Today’s culture sells the lifestyle of pleasure to people around the world. Society says that the way to live life to the fullest and to achieve happiness is to do whatever makes the individual feel good, no matter what the action may be. This way of life was also sold earlier within the history of the world, and has gone by many names including Epicureanism in Greece and Aestheticism in the 19th century. Even though it has gone by many different names, it simply means living only based on emotions, usually pleasure. As many people have at least some type of moral foundation, it is sometimes difficult to see how a purely hedonistic life would play out and what consequences it would bring. In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde brings the light that breaks through the shadows surrounding aestheticism. He makes his argument against a purely hedonistic lifestyle through his use of figurative language, such as diction, symbols, and characterization.
Wilde uses rather strong diction to express his distaste for the hedonistic lifestyle, which the protagonist, Dorian Gray, as well as his friend, Lord Henry Wotton, chooses to live. For example, Lord Henry said, “and the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties” to which Basil Hallward responds, “‘I hate the way you talk about your married life, Harry [also known as Lord Henry]’” (Wilde 109). Wilde further reveals his revilement for their lifestyle as he explains what their lifestyle is truly like. They enjoy “loving for their mere artificiality those renunciations that men have unwisely called virtue, as much as those natural rebellions that wise men still call sin” (190). In other words, they love both sin a...
... middle of paper ...
...oday. It is unfortunate that this is not a book that is widely read around the world, so many people still do not understand completely all that is evil about a purely hedonistic lifestyle.
Works Cited
Benson, Peter. "Wilde and Morality." Philosophy Now. Philosophy Now, Issue 65 Jan.-Feb. 2008. Web. 23 May 2014. http://philosophynow.org/issues/65/Wilde_and_Morality
Duggan, Patrick. "The Conflict Between Aestheticism and Morality in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray." Boston University Arts and Sciences Writing Program. Boston University, 2008-2009. Web. 23 May 2014. http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-1/duggan/
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Works of Oscar Wilde: Including the Poems, Novels, Plays, Essays, Fairy Tales and Dialogues. Comp. William Dendy. Rosyln, New York: Black's Reader Service, 1927. 107-256. Print.
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is, at first glance, a novel about a young, handsome man’s demise as he travels into a world of self- indulgence, immorality, and evil. Though the predominant motif of beauty versus ugliness is the main take-away point, Wilde’s use of symbols, particularly flowers cannot go unnoticed. From characterization to depicting religious allusions, flowers are frequently used in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Clearly, the novel’s use of roses, orchids, lilacs, and the like has an underlying meaning, which will be explored and analyzed in this essay.
The Supremacy of Youth and Beauty - The first principle of aestheticism, the philosophy of art by which Oscar Wilde lived, is that art serves no other purpose than beauty. Throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray, beauty reigns. It is a means to revitalize the wearied senses as indicated by the effect that Hallward's painting has on the cynical Lord Henry. It is also as a means of escaping the brutalities of the world, as Dorian distances himself from the horrors of his actions (not to mention his consciousness) by devoting himself to the study of beautiful things: music, jewels, rare tapestries. In a society that prizes beauty so highly, youth and physical attractiveness become great commodities. Lord Henry reminds Dorian of as much upon their first meeting, when he laments that the young...
In "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, we see a beautiful young man who makes tremendous efforts to transform the actual world into the idealistic world of art, dreams and sensations. Dorian's quest, however, culminates in his ultimate tragic destruction. Given that Dorian lives a corrupt life, one is likely to focus on the negative aspects of his character. In spite of his significant character flaws, Dorian Gray may still be considered a hero. This essay will examine Dorian's degradation from the innocent world to the vicious, sensation-oriented world. The elements contributing to Dorian’s status of tragic hero will then be discussed.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray; For Love of the King. London: Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1993.
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...
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Michael Patrick Gillespie, Editor. Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007.
Ruddick, Nicholas. "'The Peculiar Quality of My Genius': Degeneration, Decadence, and Dorian Gray in 1890-91." Oscar Wilde: The Man, His Writings, and His World. New York: AMS, 2003. 125-37. Rpt. in Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 164. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Artemis Literary Sources. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays. Ed. Richard Allen Cave. New York: Penguin, 2000.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, hedonism, the pursuit of self-pleasure, is a widespread view. When Dorian Gray comes under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, his personality, as well as the influence he has on other people, quickly worsens. The Picture of Dorian Gray gives many examples and negative outcomes of hedonism, such as bad influence, distorted self-image, disastrous love affairs, and corruption. In the beginning of the book, Dorian Gray, a beautiful young man, is sitting to be painted by Basil Hallward.
In conclusion, it has been reiterated that Lord Henry's influence, the changes in Dorian, and the immorality of the yellow book further enforced The Picture of Dorian Gray as a moral book. Oscar Wilde allows for those who could understand the real meaning of the novel by comprehending the importance of these three things to discern that he fully intended on writing this novel as a moral book.
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. The Electronic Classics Series, The Pennsylvania State University. p. 3/ Retrieved January 3, 2014 from http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/oscar-wilde/dorian-gray.pdf
Oscar Wilde`s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is written primarily out of the aesthetic movement of the Nineteenth Century. Therefore, the text contains a profuse amount of imagery which reflects the concepts of beauty and sensory experiences. By taking the aesthetic approach, Wilde was able to revive the gothic style through grotesque imagery of the portrait and the character whose soul it represents. Wilde is not using gothic elements to shock his audiences; rather he uses the gothic to capture the hideousness of Gray`s corruptness which leaks out of the painting and into the tone of the entire text.
To avoid getting hurt, he pretended to be Lord Henry: decadent, cynical, eloquent, rebellious, and a bit evil in the eyes of bluenoses. Dorian Gray is what he would like to be: be loved, taste all the beauties and exquisite in life and die for what he wants to defend. In this novel, Wilde portrays his philosophy of "aesthetic idealism." He favored nature when it was explained as an internal individualistic impulse, just like Lord Henry who suggests that beauty is the greatest good and doing so diminishes the role of the soul. He does this out of a half-facetious, half-earnest pursuit of that which is more genuine, less socially constructed and therefore less hypocritical.
In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde the eponymous character Dorian follows the lifestyle of New Hedonism. This lifestyle advocates a complete abandon to your impulses, and does not believe in following social dictates or morals. The book illustrates the long-term effects of new hedonism, showing the destruction and death Dorian creates due to following this creed, eventually leading him to complete madness and his own destruction.