How Does Sibyl Vane Use Hedonism In Dorian Gray

In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian is a lot different from the innocent young man he was, he undoubtedly became hedonistic and selfish, but the question is why. For what reason did Dorian Gray decide to stray so far from his early years. Now, an obvious answer to that question is that Lord Henry was simply too much for Dorian, and he fell into his mind tricks. But if that’s the case Dorian shouldn’t have been able to resist it for as long as he did, even during the Sibyl “era”. To say it was just him being greedy, ignorant, or selfish is too shallow of an answer. When looking deeper into the subject it becomes clear that Dorian used hedonism as a way to escape from all his earthly issues and problems. This can be found from the source of his hedonism, and even within his hedonistic way of life all those years later.

At the time he was in his most vulnerable state, and he was praying, begging for a way to escape from the pain. And hedonism provided just that, it provided an excuse to throw all the blame, the shame onto something else. When thinking hedonistically, Sibyl Vane wasn’t human anymore, she was an idea of a “wonderful tragic figure sent on to … show the supreme reality of Love.” (Wilde 93) Now in general, after someone has died, the people who held that person dear mourn for days, maybe weeks on end. They don’t move on in twelve hours, that shows that they either never truly loved and appreciated that person, or that they loved them to the point where they become unstable and therefore easily changed. For Dorian Gray, Sibyl’s death shook him to the point where he finally cracked under Henry’s pressure, finally gave in and welcomed those hedonistic values. “Explained me to myself … felt all you said, but … was afraid of it,” (Wilde 92) By allowing those hedonistic ideas in, Dorian opened the door to escapism and was able to feel no pain the next