... The Power and Destruction of Vain Pursuits in the Picture of Dorian Gray “In fact, despite his power of rationalization and the continuing influence of Henry. Dorian is increasingly disturbed by doubts about his moral freedom and stung by the pangs of the conscience that will not die” (Liebman 10). Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is centered upon the effects of liberty of the soul and degradation that results from it. If one chooses to always act on inner desires and passions, ignoring ethical values, one’s life will be destroyed by vain pursuits. Dorian Gray a wealthy young man has been challenged to “embark upon a hedonistic life, after having feared it for so long, developing every intellectual, aesthetic and sensual appetite to the utmost. Despite the look of his innocent beauty...”(Magill Book Reviews 1) Dorian becomes very vain with the pursuit to simply fulfill his desperate desires without looking into the ethical importance of his actions and thus becomes hopeless and defenceless to his own desires. When one becomes aware of the fear to venture in life, one will pursue to fulfill every incomplete/unfulfilled passion without limits. This in turn leads to an amoral representation of one’s life. For once in his life, Dorian Gray was inspired. He was woken up to a world of freedom. Lord Henry Wotton opened his eyes to a world of hedonism saying “You, Mr. Gray... with your rose-red youth... and ... boyhood ... you have had passions...
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...set out a series of doctrines which detail his personal philosophy on the relationship that exists between art and life, and the rolls that they should play. Chiefly these are: art should only express itself, expressing life and nature makes for bad art, life imitates art more than art imitates life, and that lying is the true aim of art . When applied to his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray these doctrines add an extra layer of meaning to the themes already presented, and this allows for a greater level of understanding. There are several instances during the narrative of the novel which show a relationship between the roles of art and life, and the ways in which they are separated, combined, and reversed. Understanding the theories set out by Vivian helps with comprehending the relationship between Dorian and his portrait, as well as with his friends Lord Henry and Basil Hallward. The Decay of Lying is presented as a slightly confusing and seemingly contradictory essay on the relationship between art and life which treads the border between being sincere and ironic, while The Picture of Dorian Gray is a metaphor infused novel which blurs the lines between art and life as actively as it seeks to separate them. Both writings leave room for speculation regarding their interpretations, be they the more obvious meanings or their ironic opposites. This is entirely suitable for an essay which aims to bring back the art of lying and the beauty of untruth. The inconsistency of interpretation...
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...found in Oscar Wilde ’s preface to his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book,” writes Wilde, “Books are well written or badly written. That is all.” His claim is that works of art are legitimate objects of aesthetic judgement, but not of moraljudgement. Wilde added this preface when the novel was reprinted a year after its initial publication in a literary magazine. The preface was Wilde’s considered response to various reviewers who had found his book to be immoral. The extent of this antagonism should not be exaggerated. Only a few reviewers had condemned the novel in these terms, and there was never any serious campaign for it to be banned. Wilde also replied separately, by letter, to each of the magazines and newspapers which had published these condemnatory reviews. These letters were collected together after his death and republished in a little volume entitled Art and Morality. (Today, they can be found more easily in the collected edition of Wilde’s correspondence.) It is worth our while to read and compare the various arguments he puts forward. He makes his first statement of the principle later enunciated in his preface in his letter to The St. James’s Gazette: “The sphere of art and the sphere of ethics are absolutely distinct and separate.” However in a second letter to the same magazine he makes the surprising claim that “The public… will find that [Dorian Gray] is a story with a moral. And the moral is this: All excess...
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...James hates the "young dandy" who is courting his sister. He warns his sister that the man wants to enslave her and repeatedly threatens to kill the "gentleman" if he does Sibyl any wrong. Why was it added? The absence of Dorian and Lord Henry from this chapter makes it seem like filler. It is a chance for the reader to catch a breath after the whirlwind engagement announcement that ended the previous chapter. However, this short chapter serves an important function in the novel; it introduces and describes characters and sets up events that will be developed later in the story. After controversy of the first publication, this innocent girl is introduced to cool the situation. It can also be argued that chapter 5 was added in order to humanise Sibyl – before she is a ‘creature’ and this makes her seem more ‘real’. The characters Sibyl is described as "the girl" -> infantile like Dorian -> naivety, innocence -> "pouted" childish again -> her dismissal of the importance of money is presented as idealistic and childish "love is more than money" -> "the joy of a caged bird was in her voice" reference to bird is like description of Lord Henry's wife, shows she is not respected -> "prison of passion" foreshadowing of how falling in love with Dorian means she will end up dead -> "how serious you both are" childlike incomprehension of the gravity of...
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...shows him his painting of Dorian Gray. That is where the story starts. The story has one flashback, what I remembered. That was at the first pages of the book, Basil telling the Lord how he met Dorian. The book interested me because of the time it is wrote in, 1890. The story took place in the Great-Britain, London, to be precise. 3. Think about the role that social class and/ or gender plays in the novel that you've read. What social classes are represented in the novel? To what extent is each class/gender depicted? How does class/gender influence the choices that are available to the characters and the decisions that they make? What I see is that Lord Henry is a rich Lord, and what I also see is that he is interested in art. Basil, the painter, is a loved painter by Lord Henry, and a friend too. He is neither rich nor poor. He belongs to the upper classes of the painters in his region. The other person is Dorian Gray, he is wealthy and belong to the same social class as Basil. You see that the Lord belongs to a higher social class, that is one of the reasons why he has influence on Dorian. When Sybil fell in love with Dorian, Dorian is more wealthy then she is, Dorian broke with her. She is so upset that she takes her own life. What is in some way the influence of Dorian, indirectly. 4. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask? What do you think he or she would answer? The book ends with the suicide of Dorian Gray, that is why I’d like to ask...
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...read The Picture of Dorian Gray, what struck me most, and what inspired me to write my essay, was the irony that Dorian exhibited in his life. In pursuing aestheticism—a philosophy based in the simplistic beauty of things—the pursuer may, in the end and without notice, emerge uglier than ever before. Dorian, the once wide-eyed innocent, buckles and caves in to depravity while practicing an aesthetic lifestyle, despite the beauty that such a life idea claims. I began to wonder what Oscar Wilde intended to convey with his portrayal of the Aesthetic Movement incarnate and its often harsh consequences, especially given the well-documented involvement of Wilde in promoting aestheticism in his contemporary society. The juxtaposition of Wilde’s support for the Aesthetic Movement with Dorian’s corruption at the hands of it provided a great jumping-off point and a lingering question with which to begin an essay. What exactly is Wilde’s view of aestheticism when one bears in mind the story of Dorian Gray? In writing my essay, I realized Wilde’s outlook is not as straightforward as it may first appear. Throughout the writing process, a difficult task I faced was to encapsulate the aesthetic position when the philosophy often meant different things to different people. In researching the movement, I found that the moral philosophies of various proponents of aestheticism often varied and, thus, it became difficult to nail down the aesthetic tenets and apply them to Dorian Gray. In retrospect,...
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...Des Esseintes vs. Dorian Gray During the last 20 years of the nineteenth century, France and England saw the rise of the Decadence Movement. It was known as the wake up call, which signified civilization’s acceptance of the ethical and moral standards of life. This movement included the changing of society’s concept of the “norm” and allowed them to become more open to abnormal aspects of life; unnatural forms of style became accepted and approved. During this movement, many artists expressed their views and opinions and these artists each took a stand in either the arts or in literature. Two of the most prominent artists during this movement were: Joris-Karl Huysmans and Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde published works of Dorian Gray and the most famous picture was, “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The significance of this picture was tremendous and so there was no surprise when it was turned into a book, and then later, a movie. In the picture, Wilde depicts Gray as a young innocent boy who, through the course of his life, becomes lost and eventually transforms into an evil villain. Gray was a complex yet interesting man; he was known to have a split personality and this was truly expressed in the painting. The portrait portrayed a form of youth and old age, and Gray managed to express a wish of undying youth. The portrait also exposed Gray’s true inner self—the many lies, deception, crime, homosexuality, and immortality that was evident in the novel. Dorian Gray was a complex artist...
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...OsWilde always created and maintained a deep connection between art and his characters. He focused on thoroughly examining the relationship between beauty, art, life, religion and morality. The picture of Dorian Gray is based on the same theme of love for art and art’s ability to depict life’s harshness. The picture of Dorian Gray.” It is a masterpiece, which not only represents Wilde’s brilliance in his writing, but also displays dark and personal aspects of his life. *****The story display the reflections of the author’s personality in the novel’s three main characters, Dorian Gray, Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward. Each character shows a kind of approach towards life which is similar in its philosophy to Oscar Wilde’s real life approach. **Oscar Wild says: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be- in other ages, perhaps. Oscar has crafted Dorian Gray as a symbol of art which can truly be appreciated with no regard to morality and ethics.*** He is characterized by pure soul which was polluted by the vices in society and got transformed him into a selfish, who lives to seek pleasure. The author and the character mirror each other because, both had a pleasure seeking nature with no regards to ethics and morals in the society. . According to Oscar Wild Pleasure is the only thing one should live for. As you know Oscar Wild was homosexual and there was a man he loved, Alfred Duglas. I read several letter...
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...Dorian Gray character analysis Dorian Gray is so many opposites at once that we can’t really understand them all. He’s good, he’s bad; he’s beautiful, he’s hideous; he’s perfect, he’s terribly flawed. Most importantly, he is literary two things at one – he’s himself, a living, a breathing human being, and he’s also the portrait, a visible reflection of the state of his soul. Dorian Gray within the novel At the opening of the novel, Dorian Gray exists as something of an ideal: he is the archetype of male youth and beauty. As such, he captures the imagination of Basil Hallward, a painter, and Lord Henry Wotton, a nobleman who imagines fashioning Dorian into a pleasure-seeker. Dorian is exceptionally vain and becomes convinced, in the course of a brief conversation with Lord Henry, that his most salient characteristics—his youth and physical attractiveness—are ever growing. The thought of waking one day without these attributes sends Dorian into a tailspin: he curses his fate and pledges his soul if only he could live without bearing the physical burdens of aging and sinning. He longs to be as youthful and lovely as the masterpiece that Basil has painted of him, and he wishes that the portrait could age in his stead. His vulnerability and insecurity in these moments make him excellent clay for Lord Henry’s willing hands. Dorian soon leaves Basil’s studio for Lord Henry’s parlor, where he adopts the tenets of “the new Hedonism” and resolves to live his life as a pleasure-seeker...
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...The Picture of Dorian Gray: Plot Analysis The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a fiction novel that tells about a man who goes through many trials and tribulations that test his sanity. The novel takes place in the late 19th century which is considered to be the Victorian era. The Victorian era was an era of great judgement and it really depended on your social class whether or not you would get treated with high regards. The contrast between middle-class society and the sins of the wealthy corrupted upper class played a huge role in the novel. Dorian Gray was considered to be of the higher class, therefore, he struggled with the madness that came with it. Dorian Gray was beautiful. So beautiful that Wilde made a point to explain to the reader how beautiful and good-looking he was. “Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair” (Wilde 11). Not only was Dorian Gray well respected, but he was quite the man to look at and everyone admired him. However, Dorian Gray had some of his own demons to battle with his quest to stay forever young. Having this impossible and selfish wish comes him transforming from a gorgeous innocent pure soul, to a full developed maniac. To continue, like many other novels, there’s other characters that have a great impact towards the main character. Lord Henry is the definition of a bad influence that impacted Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray does not have any parents because...
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...Fiction Sexuality in The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray alludes to homosexuality throughout the entirety of the novel. While homosexual relations between the characters are not directly discussed, the context and conversations between the characters points to homosexual relations between all of the male characters. Oscar Wilde, himself, was part of the Decadents movement at the end of the Victorian period. Decadents are known for undermining the mainstream Victorian ideals. There has been a significant change in society’s morals since the publication of the novel in 1891. A person reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in today’s culture may see nothing wrong about the context of the novel or the relationships between the characters within it but, at the time of publication, it was seen by society as an immoral book and even used in the trial against Oscar Wilde that resulted in two years imprisonment and hard labor. I will argue that using the characters of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry Wotton, and Basil Hallward, Oscar Wilde supports the common Decadents belief that open sexuality in mainstream Victorian culture would make for a better, happier society. From the very beginning of the novel, homosexual relations are apparent through the conversation about Dorian Gray between Basil Hallward and Lord Henry. As Lord Henry questions Basil about the mysterious person in his painting, Basil’s odd obsession with Dorian becomes evident. He describes their meeting...
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...Summary Published in 1891, The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. An immediate and popular success, it has never been out of print. The story is set in London towards the end of the 19th century. Basil Hallward has painted a portrait of a handsome young man, Dorian Gray. Thrilled by the beauty of the painting, Dorian Gray wishes that he could always stay as young as his image in the picture. He gives up his soul to achieve this wish. Dorian sets out on a life of self-indulgence and evil. His behaviour seems to be reflected in the portrait and he realises that his wish has come true – the portrait is beginning to show a corrupted man while he remains unchanged physically. Frightened of what is happening, Dorian hides the picture in a locked room. The years pass and Dorian leads an increasingly depraved life, but the years have no effect on him; he looks as young and beautiful as ever. Then one evening he meets the artist once more and, after he has shown him the evil-looking portrait, Dorian kills him in a fit of hatred. Dorian tries to carry on with his immoral life but he is tormented by feelings of guilt and decides that the only way he can make up for what he has done is to destroy the painting. In the climax of the story Dorian tries to kill the man in the portrait, but kills himself in the process. Aestheticism was inspired by the principle of 'art for art's sake (art for the love for art) ...it had to simply create beauty. The Aesthete believed that...
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...Gray” which was immediately attacked in many papers for its homoerotic theme it had, which was considered immoral by Victorian standards and would come to play a huge role in his legal trials.( Ellmann) .He went on to write a play, “Lady Windermere’s Fan” which was a literary and financial success for Wilde which prompted him to continue writing plays. These included “ A Woman of No Importance”, “An Ideal Husband” and “The Importance Of Being Ernest”. In the summer of 1891, Oscar Wilde first met Lord Alfred Douglas. They soon became lovers, both infatuated with each other until Wilde was arrest some years later. Wilde sued Alfred Douglas’s father for accusing him of homosexuality. The case was later thrown out, but Wilde was sentenced to two...
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...Sparknotes – Dorian Gray • Written by Oscar Wilde in 1890. • Devoted to a school of thought and a mode of sensibility known as aestheticism, Wilde believed that art possesses an intrinsic value—that it is beautiful and therefore has worth, and thus needs serve no other purpose, be it moral or political. • Dorian is a cultured, wealthy, and impossibly beautiful young man who immediately captures Basil’s artistic imagination • Although Lord Henry is a self-proclaimed hedonist who advocates the equal pursuit of both moral and immoral experience, he lives a rather staid life. • The Victorians believed that art could be used as a tool for social education and moral enlightenment, as illustrated in works by writers such as Charles Dickens and George Gissing. The aestheticism movement, of which Wilde was a major proponent, sought to free art from this responsibility. • “We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us.” • The Picture of Dorian Gray has often been compared to the famous German legend of Faust. The legend tells of a learned doctor who sells his soul to the devil in return for knowledge and magical abilities. Although Dorian Gray never contracts with the devil, his sacrifice is similar: he trades his soul for the luxury of eternal youth. • He is the last Lord Kelso's grandson. His mother was a Devereux, Lady Margaret Devereaux. Poor chap was killed in a duel at Spa a few months after the marriage. They...
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...Throughout ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ the reader is shown two sides to the character of Dorian. Whilst a strong dislike from the reader emerges as a result of the decisions he chooses to make, one can also sympathise with the character due to him being perceived as weak and easily influenced. One could argue that Oscar Wilde presents Dorian Gray as a selfish and self-centred character. This is shown through his constant disregard of other people’s feelings and his ignorant nature to put his needs first. Dorian’s interaction with Sibyl Vane supports this as Sibyl purposely refuses to act her role in Romeo and Juliet well to show “infinite joy” toward Dorian. He, however, finds this to be extremely humiliating despite claiming moments before that he was in love with her. This is a prime example of how Dorian puts his self before the one he supposedly loves. Sibyl claims that by finally committing herself to Dorian, she has no desire to pretend to be anybody else and so therefore she cannot perform her role. She claims that Dorian has “freed my soul from prison” and cannot “mimic” another person’s persona. Instead of seeing this as a gesture of love, Dorian feels betrayed and states that Sibyl is nothing without her art. He believes that he will now suffer because of this which portrays the characters selfish and egotistical nature for Sibyl is actually the one who is left without a career and without love. However, one could argue that at times Dorian’s love for Sibyl is genuine...
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