Morality In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Classic literature is defined as a literary piece that obtains enduring qualities, the morals or meanings of the stories can still be relevant to society years after their initial exposure. “The picture of Dorian Gray”- Written by Oscar Wilde- is a classic example of this. The novel caused controversy around the time of its publishment in July 1890 as it “offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers” of the era, even despite the novel being censored in its original publication for “Lippincott’s monthly magazine”.

The author of the book- Oscar Wilde- was openly homosexual at the time of publication and some say this can be reflected in his writing;

The young man enters the novel as an innocent young man until he is befriended by two other men, one of which is a painter who is captivated by Dorian and insists on painting him. The other man is the painter’s friend who can be interpreted as vain and somewhat moral less, this man-named Lord Henry- influences much of Dorians personality to the point where he views youth and beauty as one of the most important things and disregards his own morals. The corruption of the innocence inside Dorian, as you slowly watch him descend into a sinister and much older man who has become more obsessed with appearance rather then being a good person, can reflect much on the present time. People are becoming more and more infatuated with staying youthful as they begin to age. Spending your weekly pay on “miracle youth regenerating” crèmes to keep up appearances and up with the times has almost become expected of anyone who is showing signs of aging; the media is constantly advertising youthful men and women using the anti-aging products and creating the expectation in society to remain looking youthful. The painting of Dorian Gray comes into play as a symbol of Dorian’s aging and his sins. He wishes for the painting to bare his aging whilst he remains youthful however the painting only changes after

Lord Henry can be seen as the media in the 21st century; constantly influencing us to be more appealing to the eye rather than bettering our lives and the lives of those around us. Spending hours in the morning snapping shots of ourselves at obscure angles trying to find that perfect lighting, followed by filter after filter until finally we find the perfect combination and await the buzz of our phones to indicate we have received a like; meanwhile our dates that morning are waiting on a message to say we are going to be running a little late. It is ideals like this which Wilde portrayed in his novel to expose the dangers of self-obsession. Although this doesn’t mean that taking selfies makes you a horrible person and you’re not going to go out committing sins just for being a little bit vain, Wilde’s message is simply saying that appearance is not the most important thing in life and falls well under love and