The Fear Of Surgery In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray

2136 Words5 Pages

Introduction:
All throughout the countries there are individuals who have the fear of aging and becoming old. In “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Dorian was terrified that his self-portrait would stay his young and beautiful self, while he himself became aged and wrinkled. With this fear, he wished that the painting would age while he stayed young. Consequently, his wish had came true but it turned out for the worst. Similar to Dorian, the individuals who do not want to face the lessening of beauty as he or she age, have the opportunity to undergo surgery. If he or she did undergo surgery there are multiple side effects that make it not worth doing. Evermore, one needs to overcome the fear of getting older because it is inevitable.

Background …show more content…

While still attending Oxford, Wilde won the Newdigate prize for “Ravenna” and when Wilde graduated Oxford he moved to London, England with his friend Frank (Oscar Wilde biography 2).
During his stay in London he continued writing poetry and had even been able to publish “Poems” in 1881 (Oscar Wilde biography 2).
From the years 1888-1895 Wilde successfully published multiple books including “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (Rosson 2).
Personal life
In the year 1891, Wilde had became acquainted with Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas (Rosson 3).
Him and Douglas later became very close and became lovers (Rosson 3).
The father of Douglas left a calling card for Wilde (Oscar Wilde biography 3).
The letter contained a misspelling of sodomite (Oscar Wilde biography 3).
Wilde became infuriated by it, even though his sexuality wasn’t a secret (Oscar Wilde biography 3).
Wilde ended up suing him for libel, which was a huge mistake on his end (Oscar Wilde biography 3).
WIlde received charges of “gross indecency” over having homoerotic passages in his literary works, and his love letters to Douglas (Oscar Wilde biography 3).
He ended up spending two years in prison (Oscar Wilde biography …show more content…

She becomes torn apart when she found out that Dorian didn’t want anything to do with her if she couldn’t act.
She ended up killing herself.
Published and set time period
This version of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” was published in 1993 around the same time as the period the book was set.
The first version was published in the 1880’s.
During this time, the Victorian Age was happening.
In the Victorian Age many of the elderly people were not able to support themselves (Boyer 1)
With this in mind, this could be another reason as to why Dorian did not want to age.
During the nineteenth century Ireland was a place where the British was forced to betray their own principals (Haslam 40).
Similarly, Dorian betrayed his own well mannered morals.
In the nineteenth century the Big Wind hit Ireland (Ireland’s Big Wind 1).
New Criticism
Symbolism (Book, Annotations)
The yellow book
Symbolizes the downfall of Dorian
When Dorian starts reading the book he cannot put it down.
The book and Dorian had similarities that terrified Dorian.
After reading the book, Dorian changes.
Self-portrait
Doppleganger of Dorian
Represented the bad side of him
Literary

Open Document