Examples Of Dualism In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

In "The Picture of Dorian Gray", Victorian class system is reflected through the concept of duality and duplicity. The concept of duality can be found amongst settings and "Dorian" himself. Although "Dorian" is from an aristocrat background we see him being positioned in places associated with the lower class, such as the "Opium dens", this creates two sides to "Dorian's" personality, as he is shown to be split between the middle class or lower class and upper class. We could interpret that "Dorian" is being portrayed as the link between Victorian classes as he breaks the norms of what is expected from people of a higher class against the rules of aristocracy, by going to the "Opium dens". "Dorian's" county manor "Selby Royal" is shown to be a place of pride, wealth and outward respectability in comparison to the image of "Dorian"

You will suffer horribly…Ah! Realize your youth while you have it” (PictureLocation 301-11). which are on beauty and seeking out pleasure. Thus, Dorian embraces hedonism and begins to live a youthful life and admiring his own beauty and trying to avoid becoming old but the results are disastrous. He leaded life devoted to following his impulses without tempering them with reason, a life of thinking only of his own selfish desires and disregarding the hurt caused to the people around him. His dismissal of Sibyl proves that he was putting her beauty and his pleasure of her acting before the real purpose of falling in love. To him, it does not matter if it really is love; it is what she portrays and the pleasure she provides for him that matters. Since she does not meet Dorian or society’s ideals of a woman, she is not a prospect for marriage. Dorian’s cruel dismissal of his relationship with Sibyl and her death act as a catalyst in his double