In chapter 20 of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian reflects on his past and wonders whether he will ever regain his innocence. In this passage, Gothic elements underline the idea of the pursuit of individualism. Dorian’s wild, racing emotions clearly show how much he is driven by his readiness to fulfill his desires under any circumstance. Through this, the use of specific words and punctuation markings also highlight Dorian’s personal yearning to let go and forget about his past. Dorian has evidently changed as a character in contrast to the beginning of the book. In this chapter, he aims to cleanse his soul and start new. However, Dorian still strives merely for what he wants instead of thinking for others. He is willing to take risks in order to accomplish his own goals no matter how negatively others are affected. Dorian’s decision to leave Hetty was simply a response to the desire of returning to his innocent state. It is written, “Perhaps if his life became pure, he would be able to expel every sign of evil passion from the face…he would be good and the hideous thing…would no longer be a terror to him” (211). The way Dorian focuses primarily on eliminating the repulsiveness from his face indicates that he prevented Hetty’s corruption solely for the benefit of retrieving his beauty. In all, his actions are far from being due to the good intention of helping others. The central idea in this passage is morality of beauty. Dorian’s concerns remain solely on the appearance of his soul. Dorian’s personal feelings, desires and worries are highlighted. It mentions, “It was better not to think of the past. Nothing could alter that. It was of himself, and of the future he had to think. James Vane was hidden in a nam... ... middle of paper ... ...hat merely concern him. Additionally, negatively connotated words such as evil, hideous and terror are used when Dorian expresses his emotions. This contrasts with his reaction to those he had killed. While he regrets the mistakes he makes concerning himself, he shows no remorse for having a negative influence on others. Conclusively, Dorian Gray’s overwrought emotions are apparent and draw attention to his selfishness. His emotions cause him to focus solely on his own concerns. He reduces the gravity of the deaths of Basil, Alan, James and Sibyl by expressing his relief that their murders had not affected him in any way. Dorian directs the focus on his life and not towards others, no matter what extent they had been affected by him. In all, Dorian’s selfishness is evidently portrayed through Wilde’s use of Gothic elements in character, style and idea development.
...ealize the situation. The friend who had painted the fatal portrait to which all his misery had been due, had gone out of his life. That was enough” (157). Shortly after giving us a taste of evil pleasure, Dorian returns to the rational he had been following prior to Basil’s murder. He wants to be thought of as good. On his way to the door, he doesn’t even look at the body, proof that he is ashamed of the joy he had expressed in observing it a few minutes before. He doesn’t want to acknowledge Basil’s death as a death but would rather as an absence. He expresses the same sense of shame and is very sad about what he has done. He also refers to Basil this time around as a “friend”, proof that he wants to be seen as good and truly misses him. He does not wish to accept the situation
The gothic literature is only a prime example of how our work reflects us in life, or in this instance the case of Oscar Wilde. In this case, whether conscience of the decision, Wilde has placed himself into the novel as Dorian Gray, and replicated the same decisions as he took in life that led each to the same fate. The use of gothic also portrays the same idealistic rules presented, if not spoken in those who create work for the gothic. Although many artists and authors grow in different background and learn different styles, what is presented in their works will always show similar
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.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian is a lot different from the innocent young man he was, he undoubtedly became hedonistic and selfish, but the question is why. For what reason did Dorian Gray decide to stray so far from his early years. Now, an obvious answer to that question is that Lord Henry was simply too much for Dorian, and he fell into his mind tricks. But if that’s the case Dorian shouldn’t have been able to resist it for as long as he did, even during the Sibyl “era”. To say it was just him being greedy, ignorant, or selfish is too shallow of an answer. When looking deeper into the subject it becomes clear that Dorian used hedonism as a way to escape from all his earthly issues and problems. This can be found from the source of his hedonism, and even within his hedonistic way of life all those years later.
Dorian finally seeks to better himself, but it is too little too late after he ruins many companions’ reputations and goes through a period of insanity. It is important to realize that his own cognizance would have been helpful earlier and it easily could have happened earlier when he feels guilty about Sibyl’s death. At the sybaritic extent to which Dorian has journeyed, it is foolish to believe that positive outcome is possible. Awareness of one’s actions is all one has to protect one’s reputation. This does not mean that change cannot possibly be a good thing; it most definitely can be. The key is to be careful about the degree to which one changes.
Dorian Gray shows how much he gave up to pursue his obsession when he said that his fiancé’s suicide was melodramatic and unnecessary (Wide 88-89). Obsession causes Dorian to indulge all forms of self-pleasure, whether moral or immoral, and to disregard the value of his own soul to preserve his transient beauty. The portrait that Basil Hallward painted acted as a mirror to his soul’s state and grows revolting each time he indulges in immoral acts, which inhibit him from focusing on what is truly important. It was only until the end when he kills himself does his soul reverts back to his inner beauty as shown in his portrait (Wilde 197). Wilde shows us how conformity can push us to obsess something that we don’t truly believe and ignore all other aspects that actually lead to our good lives. Through Dorian Gray, we are taught that we need to stand by our beliefs and not lose ourselves in other people’s beliefs. Wilde teaches the audience that we need to hold onto some core beliefs and elements that we hold near and dear to
The first one is because of Sibyl Vain’s death because instead of being devasted, he found pleasure in her death because about what Lord Henry told him that it is a beautiful work of art. Another one is the anxiety of leaving his portrait alone. He is not really guilty but rather he is scared that people might discover his secret. She also said that the decaying portrait represents a limited life, filled with fear and self-loathing that one would not which upon anyone. Dorian’s thirst for pleasure is therefore blamed upon the immoral guidance from Lord Henry. Because from the beginning he was exceptionally susceptible for Lord Henry’s influence, who fashioned him to believe that his most esteemed attribute was his beauty. This taught Dorian Gray to be vain – all the while not realizing that his true value steamed from his innocence and purity, which lent his physical beauty a magical
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Michael Patrick Gillespie, Editor. Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007.
...d from condemning him as purely good or purely evil. His personality seems to be inconsistent. Sometimes his actions are good, allowing readers to identify him and a good person. However, other times his actions are purely evil, allowing readers to write him off as an evil, vain and ultimately horrible person. These inconsistencies in both his personality and actions stop readers from making any definitive decision about Dorian. Anais Nin, identifies with these personal inconsistencies and provides a thought that maybe everyone possesses the power to act ambiguously, causing others to judge us based on every action we make. Some could say that the world would be a better place if people were only judged on a day-to-day basis, or even an action-to-action basis, yet others would argue that this system would allow for too many evils to go without the proper reprimand.
trading his soul for his youth, Dorian rids of the good inside of himself. The
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).
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...
The picture of Dorian Gray. The Electronic Classics Series, The Pennsylvania State University. p. 3/ Retrieved January 3, 2014 from http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/oscar-wilde/dorian-gray.pdf
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.
In analyzing Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, concepts such as influence and the origin of evil in Dorian Gray play an exceptionally valuable role in understanding the motives of the characters. Although some critics argue characters such as Lord Kelso significantly influence Dorian’s corruption, Lord Henry Wotton’s toxic personality undeniably impacts Dorian the most. Throughout the course of the novel, Lord Henry remains the ultimate source of evil and uses deception and persuasion to poison Dorian from a naïve boy to a destructive monster.