Oscar Wilde Happiness

Oscar Wilde offers the idea that selfish pleasure is accepted by society when disguised as the pursuit of happiness, but not acceptable for the welfare of one’s soul. Self serving pursuits that disregard the needs or well-beings of others, indeed harming them, begin to lose their glory and shimmer. Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking lines in the novel, is when Basil, who has the utmost faith and confidence in Gray until this point in the novel, realizes what Dorian has become and subsequently asks “... is that what you’ve come to?” (Wilde 163). This reveals that some of the people closest to Dorian Gray are disturbed by all that he has become, noting the degradation of his soul. If others learned what Gray has become, he would be cast out

One of the lessons Wilde tries to portray is that a shallow existence does not satisfy the way a life dedicated to true happiness does.This pursuit of physical pleasure, which has led him to commit heinous crimes and engage in activities that are not accepted by society at the time, is destroying Dorian, and he is beginning to realize

Constantly, his guilt haunts him, and he can find no means of escape. Gray even reverts to old pleasures that he hopes will distract him. But, as Wilde demonstrates, this does not aid his efforts. Inevitably, this endless chase for momentary pleasure ceases to please. “‘What does it profit a man if he gain the world and lose… his own soul’?” resounds a lasting impression on the reader, as it does to Dorian Gray (206). Oscar Wilde places this quote with the intent of making Dorian Gray and the reader think about the consequences of action. He teaches the lessons Dorian learns throughout his life to prevent the reader from following the same course. What good is physical beauty, Wilde asks, in the face of monstrosity? Amid all the criticism on the ways of society, Oscar Wilde poses the dire question to his reader of whether or not beauty, as described by Plato’s Aesthetic, is achievable for humankind. Part of the realism in a character, is their lack of picturesque nature, as seen in many novels, including The Picture of Dorian Gray. “... of those ample architectural proportions that in women who are not duchesses are described by contemporary