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Dorian Gray Character Analysis

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The picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde 's story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. The novel deals with Dorian Gray 's moral disintegration and it caused a great scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his “decadence and corrupting influence,” and a few years later the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde 's homosexuality. In this paper, I would deal with the character of Lord Henry Wotton, who I believe is the more powerful one in the novel since without his influence Dorian would not become the mysterious and complex Dorian Gray of the whole story. Lord Henry Wotton is an aristocrat whose economy allows him to live a life without worries. He is painter Basil Hallward’s friend, and it is through him that he meets Dorian Gray. Throughout the story, Lord Henry or Harry, as their friends call him, is a hedonist who embraces an immoral philosophy. Thus, he freely shares his cunning theories and beliefs based on the pursuit of pleasure and satisfaction in every social meeting. To him, pleasure is above all and everything-art, people, objects, money- is a tool of pleasure. Additionally, he states that "the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it,” otherwise the soul would suffer. As soon as Lord Henry is presented in chapter one, it is learnt about his corruptive nature through Basil’s point of view: "Dorian Gray is my dearest friend," he said. "He has
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