Dorian Gray Transformation

Timed Writing 1 Dorian Gray, in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, experiences many changes throughout the book. The main influence of this transformation was Lord Henry, but on the opposing end was Basil. The changes that Dorian had experienced were enough to ignite a spark in him to change his frame of mind, from a young innocent man into a vain hedonist. After Dorian had determined what he was seeking was not physical, he set out to find pleasure through corrupt relations and life experiences. For a time, Dorian sets his conscience aside and lives his life according to a single goal: achieving pleasure. Dorian’s portrait was an item representing his moral decay, which he had a fascination with. The portrait represented the moral

The relationship caused an insurmountable number of wrong-doings and Dorian seeking to find a way to fix them, caused the end of his life. Lord Henry had warned Dorian about loving Sibyl saying, “When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others,” (Wilde, 71) but Dorian’s desire for pleasure had hindered his own ability to listen. The driving factor of Dorian’s relationship with Sibyl was his own pleasure, when Sibyl had “spoiled the romance of life” he ended the relationship as he had now seen her as “a third-rate actress with a pretty face.” (Wilde, 115) The fact had become clear that Dorian had only valued Sibyl as an aesthetic and beautiful object rather than a human-being with flaws. He had perceived her as a living work of art, and since she could not act anymore, she had lost all of her value to

When Dorian had shown the portrait to Basil, he had let a part of himself go, which was his innocence in that he had never shown anyone the corrupted portrait of himself. The portrait represented the moral decay that Dorian had been experiencing and he found great pleasure in watching the artwork slowly diminish from its former beautiful self, to a true representation of his own soul. When Basil saw the painting “an exclamation of horror broke from the painter's lips as he saw in the dim light the hideous face on the canvas grinning at him.” When Dorian stabbed and killed Basil, it is written that Dorian “felt strangely calm” (Wilde, 205) and he did not stab Basil just once, but “stabbing again and again.” (Wilde, 204) He took great delight during the act of stabbing his former