From the moment that Dorian makes his desperate plea in Basil Hallward’s studio – “If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! …I would give my soul for that!” – he is a grand Gothic experiment (Wilde 28). Even prior to this, Dorian was a test subject of Lord Henry’s, who wanted to see how many of his own ideas he could inject into the boy. This influence rapidly planted in Dorian the ideas of eternal youth and beauty, and led to the encasement of his soul in Basil’s portrait of him. After the switch, Dorian is still under Lord Henry’s influence, but he is also Oscar Wilde’s subject. In his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde manipulates Dorian, his surroundings, and his circumstances to capture a realistic portrayal of the character’s downfall by depicting the nature of the body, mind, and soul, and the relationship between them.
Because Dorian’s soul does not reside in his body, but in a portrait, he experiences a number of curious circumstances. First, Dorian’s body does not age. It remains the same as it was on the day that he wished his soul into the picture in Basil’s studio. Neither does his lifestyle leave any mark on his body. Such extravagant and often sinful habits as were indulged by Dorian should show some sign of their passing, but he is excepted. Wilde takes care to tell his readers that Dorian has “changed, of course, but not in appearance” (221). It is the portrait that bears the marks of this abuse. Any change – either as a result of age or of sin – becomes part of the portrait.
Dorian, easily fascinated and influenced, becomes enthralled with tracking the changes of his portrait. Before the first change, Dorian’s portrait is beautiful; it looks as pure and perfect as its ...
... middle of paper ...
... deed? Or the desire of a new sensation, as Lord Henry had hinted,… or that passion to act a part that sometimes makes us do things finer than we are ourselves? Or, perhaps, all these” (227). Before looking into the face of his soul, Dorian truly believes that he is reforming and starting to be good to rectify his sins. Once he sees that what he thought was goodness was really only “cunning” and “hypocrit[ical],” he understands that he had passed a point of no return, and that there was no chance for him to save his soul.
Like many stories, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray has a moral, a greater point. Wilde’s message about the relationship between the body, mind, and soul is simple, but important: the body is the vehicle for the mind, which is the vehicle for the soul. This is the “natural order” of things, and Wilde shows that it should not be contested.
Dorian tries to make it seem as though his soul has taken him hostage and led to his downfall, proof that he wants to be remembered as good. He hopes that this attempt to make himself seem like the victim will cause others to sympathize with him and excuse any wrong-doing he has committed or might commit. Now that Basil is in his presence, Dorian is finally able to test his new method and see whether or not it will be successful:
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...
“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.
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.
In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray goes through the Hero’s Journey because of the challenges he had been through, the way he transformed, and his crisis.
The development of Dorian’s double life discreetly implicates the confinement of homosexuality due to a lack of liberation.1 Before his confrontation with sin, Dorian leads a lifestyle of spiritual freedom and aesthetic oblivion.2 Dorian’s moral corruption does not arise until the forcible fragmentation of his identity when Basil asserts his desire to “stay with the real Dorian,” while referring to the portrait of Dorian.3 His corruption emerges when he begins to feel a “passion for sensations,” which results in a constant fluctuation of emotional stability and discontinuity of his puerile innocense.4 Wilde finalizes Dorian’s breakaway from realism through his proclamation that the portrait was to “bear the burden of his shame,” which foreshadows his shameful future and the degradation of his image.5 The implementation of a double life reflects the beginning of his battle with sin versus morale, and even more intuitively his expression of homosexuality versus traditional relations.6
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.
With the fateful encounter with Lord Henry, Dorian is ushered into a world of idealistic art and beauty. Lord Henry plays a key role in introducing a new world in which beauty, youth and sensations dominate. First, Lord Henry employs a powerful strategy of developing Dorian's self-consciousness of his ow...
In this novel, we see the corruption of Dorian’s unscathed innocence and his beauty by various outside sources. Dorian first meets Basil, who values Dorian’s beauty so much that he is Basil’s muse for art, his way of living. Basil wants to cherish Dorian forever, and wants to keep him for himself. Additionally, at first, he cherishes Dorian’s beauty more than he does his personality. As an artist, Basil is completely enamored by Dorian’s beauty, and he says, “what the invention of oil-painting was to the Venetians, the face of Antinous was to late Greek sculpture, and the face of Dorian Gray will some day be to me” (Wilde 12).
Oscar Wilde`s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is written primarily out of the aesthetic movement of the Nineteenth Century. Therefore, the text contains a profuse amount of imagery which reflects the concepts of beauty and sensory experiences. By taking the aesthetic approach, Wilde was able to revive the gothic style through grotesque imagery of the portrait and the character whose soul it represents. Wilde is not using gothic elements to shock his audiences; rather he uses the gothic to capture the hideousness of Gray`s corruptness which leaks out of the painting and into the tone of the entire text.
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.
In this novel, Oscar Wilde displays Dorian’s moral corrosion negatively in order to convince his audience of the detrimental effects of aestheticism. As Dorian descends deeper into the depths of his depravity, the audience loses faith in him. His innocent, childlike and charitable qualities, seen in his philanthropy and petulance when he is first introduced, are lost, and he acts cruelly and selfishly. For example, when his lover, Sibyl Vane, performs on stage and fails to meet Dorian’s expectations, Wilde fashions Dorian’s reaction to be callous and bitter to her so that the reader sympathizes with Sibyl.
In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde readers are presented with a vast depiction of the art of immorality in the face of ignorant innocence portrayed by the character Dorian Gray. In the beginning it seems to be a quaint novel on artistry and the paradoxical relationship between two lifelong friends by the name of Basil Hallward and Lord Henry. The plot takes a surprising twist when introduced to the real center of attention, the character of the seemingly innocent Dorian Gray. Upon this introduction Wilde then begins to tell the tale of what a life of secrecy and deception will lead to without the consciousness of a moral threshold and the inescapable burden of Dorians horrid accumulation of sins. The deception begins with a simple shout out to the heavens for the impossible to be granted. This then flourishes into unspeakable acts caused by an Egyptian statue, bringing misfortune to Dorian Gray by giving him exactly what he so desperately desires, thus teaching the world a lesson. Not everything we so strongly desire the world to provide is good for the soul.
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...
Basil wants Dorian to go back to his old ways. It is at this point that the reader can see that Dorian is actually being affected by his conscience, something that has not been seen in him since the beginning of the book. It is at this point that Dorian begins to go back to how he was before and feels the need to reform. However, Dorian is unable to accept how drastically he himself has changed, and attempts to excuse it. This can be seen when Dorian cries, “Each of us has heaven and hell in him, Basil.” Dorian is showing despair, proving that he realizes that he understands that he has committed many sins and thrown away his life, but still wants to explain it away. Despite this, Dorian attempts to shock Basil by showing how drastically his painting has changed to reflect what Dorian has done. However, Basil instead prays for Dorian and shows him love, which Dorian cannot accept. Dorian kills Basil, but realizes that he has made a mistake. He starts trying to reform in order to get rid of the ugliness of the picture and return it to how it was