The Picture Of Dorian Wilde And Lord Henry Wotton And 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.

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.

Dorian is introduced to Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry Wotton seems at the beginning of the novel to be the most corrupting character in the book, being the catalyst of Dorian Gray?s change in character, or realization of true character. Wotton is a cynical character, and is somewhat of a hypocrite, as Hallward rightly says (paraphrasing Charles 2nds epigram), "You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing" (4). For all his talk, Lord Henry remains a married man who chooses a life as a spectator rather than a carouser (Miller 385). From the instant of their acquaintance, Lord Henry causes an instantaneous difference in Dorian. "Lord Henry lives vicariously on the emotions and experiences of other people" (Shewan 376). Lord Henry awakens in Dorian feelings and thoughts Dorian has never had before, and Dorian feels overcome with awe. When asked about his negative influence on people, Lord Henry says," There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral?Because to influence a person is to give him one?s own soul?" (17). Dorian immediately develops an attachment to Lord Henry, one which Henry claims will be everlasting. Jeffrey Meyers explains, "If Hallward is the masochistic creator of Dorian?s aesthetic glorification, Wotton (who manipulates the vanity stimulated by the portrait) is the sadistic catalyst of his moral degeneration"(372). In fact, Ted Spivey claims that

Basil Hallward and Henry Wotten are quite the opposite of each other—Basil is unwaveringly conventional in his values while Henry instead enjoys entertaining the idea of radical and inappropriate ways of thinking (on page 4, he claims that “the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary,” to which Basil responds that he “hate[s] the way [Henry] talks about his married life). Because of their profoundly contrasting ideas, they are not so much foils for each other as they are for Dorian Gray. It is by these two men that one measures Dorian’s place on the scale of morality.

In The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde portrays a relationship between two men, Algernon and Jack, which is filled with constant arguing and disagreement. Their first dispute over a cigarette case is presented early in act one, leaving the reader with a lasting impression of the flaws in their relationship. Algernon and Jack disagree over who holds ownership over the cigarette case leading Algernon to remark “I think that is rather mean of you, Ernest, I must say” (Wilde 462). Being that both of these men are members of the upper class, the case clearly does not have true monetary value to them except to use an a manipulating factor. Algernon eventually trades the case in order to receive an explanation from Jack about why he is “Earnest in the town and Jack in the country” (464). The trivial nature of this strife shows the weak bond between Algernon and Jack. This weakness is reinforced when Jack and Algernon meet again in the middle of the play. After returning from town, Jack finds Algernon at his house and is forced to listen to Algernon lie about being his brother. In response, Jack says “nothing will induce me to take his hand. I think his coming down here disgraceful. He knows perfectly well why” (498). This is another example showing the poor relationship between Algernon and Jack. Jack’s distrust of Algernon due to his habitual lying goes hand in hand with several of their disagreements, further preventing a successful friendship between them.

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.

In the eyes of Lord Henry, "there is no such thing as a good influence, all influence is immoral" (Wilde, 8)  meaning that anything being said is neutral; however, that person uses that information is the leading factor of manipulation and corruption.  Lord Henry is the prime instigator and had motive for turning Dorian into a destructive monster, opposite his naturally shy and youthful soul. Author, Oscar Wilde, uses Lord Henry in "Picture of Dorian Gray" to show how the constant use of manipulation causes Dorian to not use his own knowledge and thoughts, manipulate and destroy others around him, cause a decline

As a whole, this opening confrontation between Lord Henry and Dorian’s initial character proves several points: one, Dorian does have his own passions and soul before meeting Lord Henry, and two, Lord Henry’s teachings initially echo Dorian’s own feelings, which are what draw him to Lord Henry over the two-dimensional Basil Hallward. Later, ironically, it is Lord Henry’s own teachings which leads to Dorian’s struggle to repress his "true self" and ultimately bring about his downfall.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Lord Henry’s influence on Dorian changes his character that was presented in the beginning of the book. Dorian was like a blank canvas that had no personality due to him not having a proper childhood. Due to this, he didn’t have any morals to follow. Lord Henry saw this opportunity and he awakened from him a man who turned into a immoral aestheticist who looks at things just as they are instead of what they are like personally. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry’s influence was significant to Dorian and to the work as a whole because of the impact it had on Dorian, and the impact it had on people close to Dorian.

Dorian Gray’s life throughout the book is revolved around social class/Aristocracy. Dorian Gray comes from a wealthy family but he is not really part of Aristocracy, but this Aristocracy within the society and the people has been an influence on him. Dorian is more of a middle-class men that does not seem to know what to think about everything going on around him. That is why he takes interest into Lord Henry’s words. He thinks that it is someone who is experienced and should take his word. Wilde, in this story, is representing and criticizing the British Monarchy within that time period. In the

Most people would consider Dorian’s personality to be swaying towards the evil side based on his vanity and extreme concern with himself until Sibyl Vane becomes the most prominent part of his life. Dorian meets Sibyl and instantly loves her. His instant love and compassion, though shallow, could mean that he does care about others on a deeper level. Dorian cares so much as to ask his good friend Lord Henry to “tell [him] how to charm Sibyl Vane to [loving him]. [He] wants[s] to make Romeo jealous” (ch 4). His desire to challenge the charm of one of the most infamous romantics shows that he is deeply devoted to, and seriously concerned with winning the affection of Sibyl Vane. Dorian makes his admiration for Sibyl apparent when he openly proclaims, “I love Sibyl Vane. I want to place her on a pedestal of gold, and to see the world worship the woman who is mine” (ch 6). Dorian wins over the audience a bit with his avid display of love. Readers sympathize with his ability to love, care and even worship a woman he has barley met. His evil and vain words pale in comparison to his light-hearted compassionate ones, making the readers feel bad for the shame they condemned him

One conflict shown in Dorian Grey is the conflict of identity portrayed in the novel by Oscar Wilde. The character Basil describes Lord Henry to be a very influential character to another’s identity, for example, ‘Don’t spoil him. Don’t try influence him. Your influence would be bad.’ Spoiling Dorian shows that he is pure, and should not be tainted by Lord Henry’s character; this shows that Lord Henry is impure in thought and in his actions and this impacts his approach towards others. As Basil says this, it shows that he understands the flaws in Lord Henry’s character, but also his power in manipulation, especially towards someone like

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

Lord Henry is captivated by the beauty that others see in Dorian. Lord Henry argues, “Conscience and cowardice are really the same

When Dorian Gray first meets Lord Henry at the studio of artist Basil Hallward, he is fascinated with Lord Henry’s wit and the radical social doctrines that he advocates. Dorian is easily molded and falls for the argument he hears. According to Lord Henry the goal of new hedonism, “to realize