When you indulge in everything, you indulge in nothing. Oscar Wilde paints a picture for the reader much like Basil Hallward, the painter in The Picture of Dorian Gray, the story of a young man’s soul that he trades for the eternal youth and beauty of a portrait. Dorian’s sins are painted onto the canvas while his own face is left unmarred by the horrible acts he commits. Dorian is a young, naïve, innocent boy; with an impressionable nature that allows him to become seduced by Lord Henry’s fantastical views on life, love, and beauty. Dorian soon realizes the power his own beauty possesses, and hastily declares his wish to trade places with the portrait so he can be young and beautiful forever. In Dorian Gray and the Moral Imagination, Kristian Williams claims that in Dorian’s quest for beauty he “loses site of a larger aim—a beautiful life.” (29). Williams is claiming that as Dorian concedes to every indulgence and pursues new experiences and excesses his sensations become deadened and taken for granted. If you fill a room with roses, eventually you will no longer smell their perfume. Dorian, indulging in his every whim, and his wishing to live a beautiful life, kept himself from experiencing life at all, he becomes paranoid, he destroys his relationships, reputations, and himself.
Dorian becomes obsessed with the idea that someone could find out what he is hiding away. His paranoia consumes him, and his obsession keeps him from enjoying life.
He goes to great lengths to hide the portrait, himself, away and keep it from prying eyes, giving up his country home, and leaving parties early to make sure it was where he left it, undisturbed. He was so crazed with the possibility that someone would find the picture and find out his sec...
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...ty. His face remained young, but as his age increased, his youthful appearance created controversy. He remained beautiful, but was still only able to find superficial beauty. He wanted love, but only the idea of love, to experience the real thing would certainly diminish the romance of it. In Dorian's last moment of hope for self-preservation, he tries to kill the hideous monster he had created, but that backfired on him, instead of freeing him from his indulgence of sins, it kills him and the portraits original beauty returned.
Works Cited
Ross, Alex. "Deceptive Picture." The New Yorker 87.23. (Aug. 8, 2011): 64. General OneFile. Web.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Print
Williams, Kristian. “Dorian Gray and the Moral Imagination.” Common Review 8.3. (Winter 2010): 26-33. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web
that he could forever remain just as handsome as he is in the painting -- that the
In the beginning of the book, Dorian seems to be an innocent, charming, beautiful young man, and even referred to as “a wonderful creation” (ch 2). Dorian is described as this amazing person, with looks comparable to a God, charm that could swoon any woman, and a mesmerizing persona about him with the ability to draw anyone near, yet he seems to be so imperceptive to himself. His attitude of simplicity causes readers to be fond of him, passing their first judgments that he could not possibly be evil. As the story moves along readers see the first inkling that Dorian may not be so perfect. Dorian comments on “how sad it is…[that he] shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But the picture will remain always young” (ch 2). This statement lets readers inside Dorian’s thoughts, showing how shallow and frivolous Dorian views life to be. He places so much value and esteem on looks alone, forgetting that being painted should be an honor, or at the very least...
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.
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 ...
trading his soul for his youth, Dorian rids of the good inside of himself. The
In society, there has constantly been the question as to whether people can change or not. Author Oscar Wilde proves in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, that one can. The question he poses to his readers is “What kind of transformation is shown by the protagonist Dorian Gray: good or bad?” It is possible to think that Dorian Gray has become a better person, not for others, but for himself since he lives in the pursuit of pleasure and always achieves it. However, as it is demonstrated by the portrait, the damnation of the lives of others can provoke damage to one’s conscience and soul. Dorian’s soul is ruined gradually by his hedonistic adventures, eventually failing to redeem his actions, but not before he leaves a devastating path of destruction and experiences self-inflicted destruction.
The idea that The Picture of Dorian Gray is a heavily aesthetic novel is very true because the central theme of the novel is that art should only exist to be art.
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.
He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. ”(Wilde 13). The words of an honored role model can easily persuade even the purest of hearts into the darkness of crime and evil, such as Dorian Gray. At this moment, Gray falls victim to the flourishing words of Lord Henry, who manipulates Gray from a timid and shining boy to nothing but a shallow man who commits capital crimes to conceal his secret.
Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, explores the themes of influence, corruption and conscience. “The obvious influence of Lord Henry upon Dorian shows how one may corrupt another to such an extent that one's own conscience withers and dies”(Weintraub 116).
When Dorian Gray first meets Lord Henry at the studio of artist Basil Hallward, he is fascinated with Lord Henry’s wit and the radical social doctrines that he advocates. Dorian is easily molded and falls for the argument he hears. According to Lord Henry the goal of new hedonism, “to realize one’s nature perfectly…to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream” (198-199). As far as philosophies go this seems rather innocuous until Lord Henry goes on to clarify that, “every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us…the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing” (199). Lord Henry’s advice entices the malleable Dorian, who does not seem to realize that Lord Henry may advocate giving in to every impulse, even the destructive ones, but he does not follow this advice himself. As Basil Hallward informs Lord Henry, “you never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose” (188). Dorian, however, takes Lord Henry’s advice concerning new hedonism at face value and the results are disastrous.
Dorian Gray's life is dictated by his physical appeal. His beauty lies within his youth. Dorian's perception of beauty allows him to love. He is convinced that his beauty allows him to accomplish anything he desires regardless of the consequences and still be loved by his friends. He uses his beauty to mitigate his evil actions. Dorian says, “I don't wish to know anything about them. I love scandals about other people, but scandals about myself don't interest me. They have not got the charm of novelty.” Youth and beauty are the most precious things to Dorian. In his life, beauty is of utmost importance. Then he sees the picture of himself, painted by Basil, absorb his sins and this changed his view. “I hope it is not about myself. I am tired of myself tonight. I should like to be somebody else,” Dorian said. He aspired to have had a good life rather than one filled with artificial meaning and beauty. The moral beauty of Doran lies within the portrait of himself. The portrait imitated his life. He finally realized that beauty cannot help him escape his evil actions. He deeply lamemted his wish that the portrait bore the burden of his age an...
...ey saw his watch on the wrist of that old, wrinkled corpse. The symbolism on the painting is much more than just his aging. Since the art in Wilde’s era was held up to mean so much more when it didn’t need to, the art was not able to be admired for its true beauty. After Dorian wished to stay young as his painting would age, HE became meaningless, HE became what Wilde considered true art, and the painting, as contradicting as it may sound, now meant much more than just beauty. It meant all of Dorian’s sins and wrongdoings. It represented all of the repugnancy in Dorian, and now Dorian did not mean anything, he became art. He was meaningless.
Everyone is merely a product of their surroundings and become what they have been raised to be. While some remain untempted by the vices of their peers, others completely absorb the negative influences in everyday life. Modern society values beauty over substance and The Picture of Dorian Gray serves to reveal that flaw. Oscar Wilde criticizes the superficial nature of people by satirizing the corruption of their views on morality. He says “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame” (Wilde 238). Dorian Gray, the main character, is representative of the direction that humanity as a whole is heading toward. He struggles with his religious identity while also trying to please society’s expectations
In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray reads a yellow book given to him by mentor-friend, Sir Henry Wotton. In the years after reading the book, Dorian Gray transforms from the pure and innocent young man he was into a two-faced immoral man. The reason behind the Dorian's degradation is never explicitly mentioned in Wilde's novel, which begs the question of whether literature has the ability to degrade a person. The influence of literature has the potential to corrupt one’s mind, but whether it does is dependant on the state of the reader.