dorian gray essay

A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s one novel, published originally in 1890 (as a serial) and then in book form the following year. The novel is at once an example of late Victorian Gothic horror and , in some ways, the greatest English-language novel about decadence and aestheticism, or ‘art for art’s sake’.

To show how these themes and movements find their way into the novel, it’s necessary to offer some words of analysis. But before we analyse The Picture of Dorian Gray , it might be worth summarising the plot of the novel.

The Picture of Dorian Gray : summary

The three main characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray are the title character (a beautiful young man), Basil Hallward (a painter), and Lord Henry Wotton (Basil Hallward’s friend).

The novel opens with Basil painting Dorian Gray’s portrait. Lord Henry Wotton takes a shine to the young man, and advises him to be constantly in search of new ‘sensations’ in life. He encourages Dorian to drink deep of life’s pleasures.

When the picture of Dorian is finished, Dorian marvels at how young and beautiful he looks, before wishing that he could always remain as young and attractive while his portrait is the one that ages and decays, rather than the other way around. When he proclaims that he would give his soul to have such a wish granted, it’s as if he has made a pact with the devil.

Basil’s finished portrait is sent to Dorian’s house, while Dorian himself goes out and follows Lord Henry’s advice. He falls head over heels in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane, but when she loses her ability to act well – because, she claims, now she has fallen in love for real she cannot imitate it on the stage – Dorian cruelly discards her. He had fallen in love with her art as an actress, and now she has lost that, she is meaningless to him.

Sibyl takes her own life before Dorian – who has observed a change in his portrait, which looks to have a slightly meaner expression than before – can apologise to her and beg her forgiveness. But Lord Henry consoles Dorian, arguing that Sibyl, in dying young, has given her last beautiful performance.

Dorian, shocked by the change in the portrait, locks it away at the top of his house, in his old schoolroom. Inspired by an immoral ‘yellow book’ which Lord Henry gives to him, Dorian continues to experience all manner of ‘sensations’, no matter how immoral they are. When he next takes a look at the portrait in his attic, he finds an old and evil face, disfigured by sin, staring out at him.

The novel moves forward some thirteen years. Dorian, of course, is still young and fresh-faced, but his portrait looks meaner and older than ever. When Dorian shows the portrait to Basil, who painted it, the artist – who had worshipped Dorian’s beauty when he painted the picture – is shocked and appalled. Dorian stabs Basil to death, before enlisting the help of someone to dispose of the body (this man, horrified by what he has done, will later take his own life).

Dorian slides further into sin and evil, until one day, the brother of the dead actress, Sibyl Vane, bumps into Dorian Gray and intends to exact revenge for his sister’s mistreatment at the hands of Dorian. But when he follows Dorian to the latter’s country estate, he is accidentally shot by one of Dorian’s shooting party.

Dorian becomes intent on reforming his character, hoping that the portrait will start to improve if he behaves better. But when he goes up to look at the painting, he finds that it shows the face of a hypocrite, because even his abstinence from vice was, in its own way, a quest for a new sensation to experience.

Horrified and angered, Dorian plunges a knife into the canvas, but when the servants walk in on him, they find the portrait as it was originally painted, showing Dorian Gray as a youthful man. Meanwhile, on the floor, there is the body of a wrinkled old man with a ‘loathsome’ face.

The Picture of Dorian Gray : analysis

The Picture of Dorian Gray has been analysed as an example of the Gothic horror novel, as a variation on the theme of the ‘double’, and as a narrative embodying some of the key aspects of late nineteenth-century aestheticism and decadence.

Wilde’s skill lies in how he manages to weave these various elements together, creating a modern take on the old Faust story (the German figure Faust sold his soul to the devil, via Mephistopheles) which also, in its depictions of late Victorian sin and vice, may remind readers of another work of fiction published just four years earlier: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (which we’ve analysed here ).

Indeed, the discovery of the body of Dorian Gray as a wrinkled and horrifically ugly corpse at the end of the novel recalls the discovery of Jekyll/Hyde in Stevenson’s novella.

To find the novel’s value as a book of the aesthetic movement, we need look no further than Wilde’s preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray , in which he states, for instance, that ‘there is no such thing as a moral or immoral book’ (what matters is whether the book is written well or not) and ‘all art is quite useless’ (art shouldn’t change the world: art exists as, and for, itself, and no more).

Lord Henry Wotton is very much the voice of the aesthetic movement in the novel, and many of his pronouncements echo those made by the prominent art critic (under whom Wilde had studied at Oxford), Walter Pater. But whereas Pater talked of ‘new impressions’, Lord Henry (or Wilde, in his novel) took this up a notch, calling for new ‘sensations’.

We tend to speak conveniently of ‘periods’ or ‘movements’ or ‘eras’ in literary history, but these labels aren’t always useful. Both Oscar Wilde and Elizabeth Gaskell, the author of Mary Barton and North and South , were ‘Victorian’ in that they were both writing and publishing their work in Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).

But whereas Gaskell, writing in the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s, wrote ‘realist’ novels about the plight of factory workers in northern England, Wilde wrote a fantastical horror story about upper-class men who are able to stay forever young and spotless while their portraits decay in their attic. They’re a world away from each other.

Wilde’s novel is a good example of how later Victorian fiction often turned against the values and approaches favourited by earlier Victorian writers. It was Wilde who, famously, said of the sad ending of Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop , which Dickens’s original readers in the 1840s wept buckets over, ‘one must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without’ – what, crying?

No. Wilde’s word was ‘laughing’. The overly sentimental style favoured by mid-century novelists like Dickens had given way to a more casual, poised, nonchalant, and detached mode of storytelling.

At the same time, we can overstate the extent to which Wilde’s novel turns its back on earlier Victorian attitudes and values. Despite his statement that there is no such thing as a moral or immoral book, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a highly moral work, as the tale of Faust was. Dorian’s life is destroyed by his commitment to a life of pleasure, even though it entails the destruction of other lives – most notably, Sibyl Vane’s.

Far from being a book that would be denounced from the pulpits by Anglican clergymen for being ‘immoral’, The Picture of Dorian Gray could make for a pretty good moral sermon in itself, albeit one that’s more witty and entertaining than most Christian sermons.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is, at bottom, a novel of surfaces and appearance. We say ‘at bottom’, but that is precisely the point: the novel is, as many critics have commented, all surface. Lord Henry is so taken by the beauty of Dorian Gray that he sets about being a bad influence on him.

Dorian is so taken by the painting of him – a two-dimensional representation of his outward appearance – that he makes his deal with the devil, trading his soul, that thing which represents inner meaning and inner depth, in exchange for remaining youthful on the outside.

Then, when Dorian falls in love, it’s with an actress, not because he loves her but because he loves her performance. When she loses her ability to act, he abandons her. Her name, Sibyl Vane, points up the vanity of acting and the pursuit of skin-deep appearance at the cost if something more substantial, but her first name also acts as a warning: in Greek mythology, the Sibyls made cryptic statements about future events.

But there’s probably a particular Sibyl that Wilde had in mind: the Sibyl at Cumae, who, in Petronius’ scurrilous Roman novel Satyricon (which Wilde would surely have known) and in other stories, was destined to live forever but to age and wither away. She had eternal life, but not eternal youth. Dorian’s own eternal youth comes at a horrible cost: without a soul, all he can do is go in pursuit of new sensations, forever chasing desire yet never attaining true fulfilment.

It will, in the end, destroy him: in lashing out and trying to destroy the truth that stares back at him from his portrait, much as he had destroyed the artist who held up a mirror to his corrupt self, Dorian Gray destroys himself. In the last analysis, as he and his portrait do not exist separately from each other, he must live with himself – and with his conscience – or must die in his vain attempt to close his eyes to who he has really become.

About Oscar Wilde

The life of the Irish novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is as famous as – perhaps even more famous than – his work. But in a career spanning some twenty years, Wilde created a body of work which continues to be read an enjoyed by people around the world: a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray ; short stories and fairy tales such as ‘ The Happy Prince ’ and ‘ The Selfish Giant ’; poems including The Ballad of Reading Gaol ; and essay-dialogues which were witty revivals of the Platonic philosophical dialogue.

But above all, it is Wilde’s plays that he continues to be known for, and these include witty drawing-room comedies such as Lady Windermere’s Fan , A Woman of No Importance , and The Importance of Being Earnest , as well as a Biblical drama, Salome (which was banned from performance in the UK and had to be staged abroad). Wilde is also often remembered for his witty quips and paradoxes and his conversational one-liners, which are legion.

5 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray”

‘Genius lasts longer than beauty’ – a very appropriate quote from Chapter 1

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray - Teresa Edmond-Sargeant
• Pingback: 10 of the Best Works by Oscar Wilde – Interesting Literature

The “yellow book”, referred to is probably Huysmans’s A Rebours, which was sold in a yellow jacket. It is not the Yellow Book quarterly (a publication featuring poetry, prose and illustrations from followers of the Aesthetic movement), which came later, and which probably took its title from the reference in Wilde’s novel.

• Pingback: A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince’ – Interesting Literature

Comments are closed.

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar wilde, everything you need for every book you read..

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Picture of Dorian Gray: Introduction

The picture of dorian gray: plot summary, the picture of dorian gray: detailed summary & analysis, the picture of dorian gray: themes, the picture of dorian gray: quotes, the picture of dorian gray: characters, the picture of dorian gray: symbols, the picture of dorian gray: literary devices, the picture of dorian gray: quizzes, the picture of dorian gray: theme wheel, brief biography of oscar wilde.

Historical Context of The Picture of Dorian Gray

Other books related to the picture of dorian gray.

• Full Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
• When Written: Some time between 1889, when the story was commissioned, and 1890
• Where Written: London
• When Published: It was initially published in a magazine called Lippincott’s Monthly in July of 1890.
• Literary Period: Aestheticism
• Genre: Aestheticism, Philosophical Fiction, Gothic Fiction
• Setting: London
• Climax: Dorian becomes so tormented by the portrait that he stabs it with a knife, but when the scene is discovered, it is Dorian himself who lies dead on the floor.
• Antagonist: Dorian and the other characters are surrounded by antagonistic influences, which seem to be a part of day to day life in the high society of London. These influences, fashion, classism, obsessions with aesthetics and reputation are embodied by Lord Henry Wotton, making the man and his ideas seem like the main antagonist of the book.
• Point of View: An omniscient narrator; this narrator guides us in the past tense between one place and another, able to show us the interior workings of the main characters

Extra Credit for The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray Syndrome. Dorian Gray’s name still haunts popular culture but it also has a more serious legacy. Dorian Gray Syndrome is now a common term to describe a cluster of narcissistic qualities. It often refers to severe mental illness and can be diagnosed from symptoms reminiscent of Dorian’s in the novel.

The real Dorian? It has been suggested that the inspiration for Dorian Gray was a man called John Gray, who, though very handsome and a good poet, was dropped by Wilde in favor of his new love Lord Alfred Douglas. He apparently signed his love letters “Dorian”, after an ancient tribe called “The Dorians”.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

By oscar wilde, the picture of dorian gray essay questions.

In the preface, Wilde claims that there is "no such thing as a moral or an immoral book," and that an "ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style." Yet Dorian's eventual ruin suggests a strong moral warning against the protagonist's vanity and selfishness. Is Wilde breaking his own rules and exhibiting "an unpardonable mannerism of style"? Or is the book meant to be read amorally?

Lord Henry and Dorian claim to be artists in the way they live their lives. Is this true, based on Wilde's definition of the artist, as expressed in the preface? Is this true based on your own definition?

Time moves linearly in The Picture of Dorian Gray , but not in even increments. Discuss the passage of time in the novel and how it influences our impression of characters and events. Be sure to touch on the glossing-over of 18 years in chapter 11.

When Basil confronts Dorian about the fact that he has allegedly corrupted many people, Dorian defends himself by saying that "Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him." Is Dorian responsible for the ruined lives of his friends? Is Lord Henry responsible for the ruined life of Dorian?

Dorian is outwardly young and charming, and inwardly old and corrupt. He is decidedly inconsistent in his social interactions and intellectal interests, while extremely consistent in appearance. Discuss the theme of duplicity throughout the novel.

In chapter 11, we encounter a peculiar first-person interjection from the narrator: "Is insincerity such a terrible thing? I think not." Does this voice, or this argument, remind you of any of the characters in the novel? Discuss Wilde's narrative voice in three or four instances. How does it relate to the different characters, does it seem to espouse similar views, or to sympathize with certain people more than others? Are we expected to trust the narrator on every occasion? What does this tell us about how the story is told?

At the time of its publication, The Picture of Dorian Gray sparked countless debates about the role of morality in art. What is your contribution to this debate? Do artists have the responsibility to convey good morals to their audience?

In 1895, the critic Ernest Newman, in a discussion of Wilde's contribution to literary thought, celebrated the author's use of paradoxes, saying that "a paradox is a truth seen round a corner" (Drew xxv). Countless paradoxes appear in The Picture of Dorian Gray , most often in the words of Lord Henry Wotton. Identify and discuss several paradoxes in the novel.

Traditionally, faustian tales contain explicit depictions of the protagonist's pact with the devil, giving a clearly defined source for his later woes. But the closest Wilde comes to identifying the reason for the portrait's metaphyisical powers is in chapter 8, when Dorian wonders if there is somehow "some subtle affinity between the chemical atoms, that shaped themselves into form and colour on the canvas, and the soul that was within." Wilde seems content to leave the actual mechanism by which the portrait ages and withers instead of Dorian completely unexplained. How does this affect our overall impression of the novel? How would the work be different if it included, for instance, a scene in which Mephistofoles appears and has Dorian sign a contract?

The Picture of Dorian Gray Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Picture of Dorian Gray is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why is James worried about his sister's suitor?

James is very jealous, protective of his sister, and suspicious of the situation, since Sibyl doesn't even seem to know her suitor's name.

picture of dorian gray

I think that Basil knows what Henry is capable. He doesn't want Henry's influence to turn Dorian from good to evil.

List all the sensory experiences mentioned in the first two paragraphs.

From the text:

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses , and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac , or the more delicate perfume of the...

Study Guide for The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray study guide contains a biography of Oscar Wilde, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The Picture of Dorian Gray Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

• Morality and Immorality (The Picture of Dorian Gray and A Streetcar Named Desire)
• The Life of Secrecy
• Break On Through To the Other Side
• The Art of Immorality: Character Fate and Morality in Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The Unconscious Image of the Conscious Mind

Lesson Plan for The Picture of Dorian Gray

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Picture of Dorian Gray Bibliography

E-Text of The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray e-text contains the full text of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

• Chapters 1-4
• Chapters 5-8
• Chapters 9-12
• Chapters 13-16

Wikipedia Entries for The Picture of Dorian Gray

• Introduction
• Publication and versions

Dorian Gray and His Downfall Essay

In The Picture of Dorian Gray , Oscar Wilde tells a story of a young man’s moral downfall at the end of the 19 th century. The eponymous protagonist poses as a model for his friend Basil, a talented painter. While doing so, Dorian meets Lord Henry, a selfish aristocrat who lives for the sensual pleasures of every kind, and immediately introduces Dorian to his worldview. Once the portrait is finished, Dorian wishes to always be as beautiful as the painted image so that the portrait would grow old, ugly, and decrepit instead of him. Inexplicably, his wish comes true: any vice Dorian engages in only affects the portrait, but his youthful beauty remains untarnished forever. Influenced by Lord Henry, Dorian pursues the latter’s hedonistic lifestyle. He hurts those around him, parting with Sybil, the actress he claimed to love because she ceased to entertain him, and killing Basil once he learns the truth about the portrait. In the end, Dorian lashes out at the portrait that becomes unbearably ugly and offends his narcissist sensibilities – only to kill himself and return the painting to its original beauty.

The story of Dorian’s moral degradation, mirrored by the ghastly changes of his portrait, still leaves a question of causality open. The protagonist’s downfall is evident, yet an inquiring reader will wonder what the primary reason behind it was. Answering this question requires analyzing how Dorian interacts with other people – in the course of the novel, including such essential characters as Basil, Lord Henry, Sybil – and the eponymous portrait itself. When completed, this analysis reveals that, ultimately, Dorian has no one to blame for but himself, however tempting it might be to assign the guilt to an outside party. From the very beginning, Dorian is a narcissist who takes Basil’s adoration for granted, is ready to accept Lord Henry’s teachings, and only likes Sybil insofar as she serves his craving for variety.

Since Basil is the one to introduce the audience to Dorian by describing him in detail, it is only natural to start the assessment of Dorian’s relationships with other characters wit. Technically, the relationship between Basil and Dorian likely qualifies as friendship – in Chapter 1, he even directly states that they “became friends at once” (Wilde). However, the text soon reveals that there is much more than an ordinary friendship between the two – at least as far as Basil is concerned. The painter confesses that he wants to see Dorian every day and even states that the latter “is absolutely necessary” to him (Wilde). Moreover, Basil says: “He is all my art to me now,” thus equating his dedication to art and his infatuation with Dorian. This – almost religious – dedication exceeds friendship – rather, it is an obsession, plain and simple. Basil perceives Dorian as an epitome of everything beautiful and fair – of all things that he, as a painter, feels an obligation to depict and preserve for eternity.

Analyzing the relationship between Dorian and Basil as a kind of artistic obsession is one avenue of approach, but there are also rather evident homosexual subtests in it. Admittedly, nothing in the text directly suggests any sort of sexual tension between them – quite on the contrary, Basil invokes the “ideal of male love as a friendship that is intellectually and spiritually productive” (Grech 160). However, numerous details hint at Basil’s rather homoerotic perception of his supposed friend. When saying the latter’s name for the first time in the entire novel – “Dorian Gray’s good looks” – Basil immediately links it to the idea of physical beauty (Wilde). Moreover, the activity these two engage in as a painter and a model is also suggestive in its own right. It requires Basil to appreciate Dorian’s appearance and Dorian – to stay still and be perceived as an aesthetic object. There is no question that Dorian’s physical beauty has a tremendous effect on Basil, and while the two never demonstrate anything resembling a romantic relationship, there is an evident homoerotic subtext to Basil’s infatuation.

Regardless of whether one prefers to interpret the connection between Dorian and Basil as an artist’s obsession or an enamored man’s homosexual attachment, it definitely impacts the protagonist. After the portrait is finished, Dorian suddenly spans angrily at the painter, claiming that he is no more to Dorian than a bonze figurine (Wilde). It already happens after Dorian’s first conversation with Lord Henry, and one might suggest that it is an early result of the wicked aristocrat’s bad influence. Even the text seems to suggest this: Basil thinks to himself that it is “so unlike Dorian to speak like that” (Wilde). However, by Basil’s own acknowledgment, Dorian had a tendency to be “terribly thoughtless” about other people’s feelings even before meeting Lord Henry (Wilde). It may well be connected to the painter’s admitted tendency to flatter Dorian excessively – which, the young man appears to have perceived as his just due. Thus, the relationship between Basil and Dorian, whether artistic, implicitly homosexual, or both, demonstrates that Dorian was a narcissist capable of cruelly disregarding other people’s feelings even prior to meeting Lord Henry.

That being said, Lord Henry is still one of the central characters in the novel and, perhaps, the most significant influence on Dorian through the entirety of its plot. It is hard to categorize the relationship between these two as friendship, love, or even obsession with either beauty of innocence. Rather, the hedonistic aristocrat poses as a self-proclaimed mentor for Dorian and aims to shape the young man in his image. The very first time Lord Henry encounters Dorian, he immediately begins to preach his hedonistic creed: “the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it” (Wilde). The fact that some of the more exquisite pleasures are frowned upon, if not outright forbidden, by society, does not mean much to Lord Henry: he even refers to these social restrictions as “monstrous laws” (Wilde). This drive to pursue sexual pleasures, regardless of any “discrepancy with social regulation and social expectation,” is what the cynical aristocrat is trying to teach Dorian (Jiansheng, p. 52). Since Dorian indeed spends the greater part of the novel pursuing and satisfying his desires, Lord Henry appears to be a successful mentor.

Just as with Basil, only one interpretation of the relationship between Dorian and Lord Henry would not suffice – and, just as Basil, Lord Henry poses as an artist perceiving Dorian as an aesthetic object. Apart from being a corrupting mentor, the satiated aristocrat seems to fancy himself creator making art pieces of art of other people’s souls and lives. Lord Henry expresses his desire to meet Dorian soon after Basil says: “He is all my art to me now,” thus awakening the aristocrat’s own artistic interest (Wilde). Later, he likens talking to Dorian to “playing upon an exquisite violin,” further solidifying the latter’s role as an art object (Wilde). Finally, when Dorian has an existential crisis and decides to change for the better, Lord Henry’s reaction is rather telling: “You are quite perfect. Pray, don’t change” (Wilde). Viewing the Dorian as his masterpiece – and a perfect one at that – Lord Henry is infuriated by the latter’s decision to change without his consent. Hence, the corrupted aristocrat has twofold power over Dorian: first as a mentor over his student, and then as an artist over his creation.

Yet the extent of this power deserves due consideration, as it appears that Lord Henry only controls Dorian because the young man wants and allows him to. Admittedly, at first sight, the aristocrat’s control over Dorian may seem absolute: he corrupts him with a single short speech as if his words have magical power. As Stern rightfully noted, Lord Henry’s effect on Dorian’s personality indeed appears to the reader as “immediate and direct” (p. 759). However, there is a clear indication that corruption occurs only because Dorian is already willing to accept the change. Upon hearing Lord Henry’s preaching, Dorian admits to himself that they “seemed… to have come really from himself” and touched something deep within him (Wilde). This willingness to live solely for one’s pleasures is already within Dorian and ready to spring to life – Lord Henry is not the one to put it there. As innocent and pure as he appears to Basil, deep down, Dorian is already prepared to fall down morally, and his mentor only succeeds in corrupting him because he finds a willing apprentice.

Dorian’s relationship with Sibyl, the only woman he actually claims to love in the entire novel, also contributes to the idea that he is mainly responsible for his own downfall. When he meets Sibyl, he is enamored wit only with her beauty and feminine grace but, first and foremost, with her acting abilities. He explicitly enjoys having seen her “in every age and in every costume,” suggesting it is Sibyl’s ability to assume many faces that attracts him (Wilde). However, the actress falls so deeply in love with him that, instead of performing her roles consciously, she is now “merely acting out her own personality” (Li, p. 565). Disappointed beyond measure by Sibyl’s loss of acting ability, Dorian breaks up with her, and the ensuing despair drives her to suicide.

The story of this relationship illustrates that Dorian is already corrupt even before he openly adopts Lord Henry’s lifestyle. When he proclaims Sibyl is the love of his life, Lord Henry criticizes those who cling to one romantic interest for “their lack of imagination” (Wilde). According to him, one should never limit oneself to a single partner when there is more to be had. Dorian is initially angered that his mentor perceived him as unfaithful. However, his subsequent breakup with Sibyl reveals that he valued her ability to act out different personalities rather than the one true Sybil behind them all. It is her “flowing among multiple identities” that satisfies Dorian’s desires, and once she is not acting anymore and stays faithful to her own personality, she is of no more interest to her love (Zhang, p. 378). Thus, even as Dorian indignantly rejects Lord Henry’s ideas of romantic unfaithfulness, he already acts in full accordance with them. By desiring varied sensual experiences provided by different women rather than a steady union with just one, Dorian shows that he lived the creedof Lord Henry even before openly succumbing to him.

There is no apparent causality between Dorian’s interactions with his portrait and the character’s moral downfall – the portrait is the means of falling rather than the reason behind it. Still, the portrait as a narrative tool already establishes Dorian’s narcissist preoccupation with himself. When seeing Basil’s completed work for the first time, Dorian is overcome with bitter sadness at the idea that he will once lose his beauty and youth. He exclaims: “How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young” (Wilde). This rumination leads him to the idea that having the portrait aging and becoming ugly instead of himself would be great. Dorian is unable to see neither the value of the painting as an object of art nor the admiration Basil has poured into it. He remains blind to anything that is not him and his beauty and only perceives a marvelous piece of art as a tool to further his interests.

This approach applies to the people as well, as Dorian’s inherently hedonistic sensibilities prompt him to value other people only insofar as they are conducing to his pleasure. Once again, the portrait reveals Dorian’s true attitude to those around him and his eerie indifference to their suffering unless removing it may make himself better. After breaking Sibyl’s heart and returning home, Dorian eventually decides to reconcile with the girl and make her happy. However, the only reason why he does this is seeing “a touch of cruelty” on the lips of his once-perfect portrait, which he wants to remove by setting things right (Wilde). Closer to the end of the novel, Dorian resolves to lead a virtuous life – but only to “expel every sign of evil passion” from the portrait, as it has become too unbearable to look at (Wilde). Even when Dorian decides to do something good, whether in the beginning or at the end of his journey, it is only to make himself feel better and satisfy his narcissist self-perception.

As one can see, there are multiple parties involved in Dorian’s moral downfall, but, ultimately, he is the one responsible for his degradation. Dorian’s relationship with Basil reveals that he already perceived flattery as his just due and could be utterly indifferent to the suffering of the others, even without anyone’s corrupting influence. The protagonist’s interactions with Lord Henry strengthen this assumption even further. Although the latter influence him as a mentor and, in a sense, creator, this influence only happens because Dorian is ready to accept it. Even the brief relationship with Sibylshowss that Dorian adheres to Lord Henry’s hedonistic values even before openly acknowledging them. Lastly, the character’s interactions with the eponymous portrait reveal that he only attempts to do good things to promote his narcissist sense of self-worth. Considering this, one may safely assume that Dorian Gray already bore his own destruction within his soul before the events of the book.

• Grech, Leanne. Oscar Wilde’s Aesthetic Education: The Oxford Classical Curriculum . Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
• Jiansheng, Yan. “Art Regression: On Unconsciousness Trend of The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Canadian Social Science , vol. 13, no. 5, 2017, pp. 50-53.
• Li, Hao. “Vision and Self-Consciousness in The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature , vol. 44., no. 3, 2017, pp. 565-578.
• Stern, Simon. “Wilde’s Obscenity Effect: Influence and Immorality in The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The Review of English Studies , New Series, vol. 68, no. 286, 2017, pp. 756–772.
• Wilde, Oscar. “ The Picture of Dorian Gray .” Project Gutenberg. Web .
• Zhang, Yan. “From Self-Identification to Self-Destruction –A Mirror Image Interpretation of Dorian Gray’s Psychic Transformation.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research , vol. 7, no. 2, 2016, pp. 377-381
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, February 17). Dorian Gray and His Downfall. https://ivypanda.com/essays/dorian-gray-and-his-downfall/

"Dorian Gray and His Downfall." IvyPanda , 17 Feb. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/dorian-gray-and-his-downfall/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Dorian Gray and His Downfall'. 17 February.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Dorian Gray and His Downfall." February 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/dorian-gray-and-his-downfall/.

1. IvyPanda . "Dorian Gray and His Downfall." February 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/dorian-gray-and-his-downfall/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Dorian Gray and His Downfall." February 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/dorian-gray-and-his-downfall/.

• Immorality in “The Portrait of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde
• Relationships Between Dorian Gray, Lord Henry, and Basil Hallward
• Novel by O. Wilde and G. Markes Review
• "The Picture of Dorian Gray": The Question of Love in the Novel
• Oscar Wilde’s "The Portrait of Dorian Gray": The Problem of Deep-Rooted Evil
• Youth and Beauty in Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Why Picture of Dorian Gray Is in the Canon?
• "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde: Dorian’s Life Philosophy and Double Life
• Dorian Gray's and Oscar Wilde's Connection
• Characters in Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
• The Use of Symbolic Meaning in "A Rose for Emily" by Faulkner
• Yunior's Character in 'This Is How You Lose Her' by Junot Díaz
• The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
• Main Theme of "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller
• "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller - Review

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar wilde.

The Conflict Between Aestheticism and Morality in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

Patrick Duggan

Download this article

Oscar Wilde prefaces his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, with a reflection on art, the artist, and the utility of both. After careful scrutiny, he concludes: “All art is quite useless” (Wilde 4). In this one sentence, Wilde encapsulates the complete principles of the Aesthetic Movement popular in Victorian England. That is to say, real art takes no part in molding the social or moral identities of society, nor should it. Art should be beautiful and pleasure its observer, but to imply further-reaching influence would be a mistake. The explosion of aesthetic philosophy in fin-de-siècle English society, as exemplified by Oscar Wilde, was not confined to merely art, however. Rather, the proponents of this philosophy extended it to life itself. Here, aestheticism advocated whatever behavior was likely to maximize the beauty and happiness in one’s life, in the tradition of hedonism. To the aesthete, the ideal life mimics art; it is beautiful, but quite useless beyond its beauty, concerned only with the individual living it. Influences on others, if existent, are trivial at best. Many have read The Picture of Dorian Gray as a novelized sponsor for just this sort of aesthetic lifestyle. However, this story of the rise and fall of Dorian Gray might instead represent an allegory about morality meant to critique, rather than endorse, the obeying of one’s impulses as thoughtlessly and dutifully as aestheticism dictates.

In the novel, Lord Henry Wotton trumpets the aesthetic philosophy with an elegance and bravado that persuade Dorian to trust in the principles he espouses; the reader is often similarly captivated. It would be a mistake, however, to interpret the novel as a patent recommendation of aestheticism. To the aesthete, there is no distinction between moral and immoral acts, only between those that increase or decrease one’s happiness; yet, Dorian Gray refutes this idea, presenting a strong case for the inherent immorality of purely aesthetic lives. Dorian Gray personifies the aesthetic lifestyle in action, pursuing personal gratification with abandon. Yet, while he enjoys these indulgences, his behavior ultimately kills him and others, and he dies unhappier than ever. Rather than an advocate for pure aestheticism, then, Dorian Gray is a cautionary tale in which Wilde illustrates the dangers of the aesthetic philosophy when not practiced with prudence. Aestheticism, argues Wilde, too often aligns itself with immorality, resulting in a precarious philosophy that must be practiced deliberately.

Dorian Gray is often read as an explicit proclamation of the worthiness of living life in accordance with aesthetic values. This is due in part to the flourishing Aesthetic Movement of Victorian England at the time of the novel’s publication, as well as Oscar Wilde’s association with the movement itself (Becker 660). The Aesthetic Movement, which coincided with the Industrial Revolution at the end of the nineteenth century, emphasized the artistic aspect of a man’s work in producing a variety of goods, from furniture to machines to literature (Becker 660). Oscar Wilde, however, proposed that the principles of the Aesthetic Movement extend beyond the production of mere commodities. In Joseph Pearce’s biography, The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde , Pearce recalls Wilde’s own perspective on the popular movement. Speaking of aestheticism, Wilde is quoted:

It is indeed to become a part of the people’s life . . . I mean a man who works with his hands; and not with his hands merely, but with his head and his heart. The evil that machinery is doing is not merely in the consequence of its work but in the fact that it makes men themselves machines also. Whereas, we wish them to be artists, that is to say men. (qtd. in Pearce 144)

In his exposition of aestheticism, Wilde applies the philosophy in a more universal sense, stressing the positive influences of aestheticism in one’s life beyond mere craftsmanship. Just as the machines that mass-produce materials with the intervention of human thought are labeled “evil,” Wilde similarly condemns men who act as metaphorical machines, programmed to behave in accordance with society’s ideas of propriety rather than allowing themselves to act freely and achieve the greatest amount of happiness. Wilde’s eloquent advocacy of an aesthetic lifestyle is paralleled in his depiction of Lord Henry in Dorian Gray . Lord Henry lectured to the impressionable Dorian, “We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us. . . . Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden itself” (Wilde 9). Wilde, through Lord Henry, laments the stifling nature of his contemporary Victorian society and how the supposed morality it boasts necessitates self-denial and rejection of life’s most beautiful aspects. Lord Henry warns that without an enthusiastic embrace of aestheticism, one will perpetually anguish with the desire of precisely what he must deny himself, all for the sake of propriety. This philosophy espoused by Wilde and Lord Henry often leads, not surprisingly, to the conclusion that Dorian Gray is a declaration of Wilde’s, promoting the adoption of purely aesthetic lives without qualification. This, however, is too shallow of an interpretation.

Opponents of a purely aesthetic lifestyle will certainly cite what they consider an inevitability: one’s desires and impulses, though when acted upon result in a more pleasurable life, will at times be undeniably immoral. It is at these times that the virtues of the wholly aesthetic life become questionable. The ruination of Dorian Gray, the embodiment of unbridled aestheticism, illustrates the immorality of such a lifestyle and gravely demonstrates its consequences. Wilde uses Dorian Gray not as an advertisement for aestheticism, but rather, he uses Dorian’s life to warn against aestheticism’s hostility toward morality when uncontrolled. Wilde himself admits, in a letter to the St. James’s Gazette, that Dorian Gray “is a story with a moral. And the moral is this: All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment” (Wilde 248). Aestheticism does well to condemn the renunciation of desires, but it is an excessive obedience to these desires that is subversively dangerous. Therefore, in the practice of Wilde’s aestheticism, forethought and constraint are necessities, yet too often lacking, and without them, one is doomed to suffer the same fate as Dorian Gray.

The character of Dorian Gray and the story of his profound degeneration provide a case study examining the viability of purely aesthetic lives. Dorian lives according to what Lord Henry professes without hesitation, and what Lord Henry inspires Dorian, through persuasive rhetoric, is an attitude indifferent to consequence and altogether amoral. As Wilde writes, Dorian’s newfound position is “never to accept any theory or system that would involve the sacrifice of any mode of passionate experience. Its aim, indeed was to be experience itself, and not the fruits of experience, sweet or bitter as they may be” (Wilde 125). Under Lord Henry’s mentorship, Dorian, once the epitome of wide-eyed youth, behaves with no regard for the ramifications of his actions, diligently pursuing instant gratification without thought of its implications, whether they be “sweet or bitter.”

Dorian’s relationship with the actress Sibyl Vane plainly illustrates this marked change in personality. Dorian pursues Sibyl from first sights, intent on acquiring her before he ever attempts to truly know her. Indeed, Dorian’s love for Sibyl is overtly superficial, as evidenced by Dorian’s own description of his infatuation with Sibyl: “I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art” (Wilde 101). Dorian is not attracted to Sibyl’s character of personality, but rather her acting talent and enthralling performances; this is what enchants the aesthetically inclined Dorian. When Sibyl leaves the stage, then, she no longer serves a purpose in Dorian’s aesthetic life, and thus, Dorian abandons her unceremoniously. Dorian does not regret informing Sybil that, “Without your art, you are nothing” (Wilde 101). The tragedy of Sybil’s later suicide, brought about by utter despair at her desertion, is lost on Dorian, who instead enjoys the dramatic intrigue of the occasion. For Dorian, whose uncontrolled aestheticism rejects the concept of morality, the immorality of his actions goes unrecognized. In fact, Dorian declares excitedly, “It seems to me to be simply like a wonderful ending to a wonderful play. It has all the terrible beauty of a Greek tragedy, a tragedy in which I took a great part, but by which I have not been wounded” (Wilde 114). Here, the adverse consequences of aestheticism surface in Dorian’s life. In his pursuit of his own pleasures, a distinctly narcissistic attitude emerges, and the incompatibility of morality and unconditional aestheticism becomes all the more apparent.

The emergence of narcissism in Dorian and its correlation with his newly adopted aesthetic philosophy is integral to Wilde’s novel as it emphasizes the frequent hostility between aestheticism and morality that Wilde cautions against. Dorian Gray exposes the immorality of self-absorption, as Dorian’s portrait becomes more disfigured with each one of Dorian’s selfish acts. This self-absorption, then, appears to be an inevitable consequence of aestheticism. Only a more deliberate practice of aestheticism may harness this egotism and avoid the immorality Dorian embodies. Interestingly, in his essay “Come See About Me: Enchantment of the Double in The Picture of Dorian Gray ,” Christopher Craft recognizes a mirroring of the Greek myth of Narcissus in the life of Dorian Gray. According to mythology, Narcissus, upon catching a glimpse of his reflection in a pool, becomes so enraptured by it that he stood and admired it endlessly, unmoving for the rest of his life. As Craft notes, this self-absorption “is a commitment that, like Dorian’s, graduates fully until death” (Craft 113). Narcissus becomes so infatuated with himself that the rest of world effectively ceases to exist or affect him and, as Craft argues, “it is into precisely this silent delirium that Dorian unwittingly steps” when he allows Lord Henry’s aesthetic philosophy to so dominate him (Craft 113). Dorian enjoys a life of eternal youth, with only his portrait aging in parallel with Dorian’s immorality; so, as Dorian sinks into the depths of narcissism, he maintains his external beauty, and his portrait degenerates instead. Eventually, as in the myth of Narcissus, such egotism has its consequences. When Dorian, disgusted with the decrepit picture of the supposedly “real” him, destroys it in a fit of anger, Dorian too is destroyed. Wilde writes that after Dorian’s death, “it was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was” (Wilde 220). In the end, as a testament to the purely aesthetic life, the only legacy Dorian leaves behind—everything that identifies him as who he was—is his superficial jewelry.

There is an argument, then, made by Wilde for a new aestheticism, approached with more constraint than Dorian employs. This argument is based not only in the moral obligation of the individual, but with the betterment of all of society in mind. Matthew Arnold, in his essay “Culture and Anarchy,” provides reasoning against the ethos of Lord Henry’s aestheticism and an unconditional application of it. Arnold focuses on its detrimental effects on society and the possibility for societal improvement when aesthetic tendencies are properly controlled. There appears to be agreement, then, between Wilde and Arnold; Wilde’ novel provides a failed example of the purely aesthetic life, and when scaled to a larger society, a similar result is understandably expected. As Arnold views his contemporary society, it is arranged hierarchically, dividing the aristocrats, the middle-class, and the working-class, all of which, Arnold laments, are inclined to live hedonistically, pursuing pleasure and only what is comfortable and easy. Dorian Gray embodies just his defect in Arnold’s society. Arnold argues, however, that “there are born a certain number of natures with a curiosity about their best self with a bend for seeing things as they are . . . for simply concerning themselves with reason and the will of God, and doing their best to make these prevail;—for the pursuit, in a word, of perfection” (Arnold 277). Arnold is optimistic that some may pursue beyond the immediately pleasurable and act to perfect themselves both morally and intellectually. This pursuit of perfection, however, is likely an arduous and uncomfortable task, and is therefore incompatible with pure aestheticism. Some concessions must be made for the absolute aesthete, then, for such transcendence occur.

Dorian Gray, for much of Wilde’s novel, fails to embody Arnold’s ideal, as in his hedonistic life he is seen “creeping at dawn out of dreadful houses and slinking in disguise in the foulest dens in London,” despite being once too honorable for such debauchery (Wilde 118). Dorian exemplifies a regression in social intellect from his beginnings rather than the kind of transcendence hoped for by Arnold. Dorian displays no such pursuit of intellectual perfection as he is slowly corrupted and in turn corrupts others, luring them with him into the slums and opium dens of London. Arnold refers to those able to transcend social classes in society as “aliens,” hinting at their rarity to the point of foreignness and to their almost mythical quality (277). The mere existence of these aliens, however, provides hope that the utter hedonists of society may learn to harness their damaging tendencies, and in doing so, better the intellectual and moral state of humankind.

Wilde, too, recognizes this ability to control the hedonistic temptations associated with aestheticism, as demonstrated by the last stages of Dorian’s life. Mitsuharu Matsuoka, in his essay “Aestheticism and Social Anxiety in The Picture of Dorian Gray ,” notes that, as Dorian’s death approaches, “Dorian ultimately reacts against his lifestyle, choking on his New Hedonism,” at which point “a great sense of doom hangs over Dorian” (Matsuoka 78). Indeed, Dorian appears to realize the consequences of his unbridled aestheticism; however, he is much too far gone to salvage. Dorian reveals his epiphany to Lord Henry: “The soul is a terrible reality. It can be bought, and sold, and bartered away. It can be poisoned or made perfect. There is a soul in each one of us. I know it” (Wilde 211). Unfortunately for Dorian, this realization comes too late to save his soul from its degradation, long-nurtured by a purely aesthetic life, and he is destroyed. The realization itself, however, is indicative of Wilde’s argument woven throughout Dorian Gray . Despite Wilde’s publicly advocating the principles of aestheticism, Dorian’s demise illustrates Wilde’s recognition that aestheticism needs to be properly controlled. While the pursuit of beauty and happiness in life is always Wilde’s ideal, he also implies that the consequences of one’s actions must be thought out and the impact of one’s decisions, beyond oneself, must also be carefully considered before acting on any impulse.

The Aesthetic Movement in fin-de-siècle England, as interpreted by Oscar Wilde, revolved around the ideal that the utility of one’s actions should be to create the maximal amount of beauty and pleasure in one’s life, and nothing more. Wilde’s Dorian Gray appears, at first glance, to promote this philosophy unequivocally. Indeed, a lifestyle based on this aestheticism is espoused in Wilde’s opening preface as well as throughout Lord Henry’s professorial lectures. Upon closer inspection, however, Wilde’s novel is not as wholly embracing of aestheticism as this implies. Wilde realized and depicted in the life of Dorian Gray, a need for a more controlled and deliberate approach to aestheticism, without which morality will inevitably be elusive. The adoption of unrestrained aestheticism, as exhibited by Dorian, results in a lack of remorse, self-absorption, and intellectual regression. For the sake of preserving morality, a concept proven incompatible with pure aestheticism, more deliberation is necessary from the aesthete in deciding upon action. If, in the pursuit of one’s desires and of the beautiful aspects of life, the condition of others’ or of one’s own intellect is jeopardized, the enjoyment garnered must sometimes be sacrificed for the greater good. As Wilde makes clear, it is only through a more restrained philosophy that aestheticism and morality may eventually align.

Works Cited

Arnold, Matthew. “Culture and Anarchy.” The Picture of Dorian Gray . Ed. Andrew Elfenbein. NY: Pearson Longman, 2007. 276–279.

Becker-Leckrone, Megan. “Oscar Wilde (1854–1900): Aesthetic and Criticism.” The Continuum Encyclopedia of Modern Criticism and Theory 20 (2002): 658–665.

Craft, Christopher. “Come See About Me: Enchantment of the Double in The Picture of Dorian Gray .” Representations 91 (2005): 109–136.

Matsuoka, Mitsuharu. “Aestheticism and Social Anxiety in The Picture of Dorian Gray. ” Journal of Aesthetic Education 29 (2003): 77–100.

Pearce, Joseph. The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde . NY: Ignatius Press, 2004.

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray . Ed. Andrew Elfenbein. NY: Pearson Longman, 2007.

Corruption In Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel by Oscar Wilde that tells the story of a young man, Dorian Gray, who becomes corrupted by his own vanity. The novel explores the themes of morality, corruption, and art. The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in 1890 and has been adapted into various forms of media, including film and stage.

The novel has been controversial since its publication due to its explicit content and because it promotes a lifestyle that many people find objectionable. However, it remains one of Wilde’s most popular works and continues to be studied by scholars and students today. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic example of a novel that explores the dark side of human nature. The story’s protagonist, Dorian Gray, is a young man who is consumed by his own vanity.

He believes that his good looks will last forever and that he can never grow old or die. As a result, he leads a life of decadence and luxury, indulging in all sorts of vices without consequences. The only thing that remains unchanged throughout Dorian’s life is a portrait of himself that he keeps hidden away. The portrait gradually becomes more and more corrupted as Dorian’s soul grows blacker.

The novel culminates with Dorian realizing the true extent of his corruption and the destruction that it has wrought on his life. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a cautionary tale about the dangers of vanity and the corrupting influence of power. It is also a unique and timeless work of literature that continues to be relevant today.

According to the nurture theory of human behavior’s development, a child is born without any understanding of how to interpret things and has no experience. The youngster is innocent and pure. It leans on others for direction and trusts them to show it the way.

When a kid is delivered, most are greeted by attentive nurses, doctors, and parents who care for them. The first encounter between this kid and these other people has an impact on him or her. Their parents and classmates have an influence on their personalities, as well as who they become over time.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde tells the story of corruption. The novel is a study of the power that corrupt influences have not just on individuals, but also on society as a whole.

Dorian Gray is a young, handsome man who lives a life of luxury. He has everything he could ever want and more. However, what he doesn’t realize is that all of his possessions come at a cost. As he indulges in his pleasures, he gradually becomes more and more corrupt. The novel addresses the idea that when someone has everything they could ever want, they become bored and start to look for new ways to entertain themselves. This often leads to them engaging in activities that are harmful to both themselves and those around them.

One of the things that makes The Picture of Dorian Gray so interesting is the way it addresses the issue of corruption. It doesn’t just focus on how someone can be corrupted, but also on how that corruption can spread to those around them. The novel shows how a corrupt individual can influence those around them and ultimately lead to the downfall of society as a whole.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is an important work not just because it is a well-written story, but also because it highlights a very real issue that is still relevant today. Corruption is something that can start small, but if left unchecked, can quickly spiral out of control. The novel is a cautionary tale about the dangers of corruption and the need for people to be aware of its dangers.

While The Picture of Dorian Gray is a work of fiction, it contains many elements that are based in reality. The issue of corruption is something that is all too real and it is something that people need to be aware of. The novel highlights the importance of maintaining a sense of morality and being aware of the corrupting influence that those around us can have. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a timeless work that is still relevant today. It is a story that everyone should read and learn from.

In the United States, cannabis possession is a misdemeanor in some states and a felony in others. In other places, it’s not considered as harmful as alcohol or tobacco. However, there are severe penalties for those who break the law: jail time or fines.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the corruption and consequences are represented by Lord Henry Wotton’s influence on Dorian Gray as well as his painting. Wilde emphasizes Dorian’s attractiveness and youth to imply his incorruptibility. Throughout the book, Dorian is characterized as attractive, good-looking, and beautiful.

The Dorian Gray we are first introduced to is an innocent, naïve young man who knows very little about the world. However, as the novel progresses and Dorian becomes more corrupt, his physical appearance changes to match his inner ugliness. The once beautiful and handsome youth is transformed into a hideous creature. The portrait of Dorian Gray becomes an accurate representation of his soul, which has become corrupted by evil.

The physical changes that take place in the portrait show the progression of corruption in Dorian’s soul. The picture reflects every sinful deed that he commits, and as a result, it becomes increasingly ugly. Wilde uses the contrast between Dorian’s actual physical appearance and the appearance of his portrait to demonstrate the power of corruption. The portrait serves as a representation of Dorian’s true self, which has been corrupted by evil.

While Lord Henry does not necessarily corrupt Dorian directly, his words and actions have a profound influence on the young man. Lord Henry is a hedonist who lives for pleasure and believes that one should pursue any desire in order to achieve happiness. He encourages Dorian to live life to the fullest and to never let anything stand in his way. In other words, he teaches Dorian to be selfish. As a result of Lord Henry’s influence, Dorian becomes obsessed with pleasure and pursues it relentlessly. He becomes careless and reckless, leading to his eventual downfall.

More Essays

• The Picture Of Dorian Gray Essay
• How Art Relates to Dorian Gray
• The Picture Of Dorian Gray Analysis Essay
• The Picture Of Dorian Gray Research Paper
• Compare And Contrast Lady Windermere’s Fan And The Importance Of Being Ernest Essay
• Gender Roles In The Male Gaze Essay
• The Pros And Cons Of Judicial Corruption Essay
• Corruption In Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales Essay
• Corruption In Food Industry Essay
• Hedonism Oscar Wilde

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Comparing Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Stevenson is a novel about a man named Dr. Jekyll who lives a double life as Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde was an evil man who committed acts of murder in rage. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a novel about a young man, Dorian, who wishes to stay forever young. Dorian eventually realizes the immorality that stems from his desires and commits suicide. Both The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray explore the theme of the duality of man. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde consistently uses the duality of man to show the battle between good and evil. In the final chapter, Dr. Jekyll wrote a letter to Mr. Utterson to confess his sins. Jekyll explains, …show more content…

Henry Jekyll is a representation of good, and Edward Hyde is a representation of evil. Jekyll being both meant he constantly had a battle of good vs evil, Jekyll vs Hyde. Jekyll continues his letter by explaining how it felt to have a battle between good and evil. He says “it seems natural.” The battle of good and evil is natural to every human. Everybody naturally wants to do whatever they feel like doing, but the battle requires them to step back and evaluate if what is being done is right or wrong. Matthew Brennan agrees with this. He writes in his critical essay, “Though Jekyll labels Hyde ‘pure evil,’ he recognizes that all humans ‘are commingled out of good and evil’”. Jekyll sees the wrong in becoming Mr. Hyde, but at the same time he understands everybody battles against evil. Stevenson conveys a message about good versus evil in his novel through the thematic strand of the duality of man. The duality of man is also used to show good vs evil in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. By chapter nine, Dorian Gray fell in love with an actress named …show more content…

Dorian was led to be this way because of Lord Henry. Lord Henry is the evil Dorian has to constantly battle against because Henry encourages Dorian to do things he shouldn’t. Michael Gillespie wrote a critical essay outlining Lord Henry’s influence and how it impacted Dorian Gray’s morality. Gillespie writes, “Basil protests against such an outspoken articulation of New Hedonism by refusing to believe that Harry holds views as cynical as his statements suggest.” Basil and Henry were constantly on opposite sides when it came to ethics, what mattered, and what didn’t. Henry’s hedonistic views largely impacted Dorian, and we can see this through Dorian’s character development throughout the novel. Dorian began as a kind young man but after meeting Henry, Dorian did bad things that led him to be responsible for two deaths. When Dorian kills Basil, he didn’t tell anybody about it; proving he lived a second life in

More about Comparing Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde