lord Henry. Although Basil attempts to ward off Dorian from listening to Henry’s theories on lifestyle, Dorian ultimately ends up only living for his own selfish desires.

Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, revolves around a young man who has his wish of eternal youth granted. His age and sins are absorbed by his portrait, while he remains youthful and physically untouched. Ultimately throwing immortality away by not living as a proper human with morals, but by sullying his soul, demonstrated by the growing hideousness of his portrait throughout his his life. Wilde by using foil characters, choice of diction to employ emotional response, and an allegory within his novel, showcases human nature’s susceptibility to corruption. Surrounding the protagonist, Dorian Gray, are two juxtaposing characters: Basil Hallward and Henry Wotton.

Wilde’s protagonist Dorian does not command the same level of sympathy from the reader that Eugenides’ Cal does, perhaps due to Dorian’s arrogance. Whilst reading “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, I felt little sympathy towards the protagonist Dorian, due to his constant drug use, sinfulness and entitlement to be able to do those things without bearing the marks of evil. A group of critics have labelled this novel as a moralistic tale, warning readers against the danger of selfishness, and superficiality. Perhaps it is this quality of warning that brings Dorian less sympathy, and maybe Wilde realised that if the readers became too attached to Dorian’s antics, that the moralistic message would not have come through so strongly. Perhaps the only

In Chapter XI of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the eponymous character, Dorian, practices escapist behavior. Upon noticing his portrait changing to reflect his immoral acts, he hides the picture in his upstairs schoolroom and distracts himself with New Hedonism, the amoral lifestyle preached by Lord Henry Wotton. Chapter XI chronicles Dorian 's material pleasures over the course of eighteen years. Initially, I believed that the purpose of this cataloguing chapter was to illustrate Dorian 's escapist behavior and unhealthy coping mechanisms. The unsuspecting song "Gronlandic Edit" by Of Montreal (stylized as of Montreal), however, suggests that escapism is often accompanied by a search for a more permanent solution to one 's

In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, all meaning is subjective and reflects the narcissism of the reader. The chiasmic structures within the novel highlight the theme of reflection. They also support the mirror motif, which serves to underscore Dorian Gray’s narcissism. In recognizing his own beauty, Dorian finds pleasure in narcissism, which arises from scopophilia. This leads Dorian to fall in love with Sybil Vane, an actress who often plays androgynous roles. Further, the mirror motif connects with the self-reflection theme in the preface. However, the main message to derive from the reflection theme is that whatever meaning a reader may find in the novel is purely a reflection of him and has nothing to do with the meaning that

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 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.

At first sight, Oscar Wilde the author of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” wish to emphasize on the importance of beauty and youth from the beginning. This was illustrated on the way Dorian character has been first introduced, “In the center of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden disappearance some years ago caused, at the time, such public excitement, and gave rise to so many strange conjectures.” (Page 3) In this one passage Oscar Wilde was able to give Dorian character an extraordinary advantage over the other characters. “Full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty” hints to the reader that Dorian is above the other towering over people because of his extraordinary beauty. Fyodor Dostoevsky the author of “Stavrogin’s Confession” did the same when he wrote; “He hastily drank his coffee, hastily dressed himself, and

He was young and beautiful during the time period that Glenn Clifton describes that youth glorification was at its peak of envy and the elderly were viewed as unnecessary (286) and just as described, Lord Henry reveled in the youth of Dorian Gray, in his mind according to Glenn Clifton, great looks and youth were synonymous with living well (285). Dorian Gray loved his looks so much, he loved the attention that he received about something that was inert, he was born with this wonderful talent that could not be duplicated only admired and envied and talked about, his obsession with his beauty reflects the tensions in the Late Victorian conceptions of aging (Clifton 283). He had lived his entire life being at the center of attention, and when Lord Henry planted the seed of knowledge that as soon as Dorian’s looks begin to waver so would his admirers. He was so swept up by the lavish lifestyle of fame and influence that was so rampant around England during that time, although it is exaggerated in the novel, Timothy Peltason writes that Oscar Wilde’s interpretation of British society and their faults are written humorously and slyly (123). Dorian Gray had become so entitled that he does not want to age, he wants to keep his beauty, he wants the portrait that was made in his likeness to age instead of himself, he does not want to bear the ugliness of the aging process (Wilde 29). At first it works, when he pushed Sibyl Vane to suicide, when he lies and the people around him age, he remains beautiful and glorified by everyone around him, they would never suspect someone as pure and innocent looking as Dorian Gray of committing any sin of any kind, everything was working in his favor. Little did they know, that the portrait continued to get more and more hideous, the skin grew sagging and his eyes became cruel, but in the beginning nobody was the wiser, Dorian Gray’s looks deceive people, due to his innocent looks,

The influence of Henry introduces the idea of vanity. Once introduced, Dorian is “open-eyed and wondering” at the idea of holding onto his youth forever (Wilde 17). This introduction opens Wilde’s exploration of vanity and leads into Dorian begging at the portrait. “Under the influence of Henry Wotton..Dorians throws off all moral restraint and lives a life of passionate self indulgence” (Miller 1). After all, “the sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation” (Wilde 18). Dorian begins his journey into utter self-absorption when he bargains with the portrait. His words carry a desperate tone; “If it were I who was always to be young...For that—for that—I would give everything!” (Wilde 19). A few words from Henry have Dorian pleading for eternal youth. Wilde begins his critique of Victorian society here. Society’s emphasis on beauty and art is contributing to Dorian’s desire to hold onto his beauty. Selling his soul to an inanimate object catalyzes his self-destruction. He gives away who he is to achieve society’s idea of beauty forever. Giving up his soul was the beginning of the end and allows him to treat Sibyl as he does.