Despite the different motivations and distractions, Jekyll and Dorian each take their freedom from blame as a sort of allowance for evil behavior and indulge fully into corruption. After Jekyll drinks the potion and transforms into Hyde, he understands the evil behind his actions but carries them out anyway. Jekyll’s “conscience slumbered” because he believed Hyde alone was truly guilty of the savagery committed (81). His lack of responsibility suggests his primitive instincts overpowering him and Jekyll continues to sink into a hole of corruption, unable to dig himself back up. Evidently, Jekyll begins to lose control of the situation, transforming into Hyde simultaneously. Hyde’s powers grew with the “sickliness of Jekyll” (93). Jekyll’s participation in evil …show more content…
No matter how hard Dorian tries to act innocent, his sins cannot easily be erased since he acts pure for selfish reasons, such as clearing his conscience. Additionally, Wilde uses mist to symbolize Dorian’s uncertainty about beauty. As Dorian enters the opium den, “the mist thickened, he felt afraid” (205). In Plato’s theory, Dorian does not completely understand the beauty of something, since he glances it from at a surface level and therefore, remains far from the truth and results in confusion and uncertainty, such as the mist. Moreover, Wilde suggests how before Basil’s murder, Dorian did not appear completely innocent but society could still consider him pure and white if he prayed for God’s forgiveness. Prayer will, “make [his sins] as white as snow” (175). White symbolizes purity, such as when a bride wears a white wedding dress, because they lack experience with corruption and reality. However, after committing murder and viewing the portrait shift, meaning he remains aware of the situation, he continues to burn the evidence anyway and transforms into corruption and