Dorian's Morality

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Recommended: A literary criticism of a picture of dorian gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde, is a novel that tells about a young man who on the outside portrays a moral life; however, on the inside he was corrupt to the core. Morality is the distinction between right and wrong behavior. Dorian seemed to change his morality throughout the story to fit his personal behavior. By the end of the story, he does not know what good is anymore. At the beginning of the novel, Dorian had his portrait painted by his friend Basil. Basil painted his portrait to look just like Dorian looked at that time, young and beautiful. He was actually quite surprised at how handsome he was. Basil had always complemented him, but he always laughed it off. Secretly, Dorian made a wish that the portrait …show more content…

Each time he acted immorally he did not seem to physically suffer, only the portrait changed. So to him, he still looked beautiful and so he must have been acting good. It was always the other person's fault. In the end Dorian was disgusted with his past and thought that destroying the portrait would allow him to continue without repercussions of the murder; however, by stabbing the painting, he killed himself and preserved the original portrait. "When they entered, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was." The Picture of Dorian Gray, can be seen as a story of moral justification to satisfy one's selfish desires, and the destruction that will ultimately have on a person. Many Christian's judge people for what they see on the outside, whether it is good or bad. The problem with this is that people do not see what is really on the inside of a person. Morality cannot be changed to fit a situation like Dorian Gray tried to do. Morality is black and white, separating good and bad

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