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The picture of dorian gray character analysis
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Oscar Wilde’s life, with his lack of concern towards ethics and dedication to the Aestheticism movement, served as a source of inspiration for many of his works, one being The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novel becomes a reflection of Wilde through his own eyes and the eyes of society as well as his philosophy of aestheticism over morals. It shows that ethics and aestheticism cannot harmoniously exist and that the ideas of aestheticism contradict morals. One must choose to be purely artistic or purely moral. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde suggests that there is a direct conflict between art and morality and one cannot be both moral and artistic.
The Aesthetic Movement of England had a major influence on both Oscar Wilde and his works. As
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Art is completely severed from morality and according to aestheticism, is autonomous from society’s expectations and views during any age (Shewan 97). Oscar Wilde himself even states in the preface of Dorian Gray that “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all,” which strongly reflects the ideas of aestheticism and its independence from moral influence (1). Whether a person views an artwork as moral or aesthetic also depends on a person’s outlook. For example, if one has an artistic nature, they will appeal more to the beauty of a work. But if someone appeals more strongly to ethics, they will see the moral (Benson). As stated in Benson’s article, “If a man sees the artistic beauty of a thing, he will probably care little for its ethical import” (Benson). The separation between art and morals eliminates conflict between the two spheres, and prevents corruption and friction seen in Dorian Gray’s character
Within The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde depicts two characters that follow the philosophy of Walter Pater. These two characters are Dorian Gray and Henry Wotton. They both embody Pater’s ideal of placing as much enjoyment in one’s short life as possible. While Dorian learns of Pater’s philosophy from Henry he soon exceeds his teacher and becomes invested within the philosophy of living life to the fullest. Dorian exceeds Henry in Pater’s philosophy through his active experimentation and desire for beauty, but Dorian fails to live up to all of Pater’s expectations due to his inability to separate morality for art.
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.
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
Aestheticism was a popular dogma in the late 1800s that centered on the belief that art should exist for beauty alone. This doctrine is defined as an “exaggerated devotion to art, music, or poetry, with indifference to practical matters” and “the acceptance of artistic beauty and taste as a fundamental standard, ethical and other standards being secondary” (“Aestheticism,” def. 1 and 2. In Oscar Wilde’s sole novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, aestheticism was a fashionable belief accepted by society at the time. Oscar Wilde uses the moral deterioration and ultimate destruction of Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray to emphasize the negative effects of society’s preoccupation with aesthetics and offer a moral for the reader. In this novel, Oscar Wilde displays Dorian’s moral corrosion negatively in order to convince his audience of the detrimental effects of aestheticism.
In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde readers are presented with a vast depiction of the art of immorality in the face of ignorant innocence portrayed by the character Dorian Gray. In the beginning it seems to be a quaint novel on artistry and the paradoxical relationship between two lifelong friends by the name of Basil Hallward and Lord Henry. The plot takes a surprising twist when introduced to the real center of attention, the character of the seemingly innocent Dorian Gray. Upon this introduction Wilde then begins to tell the tale of what a life of secrecy and deception will lead to without the consciousness of a moral threshold and the inescapable burden of Dorians horrid accumulation of sins. The deception begins with a simple shout out to the heavens for the impossible to be granted. This then flourishes into unspeakable acts caused by an Egyptian statue, bringing misfortune to Dorian Gray by giving him exactly what he so desperately desires, thus teaching the world a lesson. Not everything we so strongly desire the world to provide is good for the soul.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray slowly becomes more influenced by things and people around him. Eventually, Lord Henry gifts him with a book describing a wealthy man’s pursuit of aesthetically and sensually pleasing items. “The yellow book” has a much stronger effect on Dorian Gray’s perception of beauty than Lord Henry Wotton does. Although it can be argued that Lord Henry introduced Dorian to the idea of aestheticism, the “yellow book” drives Dorian to live a life full of it, and changes his focus. Dorian shows the fact that he is not strongly influenced by Lord Henry through his interactions with Sibyl. Contrary to this, Oscar Wilde illustrates the substantial influence the yellow book has on Dorian by one, the
His soul is unclean of sin and ugliness of a pleasure life. Dorian Gray's innocence's of youthful mind is destroyed. To a corrupt failed life of virtue, but from downfall bad influences. Yet ideal influencing of passion counterbalanced him. There is a contrast in that of age and youth to good vs. evil. The author Oscar Wilde of the novel represents a theme of corruption. Dorian Gray's life goes back and forth of moral and immoral perspectives. Dorian Gray's life style and mind is corrupted as a result of a sinful life. The Picture of Dorian Gray presents the relationship of beauty and morality. Dorian Gray is beautiful and immoral to age that is corrupt together.
Like many stories, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray has a moral, a greater message. Wilde’s lesson about the relationship between the body, mind, and soul is simple, but important: the body is the vehicle for the mind, which is the vehicle for the soul. This is the “natural order” of things, and Wilde shows that it should not be contested. The soul should remain inside a piece of the mind: invisible to the world, mysterious and sacred to its bearer. If this order is changed or contested, Wilde warns of sin, manipulation, and grief to come, making The Picture of Dorian Gray an essentially philosophical and moral novel.
John Ruskin and Matthew Arnold would both challenge Oscar Wilde’s assertion, “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” First and foremost, they would challenge how a work of literature or art could be rated as good in the first place. Utilizing Ruskin’s “The Savageness of Gothic Architecture” and Arnold’s “The Study of Poetry” to compare the criteria both used to classify something as either good or bad and lastly, considering if morality is completely foreign to defining the quality of something according to their texts.
Duggan, Patrick. "The Conflict between Aestheticism and Morality in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray." Journal of the CAS Writing Program (2008): 61-68. Print.
In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, beauty is depicted as the driving force in the lives of the three main characters, Dorian, Basil and Lord Henry. Dorian, the main character, believes in seizing the day. Basil, the artist, admires all that is beautiful in life. Lord Henry, accredited ones physical appearance to the ability of achieving accomplishments in life. Beauty ordains the fate of Dorian, Basil, and Lord Henry. The novel embodies the relationship of beauty and morality. Beauty is not based on how attractive an object is to everyone, but how attractive it is to one.
He also blames all the misery of his life on the hideous painting of him (152). Dorian 's hatred towards the two pieces of art mirror how Victorian society looks upon art created by people like Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde 's plays, essays and other works of art are looked poorly upon by some in the Victorian era as his work was considered by some to be corrupting. Oscar Wilde, however uses the book The Picture of Dorian Gray to subtly counter these points. “All art us at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril” (4). Oscar Wilde criticizes Victorian culture as he implies that too many people read and analyze the surface or read the symbol, but not both. In order to properly understand a piece of literature the reader must interpret both surface and symbol. Dorian Gray fails to do this as he interprets merely the surface of the portrait and also of the yellow book, but he fails to investigate the symbol of each piece of art. By failing to completely analyze the text he draws terrible conclusions of what the purpose of the book is and as he begins to formulate horrible ideas based off these incomplete conclusions he has drawn from the book. He then proceeds to blame all his corruptness on the book, when in reality it is his poor analysis of the book
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 Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” personal obstacles are met that truely challenge the main character, Dorian Gray, which deter him from the understanding of right and wrong. Dorian’s act of selling his own soul to the devil to remain young and beautiful comes with severe consequences, which the latter of the novel portrays. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” precisely depicts the character trying to achieve a worthwhile goal but facing personal obstacles which can be seen in Dorian Gray’s morality and beauty, while trying not to the let the portrait get to his head. Dorian’s beauty represents the biggest personal obstacle that Dorian seems to face, which the novel mostly centralizes itself upon. Without Dorian’s beauty and the beauty
Everyone is merely a product of their surroundings and become what they have been raised to be. While some remain untempted by the vices of their peers, others completely absorb the negative influences in everyday life. Modern society values beauty over substance and The Picture of Dorian Gray serves to reveal that flaw. Oscar Wilde criticizes the superficial nature of people by satirizing the corruption of their views on morality. He says “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame” (Wilde 238). Dorian Gray, the main character, is representative of the direction that humanity as a whole is heading toward. He struggles with his religious identity while also trying to please society’s expectations