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Eternal Desire In Dorian Gray

998 Words4 Pages

Eternal desire of youth : heaven or hell ?

Although « The Picture of Dorian Gray » was published more than one hundred years ago, Dorian Gray is more real than he has ever been nowadays. It is a novel written by Oscar Wilde, one of the greatest authors in the English literature. It reflects themes that have been human preoccupations: the expresses of desire for eternal beauty and youth, which is a representation of our today’s society and its fixation on appearance. The pursuit of staying young forever has always existed and will continue to grow along with our developing society.

The main themes in this classic gothic fiction are youth, which is glorified to a extreme degree, beauty and homosexuality. …show more content…

Obsessive beauty and commitment to sinful pleasures took place in those times. But due to hypocrisy of the Victorian society, many themes were taboo. This period was considered very conservative and unaccepting of other ideas that were not the norm at that time.
In 1890 Oscar Wilde published the first version of « The Picture of Dorian Gray » in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. Unfortunately the story was immediately considered as scandalous due to its references of homosexual desire. The story appears to be promoting the relationship between three men; Basil, Lord Henry and Dorian Gray, whom the two men admire and fascinate about. the immediate reaction of the readers of those times was rather negative due to superficiality of their judgements.
Whether it was homosexuality or not both Oscar Wilde and Dorian Gray lived similar lives. Both enjoyed the pleasures in life but due to society’s intolerance and xenophobia both were outcasted.Despite homosexuality was condemned as evil, it was still widespread. People began to hide their dark desires, and their misdeeds, while presenting a respectable face tot he public.
The publication of the novel scandalized Victorian England. Oscar Wlde’s audience reaction clearly demontrate that this novel was

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