A Quick Analysis of Dorian Gray
The story begins as Basil Hallward, a painter, is working on a portrait depicting a young man named Dorian Gray. His friend, Lord Henry Wotton, is visiting and tells him that he thinks it is the best work Basil has ever done. He wants to know who the young man is in the painting, as his good looks are apparently very striking, but Basil is reluctant to talk about it. Lord Henry insists upon meeting Dorian, and eventually Basil introduces them, after warning Lord Henry not to try to "influence" Dorian, because he is a bad influence. Dorian instantly takes to Lord Henry, fascinated by the way he talks and his unique view of the world, which is pretty annoying, to me anyway. Lord Henry takes Dorian outside and makes a speech about how he thinks beauty is everything and that Dorian should not waste his youth because it is the "most important" thing in the world. Well, at least he's not shallow or anything like that. When Basil finishes that painting, Dorian throws a hissy fit because he realizes that while he grows old and ugly, the painting will remain forever young. He wishes that the painting would age and he would remain beautiful forever. Way to go, Dorian.
The next day, Lord Henry visits his uncle, Lord Fermor, and finds out more about Dorian's past and his parentage. He finds himself utterly obsessed with Dorian and the power he feels he has over him. Later, he visits his aunt, Lady Agatha, and Dorian is there. We get to hear more of his controversial opinions on several topics. Everybody seems appalled at the way he thinks, but I guess he is so charming that they eat it right up. Afterward, Dorian ditches Basil to go out with Lord Henry, which is pretty cold. Anyway, a month later, Dorian tells Lord Henry that he has fallen in love with an actress named Sybil Vane. They have a dialogue in which Dorian explains how he met Sybil (inspired by Lord Henry and wanting to know "everything about life," he went to a "playhouse" in a bad part of town, saw her in a Shakespearean play, and was so smitten that he returned to see her every night since) and Lord Henry offers even MORE of his views, which mainly consist of (more) uppity, self-centered generalizations, not to mention the constant objectifying of women.
The classic novel by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray inspires beauty, and romance. The main focus of the novel is aesthetics, a philosophical view detailing the nature of creation and appreciation of art and beauty. The tragedy of the young Dorian Gray after becoming misled by his companion, Lord Henry Wotton, is one that causes many to reform ideas on life and purpose. Lord Henry believes in hedonism, a thought stating that pleasure is the only true good; he declares, “The only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfilment of the senses” (Wilde). This outlook is tempting for many persons, including that of the title character, Dorian Gray. In contrast to Lord Henry is an artist named Basil Hallward, whom perceives Dorian to be his muse; serving as inspiration, and purpose. Basil has many moral traits including trust, compassion, and kindness. His infatuation with Dorian causes him to change his art and style, composing an exquisite painting of the young boy. Basil states, “the work I have done, since I met Dorian Gray, is good work, is the best work of my life…his personality has suggested to me an entirely new manner in art, an entirely new mode of style. I see things differently.” (Wilde). Dorian becomes so mesmerized by the beauty of the picture and the words of Lord Henry that he wishes for the picture to depict his sins and age, rather than his physical being. To the surprise of the young Dorian, his wish becomes fulfilled. This theme shares similarity to the Faust story, as the title character exchanges his soul for pleasures
In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her...” (Chopin 338). Unexpectedly, joy and happiness consume her with the epiphany she is “free, free, free!” (Chopin 338). Louise becomes more alive with the realization she will no longer be oppressed by the marriage as many women of her day were, and hopes for a long life when only the day prior, “…she had thought with a shudder that life may ...
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.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, there are three main characters. Dorian Gray, who is a calm, very attractive young man and adored for his good looks, Basil Hallward who is a painter that idolizes Dorian and Lord Henry Wotton, an older man, who becomes a good friend of Dorian's. As Basil is painting a portrait of Dorian Gray, Dorian makes a wish that only the picture would age and he would stay the same. As he later notices, his wish is granted and the picture begins to age. Not only is the portrait aging, but the face is also becoming more devious looking. This is because Dorian had fallen deeply in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane, and one night he had taken Basil and Lord Henry to watch her act. That night Sibyl Vane was acting so badly that people were beginning to leave. Dorian was humiliated so intensely that he went back stage and told her he had fallen out of love with her. She said the reason for her bad acting was because she no longer cared for acting, just for him. Dorian still could not take the humiliation and told he was never to see her again. After he left, Sibyl ended her own life by drinking a cleaning fluid that was in her dressing room.
With the continuation of the story we begin to realize that the townspeople’s feelings are congruent with the feelings the reader is being coerced into realizing. “Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”(Page 391 Norton). This niche as a “tradition, a duty” allows Miss Emily to qualify for some questionable privileges, beginning with the remittance of her taxes by the...
In the short piece of writing, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, we observe a woman’s distraught and unstable manner after the death of her husband. As the story progresses, Louise drastically changes from crying out in agony to finding a glimmer of hope and realizing that the death of her husband will give her a newfound freedom which she was never able to realize had existed. The conclusion made by the doctors in the story is that Louise dies from being overjoyed of her husband’s unexpected return, but in fact she actually dies of her prospect of a new life being shattered.
When looking out the window "she was drinking in a very elixir of life” (Chopin). The short story comes to an end with her husband walking through the door and Louise falls dead at the sight of her diminishing dreams. This well known short story is comprehended in many ways deciding the reason of Louise’s death and what “freedom” she experiences.
The first stage was noted as the sensorimotor stage. As Feldman states, “What makes sensorimotor construction so remarkable is that it is not built from a previous system but rather from a set of natural reflexes with which the newborn comes into the world” (p. 197). Every stage has a predecessor except this juncture. The sensorimotor stage builds itself from the innate, refined motor and reflex abilities the infant is born with. (Feldman, 2004, p.
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 novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde shows the life of three men who are affected by art in the Victorian society. In Victorian times men were expected to provide for himself and his family, accumulate wealth, exemplify good morals and prove his masculinity. If a man did not show one of these qualities in the Victorian time his masculinity would be questioned. In the novel these men show three different sides to masculinity. Each character finds himself unhappy with the role he is forced to play in order to prove his masculinity. For them it seems in order to be successful or achieve happiness they must push past the gender roles society has placed on them. Basil Hallward represents the artist, Dorian
They each feel similarities between themselves and Dorian, and strive to mold him into a reflection of themselves. Basil through his portrait, and Lord Henry through his words, both recreate Dorian in their own image and likeness (Manganiello). He publically reflects Basil through his exterior personality, and privately reflects Lord Henry, through his inner personality and behaviors. In a criticism essay written on The Picture of Dorian Gray, a writer states, “The need to immerse one’s self in unfamiliar sensations stands as the motivating force guiding Dorian’s behavior” (Gillespie). This thought is an interesting idea because it explains why Lord Henry seems so appealing to Dorian. As a young man, Dorian is still developing himself through new experiences, and the intriguing novelty of Lord Henry draws him in. This fulfills the need for Dorian to immerse himself in unfamiliar experiences that he is not accustomed to. He is not used to living that type of lifestyle and when he has the opportunity to do so, he becomes completely captivated by it and is unable to release himself from the hold it has on
The Picture of Dorian Gray is an excellent novel that talks about morality and many intrapersonal situations. The events and the exposition begins while Basil Hollward paints an amazing picture of Dorian Gray. Later in the story, at the climax of the novel, Dorian Gray, the main protagonist of the story, kills Basil due to Gray’s uncontrollable anger. This is the climax of the novel because it shows how corrupt Dorian Gray has truly become and how he has changed from being a beautiful, kind, lovely man to an angry monster that nobody recognizes anymore. The events that lead up to the climax are as followed, Dorian leaving Sibyl just because he thinks she is not attractive anymore because she can not act, Dorian following the book of the frenchman
...d not want to live as a dutiful wife all her life. Now that her husband had passed away and she was alone. “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long” (Chopin). She knew her life was going to get better, no more oppression no more exhaustion. No her days will be filled with “spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin).
Dorian Gray is a grand Gothic experiment from the moment in Basil Hallward’s studio when he desperately swears that he “would give [his] soul” if only he “was to be always young, and the picture … was to grow old” in his stead (Wilde 28). Even before this moment, 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 the portrait. After the switch, Dorian not only is 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 they share.
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...