The following extract presents Dorian Gray’s chilling self-destruction through the use of language, structure and form. Filled with gothic suspense, Oscar Wilde presents the mental and physical effects of an opium addiction.
Oscar Wilde begins the extract with the use of pathetic fallacy. This almost instantaneously suggests to the reader that Dorian Gray’s life is deteriorating, just like the “cold rain [that] began to fall”. The way he is “lying back” in the hansom on one hand suggests that he is simply content, calm and oblivious of his surroundings, however on the other hand it implies that he is purposefully ignorant and lacking the enthusiasm because he has just given up. However by repeating the words said by Lord Henry it suggests that Gray is no longer blissfully ignorant but awakening to the realisation of reality. This apparent carefree attitude that Dorian Gray seems to have adopted is later contradicted where he sinisterly mentions the “sordid shame” that he feels towards the “great city.” This could either emphasise how bitterly he feels towards the way that the “great city” has assisted in his destruction or the flowing rhythm of the sibilance could reflect his peace as he lays back. Although to an extent this “listless” manner creates a threatening atmosphere as it contrasts with the grotesque imagery of the “dripping mist” as seen in the previous paragraph to almost such an extent that it compliments it by adding to the suspense of the passage.
Gray’s view of the world appears to have been distorted by addiction. The way that he says how you can “buy oblivion” shows not just the extent of his reliance on opium but also just how drastic his life situation has become because he is willing to pay to take himself ...
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...n lies. The road conditions also get increasingly worse throughout the passage and this reflects his worsening mentality, however because the roads do not completely disappear it could imply that the future is not as negative as Gray thinks it is. Similarly where the fog was “lighter” it also suggests that things are going to get better, however this could just be false hope. Nevertheless the final sentence, as spoken by the trap driver, is presented so much so like a normal conversation that it just accentuates how troubled Dorian Gray is.
To conclude, Oscar Wilde faultlessly presents the deep mental implications of a man not only battling for forgiveness in himself but the implications of a drug addiction. The language and imagery used has been carefully crafted to contribute to the chilling atmosphere that leaves the reader in suspense from start to finish.
Drugs is one of the themes in this story that shows the impact of both the user and their loved ones. There is no doubt that heroin destroys lives and families, but it offers a momentary escape from the characters ' oppressive environment and serves as a coping mechanism to help deal with the human suffering that is all around him. Suffering is seen as a contributing factor of his drug addiction and the suffering is linked to the narrator’s daughter loss of Grace. The story opens with the narrator feeling ice in his veins when he read about Sonny’s arrest for possession of heroin. The two brothers are able to patch things up and knowing that his younger brother has an addiction.
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.
Obsession in its nature is toxic; it turns people into gods, and leaves no room for their actual selves. Celebrities are the idols of the modern world, where ever they go, a fan follows them dying to get their attention. Dorian Gray, who was loved by nearly all of London for his charm and beauty, who’s biggest fan, Basil, worship of him lead to bitterness. The theme of obsession in The Picture of Dorian Gray is seen through both those who worship Dorian Gray, and the portrait, which is the object of Dorian's obsession. Although Wilde displays obsession through Basil's worship of Dorian, and even Dorian's obsession with himself and his youth, the modern day celebrity is a parallel to Dorian, who is worshipped by many at first for their beauty, wealth or fame, but the nature of the worship eventually leads to chaos.
Smith, Emily Esfahani. Wilde in an hour. 1st ed. Hanover: In an Hour, 2009. Print.
Throughout David Sheff’s book, he incorporates detailed diction in describing his environment, past, and the people around him as to allow the reader to be able to imagine what he had seen during this course of his life. As the father of a drug addict, Sheff had also had his own experience with drugs, in which he describes this experience with words and phrases such as “I heard cacophonous music like a calliope”, “[The brain’s neurotransmitters flood with dopamine], which spray like bullets from a gangster’s gun” and “I felt
...e present and, as such, shapes the future. How free is the individual, if we concede to behavioural determinism? And, if choices on the high-street can be predicted according to, for example, class, gender, education, and origin, can they really qualify as free choices? The characters are perhaps shown as being "unfree," as they are being forced to make a choice"a job," a "career," a "big television"; to act otherwise is to choose death. Heroin represents this misnomerit is the unmade choice, the solidification of a philosophical abstraction. Significantly, heroin never actually kills any of the charactersonly its accompanying consequences.
In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray goes through the Hero’s Journey because of the challenges he had been through, the way he transformed, and his crisis.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a rich story which can be viewed through many literary and cultural lenses. Oscar Wilde himself purposefully filled his novel with a great many direct and indirect allusions to the literary culture of his times, so it seems appropriate to look back at his story - both the novel and the 1945 film version - in this way.
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 begins setting the mood of the text with excessive descriptions of nature, and natural beauty: “The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn” (Wilde 5). While this description hardly sounds like the language of the gothic, the use of nature sets up a contrast to the darker tones which appear later in the text. The nature theme is also present in the descriptions of Dorian Gray, whom at this point in the text has not been corrupted by the influences of Lord Henry Wotton or his search for pleasure and experience. Not only is Gray described as someone who encompasses flower like beauty, he is a representation of a flower himself. As Lord Henry describes, Gray is “some brainless, beautiful creature, who should be always here in winter when [there are] no flowers to look at” (7). Wilde extends this flower allusion with the metaphor of the aging man, and the beauty which dies with age. Like a flower Dorian’s beauty will fade, wither, a...
Wilde, Oscar, and Michael Patrick. Gillespie. The Picture of Dorian Gray: Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Reviews and Reactions, Criticism. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2007. Print.
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
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.
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.