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A literary criticism of a picture of dorian gray
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A picture of dorian gray essay
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A Rewrite of the Ending (Chapter XX) of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray
It was a lovely night, so warm that Dorian threw his coat over his arm, and did not even put his silk scarf round his throat. A sealed envelope fell out of his coat pocket. It was from Basil’s Gladstone bag that Dorian had rummaged through before throwing into the fire. In his recent preoccupation, Dorian had forgotten all about the envelope. He now stooped to pick up the fallen envelope and broke open its seal.
Out fell a small watercolour portrait. An angelic face stared back at Dorian and it was of himself. Oh Basil! Why? The portrait was painted with love, Dorian could see that. His eyes glistened in the moonlight. What had he done to his good friend? Distractedly, Dorian put the portrait and the envelope back into his coat pocket, lit a cigarette, and hurried toward home.
Two young men in evening dress passed him. He heard one of them whisper to the other, “That is Dorian Gray.” He remembered how pleased he used to be when he was pointed out, or stared at, or talked about. He was tired of hearing his own name now. Suddenly, one of the young men called out to him: “Mr. Gray.” Dorian spun around.
The one who had called out to him now said, “Tell us, Mr. Gray, what is your secret?”
Dorian cried, “What secret?”
“Your secret to eternal youth. It is witchcraft, the villagers say.”
It was the first time that anyone had directly questioned his appearance and Dorian did not know what to answer. Biting his lower lip, Dorian faintly replied, “How inquiring you young men are! What good is eternal youth?”
“What good?” cried the young men. “Wild adoration from charming ladies and great admiration from seekers of truth and beauty!”
“Do not speak of what you know not!”
“You have bewitched all the women in this town, Mr. Gray. And they have suffered for it. What is your secret?”
“Are you saying that you wish for your young women to suffer?” Dorian’s eyes flashed with regret and anger. With that, he turned around and walked quickly home. Behind him, he heard the two young men yell. He thought he caught the words “Basil” and “murder.” With a shiver, Dorian stepped into his home and found his servant waiting up for him.
The Picture of Dorian Gray shares many gothic themes including supernatural, Victorian era society, temptation, death, and tragedy. These elements are exquisitely detailed, and stimu...
Pattenden, M. (2012). The Papacy since 1500: From Italian Prince to Universal Pastor- Edited By James Corkery and Thomas Worcester. Journal of Historical Association. 97(325), 123-125
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde introduces Dorian Gray as a mysterious and beautiful young man. He has no opinion and is very similar to a ball of clay, in the sense that he has no opinion and is free to be molded by whoever takes interest in him. Basil and Lord Henry both take interest in the young man. While both praise his physical beauty, Lord Henry wants to turn him into a hedonist minion. He convinces Dorian that he is a perfect candidate to live life according to his pleasure and that Basil is a poor influence upon him. Dorian takes this to heart and lives his life this way. He exchanges the purity of his soul for the beauty of his youth in certain painting. This breaks him down. He becomes less and less welcome by those who once admired him. He gets blackballed from clubs, has promiscuous sex and spends seventy-two hour periods in London’s opium dens. His life of seeking pleasure makes him more and more unhappy. When Basil shows up, he wants some one to sympathize with him and tell him that what he has done is not his fault. During the scene of Basil’s murder, Dorian’s want to be seen as good is apparent, but his unwillingness to accept fault and his corrupt ideology drive him to kill Basil, unveiling a new, malicious side to Dorian Gray.
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray was written during the late nineteenth century England. The protogonist Dorian Gray is portrayed as a paragon of youth and beauty whose aristocracy and charisma inspire his surroundings, particularly an artist called Basil Hallward. Dorian poses for him and one day while again posing to Basil, he is introduced to a cycnical philosopher and orator William Henry. Dorian is easily seduced by his theories. Lord Henry corrupts this young boy by transforming into a hedonist. Through him, he faces the harsh realities that his physical appearance is fading and he becomes afraid of ageing. He envies the concrete and ever-to-survive masterpiece of Basil and longs for aging on his life without any sign of ageing and decay. Then his wish incredibly turns out to be real. And his sins begin to be appear in the pic...
Racism not only impairs the well being of a person with color but also white who experience stress in interracial contacts may be compromising their own health as well. Our system preforms fast, intuitive thinking and comes to automatic judgments all without any conscious control. This automatic system is responsible for racial biases. Negative thoughts crop up automatically before we are consciously aware of them, so tamping them down requires extra mental effort
Dorian Gray loses his eternal youth due to his disconnect with the world, but to realize this disconnect the reader must first examine the context for his connections to Basil Hallward and Lord Henry. Nikolai Enders examines these relationships within his article, “Platonic Love and Closet Eros in...
Racism is still a very prominent yet controversial topic in the United States today. Discrimination in the United States dates back to the 1500s when America was first founded. As generations passed, it has become a social norm to believe that darker skin tones are less desirable to society. The foundation of this country was built upon the false impression that Whites were superior to not just blacks, but all other ethnicities. From this, the idea of white privilege was derived and is still prevalent in society today. Those who are victims of discrimination are sometimes not aware of the psychological effect and the overall impact it can have on one’s life. The persistence of racism over generations has been in correlation to adversely affect the mental health of the victims economically, socially and in turn physically.
In the beginning of the book, Dorian seems to be an innocent, charming, beautiful young man, and even referred to as “a wonderful creation” (ch 2). Dorian is described as this amazing person, with looks comparable to a God, charm that could swoon any woman, and a mesmerizing persona about him with the ability to draw anyone near, yet he seems to be so imperceptive to himself. His attitude of simplicity causes readers to be fond of him, passing their first judgments that he could not possibly be evil. As the story moves along readers see the first inkling that Dorian may not be so perfect. Dorian comments on “how sad it is…[that he] shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But the picture will remain always young” (ch 2). This statement lets readers inside Dorian’s thoughts, showing how shallow and frivolous Dorian views life to be. He places so much value and esteem on looks alone, forgetting that being painted should be an honor, or at the very least...
To capture our sympathy, Ophelia goes through a transformation unlike any other character in Hamlet. She is abandoned by everyone she holds dear; her father Polonius, her brother Laertes, and Hamlet, her lover. And yet Ophelia becomes tangled in a web of madness when her loyalty is torn between Polonius and Hamlet. Most horrible of all is Ophelia's suicide-death. The emotion is evokes, coupled with the above points shows that Shakespeare's intentions was to make Ophelia, a minor character in terms of the number of lines assigned to her, into a memorable character evoking the most sympathy.
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: The Reformation to the Present Day. 2nd ed. New York City, NY: HarperOne, 2010.
..." (9 Hemingway). Old age because the short story demonstrates that the old man attempt for suicide shows his willingness to escape his loneliness, which comes with age. Hemingway implies that no matter how much money you have you will most likely end up a lonely person. The best solution for this in Hemingway’s short story is that you can either commit suicide, get drunk, or go out to a well-lighted cafe. For example "I wouldn't want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing." "Not always. This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. Look at him" (9 Hemingway). In this example the young waiter finds the old man disgusting and the old waiter appreciates and admires the old man’s cleanliness and dignity. Morality Hemingway wants us to know that no matter how young and confident we are right now we will no matter what grow old and die one day.
Beauty isn’t subjective. It’s one of the only things in the world that cannot be denied. Things are either beautiful or they are not. Art is beautiful. Art is not always meant to be interpreted, sometimes you just need to admire it for its beauty, not for what it means. Oscar Wilde, an Irish writer best known for his book The Picture of Dorian Gray and for writing plays like The Importance of Being Earnest, wrote this and almost based the book earlier mentioned on the whole ideal that beauty doesn’t have to mean more than just beauty. I feel like Oscar Wilde’s greatest strength is his play on words and often use of caricature that really livens up what he writes. He lived during the Victorian era, when art was meant to be used to teach and to influence the minds of society, so as he wrote the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, he strived to prove a great point and contradiction to the era he was living in, as well as the way he uses Dorian’s two best friends to show the hideousness of the bigotry he was living in, as he was arrested and imprisoned for being gay. Oscar Wilde’s use of irony, foil, and symbolism really portray his total disgust towards the age he was living in by rebelling and contradicting the use of art as a tool and the intolerance he was surrounded with during this Victorian age.
Princess Victoria was brought up in the Kensington Palace, London by he governess. Her mom was so afraid of Victoria getting murdered by her uncle, who wanted to next in line for the throne. Victoria was never left alone there were always people who kept an eye out for her. She was too overprotected; she couldn’t even walk up the stairs with out holding some ones hand. John Conroy, who was her mother’s comptroller, kept a close eye on Victoria and was responsible for her. German was her main language until she the age of three. She then learned English and could speak it with out an accent. She also learned Italian because she loved listening to opera. Her favorite subject in school was his but she never knew she was soon going to play a major part in it. At age eleven she saw a family tree and said, “I’m nearer to the throne then I thought.” In her teens she became ill from complications of tonsillitis. With this weakness Conroy tried to take advantage of her and asked her to sign a document saying he would be her secretary when she became Queen. Victoria refused. Victoria was close to her older sister, Feodora. She would send Victoria letters to cheer her up. In the summer of 1836, her cousins, Ernest and Albert, came to visit. Her mother thought one of the boys would be a good match for Victoria. Their father the Duke of Saxe-Coberg-Gotha, didn’t like the idea. May 24, 1837, she celebrated her 18th birthday. Now the only person standing in the way of her and ...
For nearly ten minutes he stood there, motionless, with parted lips, and eyes strangely bright. He was dimly conscious that entirely fresh influences were at work within him. . . The few words that Basil’s friend had said to him – words spoken by chance, no doubt, and with willful paradox in them – had touched some secret chord that had never been touched before, but that he felt was now vibrating and throbbing to curious puls...
Ullmann, Walter. A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages. 2nd ed. New York City, NY: Routledge, 2003.