Archetype In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Known to assume a myriad of guises—a platonic friend, a sensual mistress, a loving spouse, an idealized deity—an artist's muse, in the traditional sense, possesses bewitching inherent characteristics that embolden ordinary men to craft profound masterpieces. Deliberately shrouded in melodrama and mystique, a muse's traits are often idealized with their circumstantial virtues hyperbolized by their artist, while conversely, their critical character flaws are neglected or even omitted (Craft). Dorian Gray, the titular protagonist of Oscar Wilde’s novella The Picture of Dorian Gray, exemplifies all aspects of the muse archetype with his stunning looks and grace that inspired his friend the Artist Basil Hallward to capture Dorian’s picturesque figure in art. Although Basil originally intended for his exquisite portrait to preserve Dorian’s beauty, it ironically evolves to represent Dorian’s guilt, regrets, and corruption that result from his excessively hedonistic

lifestyle. Through Basil and Dorian’s intimate interactions, which are further accentuated by the symbolically accursed portrait, Oscar Wilde is able to explore the peculiar bond between artistry and reality—while simultaneously highlighting the link between ethics and aesthetics—in order to demonstrate the crippling manner by which a lifestyle singularly focused on pursuing pleasure will inevitably conclude in catastrophe.
Confined to quarters of a whimsical, yet posh painter’s studio, Basil Hallward, quite plainly, fits the artist archetype as an imaginative craftsman who appreciates the scenic splendor of the world. Furthermore, Basil is an idealist whose passionate convictions concerning the benevolence of humanity prompt him to overlook his friends’ unpleasant characteristics. For instance, the relation between Basil and Lord Henry is strikingly bizarre—each have radical worldly views that frequently clash with one another—yet Wilde perpetually stresses that the friendship between the two is unmistakable. Although it is not unheard of for polarizing friendships to exist, in the case of Basil and Henry, there is consistently an evident, yet subtle, undertone that each is feverently attempting to prove the other incorrect. Indeed, Basil maintains his faith that amidst all of Lord Henry’s villainy is “a sliver of angelic innocence—a sliver that proves the possibility of [Lord Henry’s] redemption” (Powell). Unfortunately, Basil and Henry’s silent conflict of ideals persists as the two begin to feud over Basil’s latest artistic subject, Dorian Gray.
Prior to his artistic genesis, Dorian Gray was considered the epitome of innocence and purity. Initially, Wilde describes Dorian as one who “had kept himself unspotted from the world,” (18) an epithet that functions as a standard to later juxtapose his dramatic transformation to a tainted, immoral man of low virtue. At this point, Dorian’s disposition can be described as “one of tabula rasa or a blank slate” that awaits “colorful brushstrokes . . . [to] forever tarnish its originally pure image” (Seagroatt). The inciting moment of discovering Basil’s painting is similar to the first blemish on innocent Dorian Gray’s canvas as he reaches the epiphany that he will eventually “grow old, and horrible, and dreadful” while his painting would “remain always young” (Wilde 28). It is here that Dorian’s insecurity takes command of his conduct, spurring the commencement of his self-destructive quest to obtain all things beautiful, a quest that the despicable Lord Henry gladly wishes to abet.
Despite his underdeveloped and static character, Lord Henry Wotton is still the most perplexing to attribute an archetype to.

Philip Cohen suggests that, “Henry assumes the role of the critic...who twists [the artist's] original intentions to abide by his personal agendas,” which proves to be a fair evaluation. Henry’s verbal artistry glamorizes the hedonistic lifestyle boldly claiming the moral righteousness that Basil advocates for is only hypocrisy used to cover people's inadequacies. Although Dorian readily agrees with Henry’s viewpoint, Henry seals the deal with a masterpiece of his own: the yellow book. This book, which depicts an incredibly wealthy protagonist devoting his life to seeking as many aesthetic sensations as he can, represents Henry’s interpretation of Dorian and what Dorian could potentially become. Against the warnings of Basil, Henry successfully transforms Dorian into a mechanized being devoid of emotions and sturdy relationships whose sole purpose is to seek the next new

sensation.
In the aftermath, Dorian Gray is left full of contradictions. He is beautiful, yet hideous; he is a hero, yet a villain; he is a victim, yet a murderer. However, what perhaps Dorian fails to fully recognize is that nothing is purely good or purely evil. He hints at understanding this duality with his quote, “Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him” (Wilde 150), but fails to embrace both sides of himself as he forces himself into a false dichotomy where he is only pursuing either pleasure or pain at any given time. When in actuality, both are necessary to live a fulfilled life. In the immortal words of a certain 12 AP English Teacher, “Pain is a necessary agent to appreciate happiness” (Feldkamp).