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Wilde's view in the picture of dorian gray
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The picture of dorian gray literary analysis
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Plot:
The novel begins in Basil Hallward's studio on a sunny summer’s day. Basil is with Henry who later meets Dorian and entrances him with his words, causing Dorian to become vain after he sees his portrait and how beautiful he is. After viewing his picture he becomes overwhelmed with grief because the portrait will always be younger than he is and hastily trades his soul to “be always young” (pg. 27). Not soon after Dorian finds himself engaged to Sibyl, a beautiful actress, only to scorn her and call it off after her dreadful performance. She commits suicide and Henry gives Dorian a book that influences him in such a way as to try and commit any sin imaginable. One night in a rage he murders Basil, but gets an old friend to clean it up. Later in the novel James Vane, Sibyls brother, almost kills Dorian in revenge but stops because he looks too young, only to be told by a prostitute that it really was him. James Vane dies while stalking Dorian and Dorian decides to start leading a life free of sin, so he stabs the painting to destroy it in order to feel free of his past life of sin. He is found the next day unrecognizable and old with a knife in his heart.
Structure/Form:
Oscar Wilde writes a complex story in a culmination of events in chronological order, though depending on which character the novel is following at the time, events may not unravel themselves as they happen. The Picture of Dorian Gray is written as a whole novel; no parts. The novel begins with a preface which gives insight into the book, and much opinion about art. With all of the death, the gruesomeness of the picture and the rotten opium hangout, the novel is given the form of a horror suspense story.
Point of view/ Perspective:
...
... middle of paper ...
... of art. The novel begins when the picture is created and ends when Dorian attempts to destroy it.
Style:
Wilde writes with such eloquence and purpose that you can easily miss all that his novel holds. All of his main characters speak with witting intent and with a gentleman's education. Wilde is quite fond of themes, symbolism, and has a silent touch for foreshadowing. In the beginning of the book Basil decides to rip the painting to pieces with a knife because Dorian is being so melodramatic but Dorian stops Basil before he can saying, “ Don't, Basil, don't! It would be murder!” In the end of the book Dorian takes a knife to the portrait intending to murder his sin, and ends up with a knife in his own heart. Overall Wilde created a perfect novel for the engaged reader.
Works Cited
Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth, 2001.
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a novel written by Oscar Wilde. The story takes place in England, where the artist Basil Hallward paints a portrait of the young and beautiful Dorian Gray. During his stay at the artist’s studio, he gets introduced to Lord Henry who later becomes one of the most influential people in his life. Dorian Gray becomes aware of his amazing beauty and youthfulness due to the portrait and wishes that the portrait ages instead of him. His wish comes true, Dorian remains beautiful and youthful while the portrait changes. Lord Henry becomes his best friend and motivates him to live in abundance, to sin and always strive for beauty. After a while, Dorian discovers that his portrait doesn’t only age, but also changes face expression as a result of all his sins and evil deeds. Dorian gets anxious by the fact that the portrait shows his evil soul and is scared that somebody will see it, therefore he hides it. The portrait haunts Dorian although it’s hidden. As Dorian’s sins gets worse, he feels that he can’t handle the pressure anymore and decides to destroy the portrait that shows his true self.
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.
At the beginning, the general mood looks like pure and innocent expressed by the descriptions as follows: "the rich odours of roses...the light summer wind...the heavy scent of lilac"(Wilde 5). This opening scene precisely symbolizes the world in which Dorian is situated at present. Just like the beautiful setting, Dorian is a "beautiful creature"(7) and the portrait Basil draws shows Dorian's "extraordinary personal beauty"(5). In other words, Dorian is in front of the mysterious gate of life that has immense possibilities. At this point, Dorian is ignorant about both the world of idealistic art and the world of mundane, earthly values. Dorian merely possesses "all youth's passionate purity"(17).
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a rich story which can be viewed through many literary and cultural lenses. Oscar Wilde himself purposefully filled his novel with a great many direct and indirect allusions to the literary culture of his times, so it seems appropriate to look back at his story - both the novel and the 1945 film version - in this way.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Michael Patrick Gillespie, Editor. Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007.
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...
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
The Picture of Dorian Gray was a remarkably well-written book due to the reaction of its themes by society. In the preface of the novel, Wilde introduces the opinion that "...there is no moral or immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all." Numerous views can be taken upon this fastidious comment. Many would agree that Wilde is justifiably correct because the preface was written with the intention that his readers understand the deeper meaning of the themes than worrying about whether it is considered morally acceptable; or perhaps, the view that it could be considered moral or immoral by the impact it has on the readers' lives. Even though there are several positions held on what The Picture of Dorian Gray's most important meaning is about, the most prominent is the novel as a moral book. Lord Henry Wotton immediately begins to corrupt Dorian's mind after they first meet by forcing his immoral thoughts of "yielding to temptation" which allows Lord Henry to hold his attention. After listening for quite a while to Lord Henry's views, Dorian begins to change his own to match them, and therefore begins to live a life of immorality. The yellow book is a device that Lord Henry uses to further corrupt and drive Dorian deeper into the pits of sin. Through Lord Henry's influence, the changes in Dorian Gray, and the impact of the yellow book, Oscar Wilde efficiently reveals The Picture of Dorian Gray as a moral book.
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...
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
Wilde, O. (1945). The picture of Dorian Gray. The Electronic Classics Series, The Pennsylvania State University. p. 3/ Retrieved January 3, 2014 from http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/oscar-wilde/dorian-gray.pdf
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.
Set in the late 19th Century, Oscar Wilde wrote his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is a story about debauchery and corruption of innocence and well known as a "Gothic melodrama." Violent twists and a sneaky plot make this novel a distinct reflection of human pride and corrupt nature.
Wilde, Oscar, and Michael Patrick. Gillespie. The Picture of Dorian Gray: Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Reviews and Reactions, Criticism. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2007. Print.