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Child Abuse In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

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According to Esther Rashkin who wrote “Art as Symptom: A Portrait of Child Abuse in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.”, Dorian Gray is the main victim of child abuse. She argues that Lord Henry is not the one that abuses Dorian by influencing him and forcing his ideas on him and that Lord Kelso is actually the person behind Dorian’s mental issues. However, she does think that Lord Henry was a catalyst that “awakened influences already present within Dorian” (Rashkin 69). Esther believes that Lord Henry merely resurfaced his childhood memories which traumatized him greatly and that Lord Kelso made Dorian who he truly is. Because Dorian was mistreated by Kelso, he leaves the portrait in the old schoolroom which he was imprisoned as a child. Dorian
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