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The Picture of Dorian Gray,how Lord Henry and Basil Hallward influence Dorian
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Looks Can Kill in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Have you ever heard the saying, "If looks could kill"? Well, they can. Oscar Wilde reveals how looks can be charming, deceitful and even deadly.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, there are three main characters. Dorian Gray, who is a calm, very attractive young man and adored for his good looks, Basil Hallward who is a painter that idolizes Dorian and Lord Henry Wotton, an older man, who becomes a good friend of Dorian's. As Basil is painting a portrait of Dorian Gray, Dorian makes a wish that only the picture would age and he would stay the same. As he later notices, his wish is granted and the picture begins to age. Not only is the portrait aging, but the face is also becoming more devious looking. This is because Dorian had fallen deeply in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane, and one night he had taken Basil and Lord Henry to watch her act. That night Sibyl Vane was acting so badly that people were beginning to leave. Dorian was humiliated so intensely that he went back stage and told her he had fallen out of love with her. She said the reason for her bad acting was because she no longer cared for acting, just for him. Dorian still could not take the humiliation and told he was never to see her again. After he left, Sibyl ended her own life by drinking a cleaning fluid that was in her dressing room.
Wilde first shows the importance of looks when Basil first sets eyes on Dorian Gray. "I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that...it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself" (7). This was before Basil had even talked to Dorian, and he had already judged what type of personality he had, ...
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...e picture itself . . . . He would destroy it . . . . He looked round, and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward . . . He seized the thing, and stabbed the picture with it . . . . There was a cry heard, and a crash . . . . When they entered they found, hanging upon the wall, a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him . . . . Lying on the floor was a dead man . . . with a knife in his heart. He was withered and wrinkled . . . it was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was" (253-254).
Wilde uses great characters, setting and plot to explain the significance that looks have. Everyone's life could be altered just because of the way someone looks, or even the way they look. Looks can not only be charming and deceitful, but deadly as well.
Works Cited:
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Grey. Penguin, 1992.
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a novel written by Oscar Wilde. The story takes place in England, where the artist Basil Hallward paints a portrait of the young and beautiful Dorian Gray. During his stay at the artist’s studio, he gets introduced to Lord Henry who later becomes one of the most influential people in his life. Dorian Gray becomes aware of his amazing beauty and youthfulness due to the portrait and wishes that the portrait ages instead of him. His wish comes true, Dorian remains beautiful and youthful while the portrait changes. Lord Henry becomes his best friend and motivates him to live in abundance, to sin and always strive for beauty. After a while, Dorian discovers that his portrait doesn’t only age, but also changes face expression as a result of all his sins and evil deeds. Dorian gets anxious by the fact that the portrait shows his evil soul and is scared that somebody will see it, therefore he hides it. The portrait haunts Dorian although it’s hidden. As Dorian’s sins gets worse, he feels that he can’t handle the pressure anymore and decides to destroy the portrait that shows his true self.
The classic novel by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray inspires beauty, and romance. The main focus of the novel is aesthetics, a philosophical view detailing the nature of creation and appreciation of art and beauty. The tragedy of the young Dorian Gray after becoming misled by his companion, Lord Henry Wotton, is one that causes many to reform ideas on life and purpose. Lord Henry believes in hedonism, a thought stating that pleasure is the only true good; he declares, “The only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfilment of the senses” (Wilde). This outlook is tempting for many persons, including that of the title character, Dorian Gray. In contrast to Lord Henry is an artist named Basil Hallward, whom perceives Dorian to be his muse; serving as inspiration, and purpose. Basil has many moral traits including trust, compassion, and kindness. His infatuation with Dorian causes him to change his art and style, composing an exquisite painting of the young boy. Basil states, “the work I have done, since I met Dorian Gray, is good work, is the best work of my life…his personality has suggested to me an entirely new manner in art, an entirely new mode of style. I see things differently.” (Wilde). Dorian becomes so mesmerized by the beauty of the picture and the words of Lord Henry that he wishes for the picture to depict his sins and age, rather than his physical being. To the surprise of the young Dorian, his wish becomes fulfilled. This theme shares similarity to the Faust story, as the title character exchanges his soul for pleasures
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 Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, we follow the young Dorian Gray as Lord Henry Wotton first introduces him to a new way of being. Lord Henry believes that the only way of being is to understand that beauty is the only worthwhile trait of life. Wilde writes “, Lord Henry looked at him . . . There was something in his face that made one trust him at once . . . There was something in his low, languid voice that was absolutely fascinating . . . But he felt afraid of him, and was ashamed of being afraid. Why had it been left to a stranger to reveal him to himself?”(page18-23) To Dorian, having just met Lord Henry, these words are life altering. Scholars have made the argument that Lord ...
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Throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray many themes, symbols, and other literary elements become evident. The most important theme in this book is the superficial nature of society. Since the beginning of time society has prized beauty over all else, a...
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Dorian Gray inflicts his first and most important act of evil upon Sibyl Vane, a third rate actress he falls in love with, when he confronts her about the performance. His reaction towards Sibyl demonstrates his the lack of care towards what women have to say and their opinions. Dorian claims of Sibyl to be shallow and stupid as regards to her feelings towards him and her reason for the careless performance. The realization of Dorian finally recognizing his love for her acting rather than her as a person reveals the frequent ill treatment of women in the Victorian Era. Due to his first real infliction of evil towards another person, his soul alters and reflects in the painting. As Davis recalls, “His rejection of Sibyl is cruel, and it is this cruelty that he first notices on the alerting portrait,” (Davis 214). Because he did not care about how Sibyl felt at the moment, he becomes selfish and would later become evil. The treatment of Sibyl results in her committing suicide but rather than Dorian grieving, Lord Henry teaches him ...
Vane, presents herself as one who feeds off her daughter’s youth to feel young. She pertains a strong desire of living her life through Sibyl’s young life as an actress who has a secret relationship with young, wealthy Dorian Gray, which disconnects her from protecting or paying any acknowledgment to her children. Oscar Wilde describes her obsessive response about the great things of youth during her discussion with James about Dorian Gray when she remarks, “…if this gentleman is wealthy, there is no reason why she should not contract an alliance with him. I trust that he has all of the aristocracy. He has all the appearance of it, I must say… his good looks are really quite remarkable; everybody notices them” (Wilde 47). With the remarks made by Mrs. Vane, Oscar Wilde’s attempt to express the thought of youth, with even those in the slumps, as a lifestyle worth looking forward too and how an appealing, physical appearance of youth is something that everyone wants as an expression for high
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 age in which The Picture of Dorian Gray sets the mood of the story in a mysterious and alluring way. In an era where there were strict morals to live by we see the ways Dorian Gray is changed by Lord Henry and how much of an impact it actually makes on Dorian’s life. Oscar Wilde uses many techniques to get the reader to see the connection between the characters and himself. He uses the doppelganger motif as a way to show his viewpoints throughout his book most of all. In Oscar Wilde's’ book the picture of Dorian Gray, you can see how he depicts the characters in the form of himself. He also uses the portrait of dorian as another form of Dorian. By giving the portrait life, it creates a sense of another character entirely. By basing the background of the book in the victorian era,1891, it puts the idea into our minds that what Dorian and Lord Henry do is not accepted by society in that time period.
"It was his beauty that had ruined him, his beauty and the youth that he had prayed for" (Wilde 242). In contrast with his preface which stated, “there is no such thing as a moral or immoral book” (vii), this novel did have moral, least in our view of world morals. The moral of it being that it is our faith, our hope to make the future a better place and our regard for human life is what supports us from become like the wicked, loathsome monster that Dorian became. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a modern novel which tells tale of the fight between one’s moral consciences and one’s immoral temptation and the agonizing outcome if one gives too much into temptation. As Wilde questions, “to what extent are we shaped by our actions” (26). Though Wilde is a firm believer of aestheticism the story really drives home the idea that aestheticism is like sweets, all things in