Love is the greatest gift one could ever give or receive. At times it can be very challenging to distinguish between true love and infatuation. In the novel The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde portrays the love life of Dorian Gray. Dorian’s untamed desire to know everything about life made him hunt for love. This craving caused perplexity between love and infatuation. With a throbbing heart and confused mind, Dorian visits a playhouse and was carried away by the personality and performance of Sibyl Vane. Just by watching her act, Dorian enunciated that he is in love with her. Can this be considered a true love?, absolutely not. A bond between two souls is love, but Dorian fell in love with her art and beauty not with her soul, so it is just an infatuation.
Dorian preferred to address her as “an actress” rather than revealing her name to Lord Henry (Wilde, 34). This is the first clue Wilde gives us about Dorian’s shallow love. Dorian never tries to identify the real Sibyl, as he is deeply embedded in her art. When Lord Henry invited him to dine with him, but Dorian declined his request and said, “ To-night she is Imogen...tomorrow night she will be Juliet.” (Wilde 40). This made Henry question him, “when is she Sibyl?”. Still unclear about Henry’s intentions Dorian proudly answered, “never” (Wilde 40). Therefore, it is evident that he is in love with actress Sibyl, not the real Sibyl Vane. It is so sad that he always sees her as an actress, but within minutes Henry guessed Dorian is not really in love and he tried to divulge his views to Dorian, but it was fruitless. Henry’s efforts might have failed with Dorian, but it’s an eye opener for the readers. When someone is in love they would talk about them not their professio...
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..., love vanished. According to William Shakespeare, one of the finest play writers in history, states “...Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or Bends with the remover to remove”. But with Dorian it was not true love, it was just an attraction which destroyed Sibyl’s and Dorian’s life. Above all, Dorian wished to mold love for his pleasure, but he ended up destroying it. True love can never be altered nor can be molded as we wish. Dorian's love towards was just a passion towards her art; he was in love with her art not her heart.
Bibliography
Ciccarelli, Saundra & White, Noland. Psychology. New Jersy: Prentice Hall, 2008.
San Juan, Jr., Epifano. “Oscar Wilde.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Laurie
DiMauro. Vol. 41. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture Of Dorian Gray. New York: Dover Publication Inc., 1991.
... of my examination of love in A Midsummer Night's Dream, to arrive at the conclusion that none of its players exhibited any love at all, and Shakespeare's point was to prove that love is unreal; a fabrication of human imagination. I was excited to discover, however, that in the midst of the ugly scene he set up to emphasize this argument most strongly, he left a single bastion of true, honest, unadulterated (for Hermia is never charmed by the pansy's dew) love. To me, Hermia is an example of what humanity could be, and how it could love, were it to forget some of the smaller matters in which it so often becomes willingly entangled.
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.
Obsession is described as a persistent thought dominating the mind, but of all the types of obsession, idolatry is the most common example, which is seen through both Basil’s worship of Dorian, and society’s worship of celebrities. Basil’s worship of Dorian is depicted early in the book, before Dorian is even a real introduced. Basil expresses how powerful his feelings for this man are, “Something seemed to tell me that I was on the verge of a terrible crisis in my life…It was not conscience that made me do so: it was cowardice. I take no credit to myself for trying to escape,” (Wilde 10). Dorian has so much control over Basil that he feared he would lose control of himself, that the intensity of his feelings would lead to a crisis, showing exactly how powerful obsession can be. Basil’s feelings for Dorian cannot be seen as love, especially later on in the novel, he confesses he believes Dorian is truly perfect and had f...
In his search for hedonistic pleasure, Dorian Gray ruins many reputations and is the cause of a few deaths. Even Basil points out that Dorian is linked to destroyed lives, realizing that “One has a right to judge of a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours [Dorian’s] seem to lose all sense of honor, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure. They have gone down into the depths. You led them there” (143). This is why Sibyl kills herself because after being introduced to pleasure, she cannot act anymore and Dorian unreasonably rejects her. Consequently, after hearing of Sibyl’s death, Dorian is grief-stricken, but quickly recovers and becomes an insensitive Lord Henry clone again: “You [Dorian] were the most unspoiled creature in the whole word. Now, I [Basil] don’t know what has come over you. You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you. It is all Harry’s influence” (104). Instead of truly acce...
Have you ever heard or seen one of Shakespeare's beautiful plays? He is one of the most talented play writers that everyone still enjoys and adores him today. Have you ever been in love so much that you would do anything to be them? This is the type of love that Shakespeare so wonderfully displays in some of his plays. He can make even the toughest and biggest of people to cry because of how sad and beautiful his plays are. In the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare, Lysander says “The course of true love never did run smooth” which means love can be hard and strenuous work, not everyone will approve of your love, and love can be confusing.
When Sibyl confesses her love to Dorian, his response is to abandon her and to search for new passions. This suggests that Sibyl no longer evokes a romantic curiosity for him. Dorian had only appreciated Sybil as an aesthetic object; she was a breathing piece of artwork.
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. The juxtaposition of Dorian’s incredible devotion and his sudden hatred of Sibyl Vane creates shock and makes the reader realize Dorian’s injustice to his lover. When he first meets Sibyl, Dorian is enamored by her beauty and talent.
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...
and rich people in his town as well. His beauty charmed the world. Basil was
Dorian Gray inflicts his first and most important act of evil upon Sibyl Vane, a third rate actress he falls in love with, when he confronts her about the performance. His reaction towards Sibyl demonstrates his the lack of care towards what women have to say and their opinions. Dorian claims of Sibyl to be shallow and stupid as regards to her feelings towards him and her reason for the careless performance. The realization of Dorian finally recognizing his love for her acting rather than her as a person reveals the frequent ill treatment of women in the Victorian Era. Due to his first real infliction of evil towards another person, his soul alters and reflects in the painting. As Davis recalls, “His rejection of Sibyl is cruel, and it is this cruelty that he first notices on the alerting portrait,” (Davis 214). Because he did not care about how Sibyl felt at the moment, he becomes selfish and would later become evil. The treatment of Sibyl results in her committing suicide but rather than Dorian grieving, Lord Henry teaches him ...
Although Wilde halts short of stating that Basil and Lord Henry have sexual feelings for Dorian , the language he uses to describe their devotion for Dorian is unmistakably the language of deep, romantic intimacy. “Tell me more about Mr. Dorian Gray. How often do you see him?”. “Every day. I couldn’t be happy if I didn’t see him everyday. He is absolutely necessary to me”. This common motif of homoerotic bonds between men plays a large role in structuring the novel. Basils painting is born from his adoration of Dorians beauty , comparatively Lord Henry is overcome with desire to seduce Dorian. This sense of camaraderie between men fits into Wildes aesthetic values, for it returns him to his past where the philosophy of beauty was not only the basis of society but fundamental to culture. As a homosexual living in an intolerant society, Wilde asserted this philosophy in order to justify his own lifestyle.
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 beauty of a portrait, the adventure of a saga, the delicacy of a porcelain vase, the emotion of a symphony – all forms of art, all forms of expression. Art, as Oscar Wilde explains it, is the “most intense mode of individualism that the world has ever known” (Wilde, The Soul of a Man Under Socialism). Art allows one to express themselves through a thousand mediums using all five senses. It allows words that are not meant to be spoken, to be expressed, and ideas not meant to be thought, imagined. Perhaps the most prevalent form of art in today 's society is literature, as is the most direct form of art. In Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray reads a yellow book given to him by mentor-friend, Sir Henry Wotton. In the years
how much he admired him that the painting he did was thought to be the
A common theme in literature is love. Love can take hold in an instant and can make you do things you never would have done otherwise. Love appears in several different ways in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hermia and Lysander show true love, while Helena demonstrates unrequited love. Titania and Bottom presents us with magic love. In the play, love is also the cause of a few broken hearts. While there is no one common definition of love that suits all of the characters, the romantic relationship in the play all leans to one simple rule laid out by Lysander, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”