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Literature essay of the picture of dorian gray
Literature essay of the picture of dorian gray
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Dorian as Faust in The Picture of Dorian Gray
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.
In many ways, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a retelling of the Faust story. A temptation is placed before Dorian, as with Faust, and he falls for it--offering up his soul to get it. In fact, one of Faust's principal wishes is also to remain young. Faust and Dorian also each seduce a young woman, then lead her to her death, as well as leading the woman's brother (Valentine in Faust and James Vale in Dorian Gray to die in attempting revenge for his sister.
It is also a Doppelganger story, like Adelbert Chamisso's "Peter Schlemihl" (in which Peter foolishly sells his shadow) and even more like Edgar A. Poe's "William Wilson" (in which the narrator is tormented by a schoolchum who looks and sounds exactly like him, and which ends much like Dorian Gray, with its more sinister overtones.
Dorian Gray has a theme of eternal youth, bought at the price of one's soul, and continued through the destruction of others, in common with vampires as well. And, of course, Dorian Gray has to be run in the mind's eye against the backdrop of Oscar Wilde's life, particularly his affair with the young aristocrat, Lord Alfred Douglas, which eventually landed Wilde in jail for sodomy, and pretty much ended his career.
Along these lines, the life of Oscar Wilde and his novel, Dorian Gray can also be compared to that of rock star Freddy Mercury of Queen and their song, "Bohemian Rhapsody." Here we have Oscar Wilde, fun-loving, witty, cynical, decadent kind of guy, undone by his homosexual liaison with Lord Alfred Douglas, languishing in jail for sodomy. A few years previous to this sad turn of events, he writes The Picture of Dorian Gray--about a decadent, immoral murderer, who also has homosexual relations (with various young men who die, become drug addicts, commit suicide, etc.), and who dies a horrible and disfiguring death due to his evil ways. Now, we also have Freddy Mercury, who lived a flamboyant and decadent lifestyle as a sexually ambiguous rock star.
Respecting the gods was one of the most important, and there was retribution for those who didn’t. After killing the Bull of Heaven, the gods punish Gilgamesh and his friend, Enkidu, by sentencing Enkidu to a slow, painful death by disease. Merikare writes that a Pharaoh must, “make ample the daily offerings, it profits him who does it.” In both instances, the gods are where the kings derive their claim to the throne. Respecting them is of utmost importance because they believed that punishment could come if one did not obey. In addition, both kings needed to conquer or secure trade routes to gain access to valuable luxury resources. Both require Cedar, as evidenced when Merikare writes, “I pacified the West…it gives cedar wood,” and when Gilgamesh kills Humbaba so he can build a great Cedar gate at the entrance of Uruk. Both cultures recognized the best way to have constant access to an important commodity was to control the supply and the roads. These works both exemplify this, as both used military force to secure Cedar, which both needed for their monumental architecture. Kings also needed to be accountable to the people. In the beginning of the epic, Gilgamesh is a cruel ruler, and the people hate him. The gods decide, therefore, to give him a rival who can dethrone him. The Pharaoh also writes to his son, “Don 't be evil, kindness is good, Make your memorial last
“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.
Can you imagine driving 10 to 20 miles to get to a gas station. Sometimes we get so used to the life we have that it is almost impos...
The Picture of Dorian Gray shares many gothic themes including supernatural, Victorian era society, temptation, death, and tragedy. These elements are exquisitely detailed, and stimu...
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde introduces Dorian Gray as a mysterious and beautiful young man. He has no opinion and is very similar to a ball of clay, in the sense that he has no opinion and is free to be molded by whoever takes interest in him. Basil and Lord Henry both take interest in the young man. While both praise his physical beauty, Lord Henry wants to turn him into a hedonist minion. He convinces Dorian that he is a perfect candidate to live life according to his pleasure and that Basil is a poor influence upon him. Dorian takes this to heart and lives his life this way. He exchanges the purity of his soul for the beauty of his youth in certain painting. This breaks him down. He becomes less and less welcome by those who once admired him. He gets blackballed from clubs, has promiscuous sex and spends seventy-two hour periods in London’s opium dens. His life of seeking pleasure makes him more and more unhappy. When Basil shows up, he wants some one to sympathize with him and tell him that what he has done is not his fault. During the scene of Basil’s murder, Dorian’s want to be seen as good is apparent, but his unwillingness to accept fault and his corrupt ideology drive him to kill Basil, unveiling a new, malicious side to Dorian Gray.
The novel depicts the protagonist, Dorian Gray, coming to realization of how everything in the world is not permanent, including his beauty due to a painting from Basil Hallward and a lecture of life from Lord Henry Wotton. In response, Gray sells his soul to the painting for eternal beauty, and that the painting should take his sins.Gray is content, even purposefully using trial and error on the emotions of people around him. Yet, the past comes back to haunt him, and Gray has to come to terms with time passing even if it is against his
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray was written during the late nineteenth century England. The protogonist Dorian Gray is portrayed as a paragon of youth and beauty whose aristocracy and charisma inspire his surroundings, particularly an artist called Basil Hallward. Dorian poses for him and one day while again posing to Basil, he is introduced to a cycnical philosopher and orator William Henry. Dorian is easily seduced by his theories. Lord Henry corrupts this young boy by transforming into a hedonist. Through him, he faces the harsh realities that his physical appearance is fading and he becomes afraid of ageing. He envies the concrete and ever-to-survive masterpiece of Basil and longs for aging on his life without any sign of ageing and decay. Then his wish incredibly turns out to be real. And his sins begin to be appear in the pic...
Linze writes that “Presidentialism is ineluctably problematic because it operates according to the rule of "winner-take-all-arrangement” that tends to make democratic politics a zero-sum game” This causes some people to feel disenfranchised and that the President is not “their President” if the winner is not who they cast their vote for. Linze adds that parliamentary elections are more prone to give representations to a number of parties. Presidential election process leaves little room for consensus building and coalition
When we come to chapter 11, it is stated that cleanness and uncleanness has to do principally with food. It deals secondarily with cleanness or uncleanness that is the result of contact with a dead animal, but it seems the reason the dead animal is called unclean is because we couldn't eat it. Even a clean animal, a bull or a sheep, could not be eaten if it were not killed in a sacrificially prescribed way. So it has to do with food or that which is touched when dead.we find first the land creatures, the animals that roam about through the earth (vv. 1-8); then we find in verses 9-12 the water creatures, those that live under water or in the water, and finally we have the flying creatures.
Upchurch, David A. "The Picture of Dorian Gray: Overview." Reference Guide to English Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Gale. NORTHWEST COLLEGIATE ACADEMY. 28 April 2011 .
Molloy, on page 498, touches on the four traits of NRMs. The first trait he discusses is the size of the organization, which is relatively small. Smaller groups have a tendency to appeal to people who seek affirmation and an identity. Participants feel like they belong and have a purpose within the group. Smaller groups also tend to function better as social networks, which, in turn, create stronger bonds.
The Picture of Dorian Gray can be defined as a symbolic representation of a dialectic between two aspects of Wilde's personality. Dorian is an archetypal image by which both aspects are fascinated. This suggests that his behaviour symbolizes Wilde's unconscious (i.e. unacknowledged) attitudes. Dorian is characterized by his evasiveness and his obsession with objets d'art. For example, when Basil comes to console him about Sibyl's death, he is unwilling to discuss the matter. He does not want to admit the possibility that his behaviour was reprehensible. He tells his friend: "If one doesn't talk about a thing, it has never happened. It is simply expression, as Harry says, that gives reality to things" (107). Later, after murdering Basil, he again seeks to avoid acknowledging what he has done: "He felt that the secret of the whole thing was not to realize the situation" (159).
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...
There could be a lot of reasons why someone would want some form of companionship when real life presence is not readily available. Katie Collins (2013) quotes, “Like any
Over the course of history, humans have evolved from an active nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary way of life. However, this is a different type of sedentary lifestyle from the sedentary lifestyle seen currently. As people further enter the technological world, the active lifestyle slowly fades into the distant past. For instance, cars have replaced the need for walking to or from destinations. Another being, people no longer have to spend energy to hunt for food or grow their food. All they just have to open their refrigerator and pick out what they would like to consume. As a consequence of sedentary lifestyles and the consumption of more and more carbohydrates, stored away in adipose tissues in the body, the body no longer needs to expend more energy, only performing the essential functions to keep the person alive. This is the case because there is no extraordinary circumstance, such as farming or hunting, for the body to expend more energy, which leads to a rise in obesity and consequently the emergence of many concerning health-related issues, the biggest of them being diabetes. The rising prominence of diabetes in society is of utmost concern, for medical professionals to treat patients they must know the symptoms, diagnosis, and the effects of diet and insulin in the body.