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Beauty In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

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Nature and beauty were emphasized in many literary works from the Romantic period. This is largely due to the withdraw many people and artists felt from nature after the industrial revolution in Europe during the late-1700s and the mid-1800s. This is manifested in The Picture of Dorian Gray as more of a grotesque and dark obsession with beauty.
The industrial revolution drastically changed the way of life in Europe. With it came many new innovations and inventions such as the steam engine and the spinning jenny, however, the quality of life for not only those living in urban centers but also for those living in rural areas drastically decreased. Cities grew overpopulated as people from rural areas moved into them in search of jobs, many of …show more content…

This is exemplified in his work: The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray is portrayed as a very handsome and modest young man, but as the story progresses he becomes more corrupted and obsessed with his own beauty, so much so that he desires to stay young and unaged forever. This obsession, however, grows dark and twisted, Dorian thinks: “‘the search for beauty is the real secret of life’” (Wilde 48). Dorian makes a wish upon a portrait of him that it will age and he will stay young, but the portrait begins to show all of the sins he commits and becomes a hideous and distorted depiction of him. He is horrified by this and grows a hatred for Basil Hallward, the artist of the portrait and one of his closest friends. Basil makes a comment to Dorian about how he could never commit any sin and Dorian snaps, he takes Basil to the attic where he has been hiding the painting and forces him to look upon his changed work. In a fit of rage, Dorian kills Basil: “He rushed at him, and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind his ear, crushing the man’s head down on the table, and stabbing again and again” (Wilde 151). Dorian’s obsession with beauty was the force which pushed him to commit countless sins and even drove him to commit murder, and eventually suicide. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the perfect example of a Dark Romantic novel, it focuses on sin, dark beauty, and the literal and metaphorical self-destruction that comes from

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The Industrial Revolution was the chain of events from the mid-1700s to the early 1900s that increased population, product output, and technology. During this period, many inventions that people use to this day, such as the radio, electric lightbulb, and the automobile were invented and put forward for public use. It also changed the way people lived, with urbanization causing more people to move into larger cities to work in factories. While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily negative consequences for society because it brought suffering to the working class, it was actually a positive thing for society.

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Along with the loss of jobs the factories of this time polluted the air and destroyed valuable natural resources. “Numerous new tools and machines were created as a result of the speeding up of technological innovation processes” (Education | National Geographic Society). A great invention made during this time was the steam engine. The steam engine was a machine that used

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Right at the start of the story Basil Hallward, who is somewhat obsessive over the young and beautiful Dorian Gray, decides to paint a portrait in his praise. Unbeknownst to Basil, Dorian had been speaking to Lord

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The researcher decides Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned to be the objects of the study on inferiority and superiority complex causing hedonistic lifestyle in main character. The first reason, both of literary works cover the changing of each life of the main character, society and ultimately the individual. Second, they both share the same social background of the main character in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian, displays a well-respected young man. He doesn’t recognize his own beauty until he sees it reflected in Basil’s portrait, and, once he does, it’s all too late. While Anthony in The Beautiful and Damned is illustrates reaching pleasure as the lifestyle and it becomes a habit.

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Some feel very strongly about what they know to be certain. Some feel certain about religion, others about love. In Oscar Wilde’s book The Picture of Dorian Gray a character, Lord Henry Wotton, says this, : “The things one feels absolutely certain about are never true. That is the fatality of Faith, and the lesson of romance” (181). The truth one knows does not always prove to be certain.

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The Picture of Dorian Gray Literary Essay Foreshadowing is a literary device used as a warning or indication of a future event, this literary technique is ever present in the demise of Dorian Gray. In Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray foreshadowing establishes the true depravity that exists within his relationships. Dorian establishes few healthy relationships throughout the novel, and Basil Hallward accurately foreshadows the effects of Dorians true enemy. Dorians relationship with his “true love” Sybil Vane, is in many ways foreshadowed by her brother James, and leads many to see what Dorian Gray’s personality is behind just his looks. Everyone has hostile relationships and the strikingly beautiful Dorian Gray is no exception, but few foreshadow his true depravity as well as Basil Hallward.

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At the end of the book, he has lost all of his innocence and gained cruelty. Bad company and objects are what causes Dorian Gray 's corruption. Basil Hallward is a painter who wants to paint Dorian 's picture. He is a quiet and unchangeable man. When he first meets Dorian, they talk about how it was destiny for them to meet.

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The genre of the novel is a terror, drama, psychology, humanitarianisms, romance and paranormal components. The Picture of Dorian Gray begins on a beautiful season day in Victorian-era England where Lord Henry Wotton, a determined man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the painting of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is Basil 's ultimate inspiration. Though sitting for the painting, Dorian listens to Lord Henry adopting his hedonistic worldview and begins to think that beauty is the only aspect of life worth trying. This encourages Dorian to wish that the painted image of himself would age in his stead.

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As soon as Dorian enters in Chapter 2 of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wildes’ one and only novel, its is evident that there will be a battle between who will have the most influence on his pure, untouched soul. Basil Hallward, a painter and worshipper of art is an optimist and sees only the good in even the wickedest of people, such as Lord Henry. Lord Henry is a charming, self-indulgent aristocrat that shapes and molds Dorian to lead a life devoted to pleasure. Both Basil and Lord Henry represent two important opposing forces in the novel, good and evil. The greatest struggle in The Picture of Dorian Gray is inside Dorian; he himself embodies both pure good and pure evil.

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The most important event in history: Industrial Revolution Context The industrial revolution was the most significant event in history, which started around the eighteenth century towards the nineteenth century in Europe. This great event was the fastest spreading event in human history. The capacity of economy and population growth was unexpected especially at the areas in which it flourished. The industrial revolution benefited almost everyone around the world and brought about new social classes, large cities and countless new innovations including medical discoveries especially in Britain, which based its scientific innovations on experiments and practical work rather than theories and logic, are the great outcomes of this still going event.

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Influence in The Picture of Dorian Gray And The Book of Job The Picture of Dorian gray is a book written by Oscar Wilde and it was published in 1880. The book was later revised by addition of more chapters and reprinted in April 1891. Dorian Gray is the main character in this book that is described as a beautiful and unspoiled male who changes his life completely by sinning and pleasure after meeting Lord Henry. Basil Hallward who is a painter develops obsession for Dorian because of his beauty whereas Lord Henry Wotton Basil’s friend influences Dorian with his theories about life, pleasure and women even though he had no intention of changing Dorian’s personality. Lord Henry’s influence in Dorian leads to his downfall.

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The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of Oscar Wilde’s masterpieces, portrays one of the most important values and principles for him: aestheticism. As a criticism to the life lived during the Victorian era in England, Wilde exposed a world of beauty a freedom in contradiction to the lack of tolerance a limitation of that era; of course inspired due to Wilde’s personal life. All the restrictions of the Victorian England lead him to a sort of anarchism against what he found to be incoherent rules, and he expressed all this to his art. His literature is a strong, political and social criticism. He gave a different point of view to controversial topics such as life, morality, values, art, sexuality, marriage, and many others, and epigrams, for what he is very well known, where the main source to the exposure of his interpretations of this topic.

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Relatively all authors are very fond of creating an underlying message to criticize society. Authors do this through social commentary. The book “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is no exception. The author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the upper class through the consistent underlying idea that people are often deceived by one's beauty and are unable to understand the poison that fills the world is corrupting it. From the beginning of this book, the social commentary towards the upper class begins with the structure of the novel.

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‘Once in his life may a man send his soul away, but he who receiveth back his soul must keep it with him forever, and this is his punishment and his reward’. A body, a soul, and a heart are the three elements that Oscar Wilde thought of as being essential to man. The body is the vessel, the carcass that keeps everything, including the heart, which is the house of feelings, bound together. Distinct and separate from the body is the soul which is the transcendent, ineffable spiritual proof of existence.

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As the portrait significantly becomes more hideous, Dorian gradually loses his mind. The reader understands that what eventually leads Dorian to kill Basil Hallward, the only true friend he has, is the constant reminder of the evil found at the heart of Dorian’s nature, as represented by the portrait. In Dorian doing so, the reader realises that not only does Dorian kill Basil, he also kills his only chance of redemption of his soul. The reader realises that the statement that Dorian had expressed earlier in the story was the truth: “Yes, Basil could have saved him. But it was too late now.”

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