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.
After explaining to Dorian how important these feelings are, Lord Henry uses his ability to exploit others' emotions and makes Dorian agree with this philosophy, as Dorian had something that he never had, youth. After Lord Henry’s initial influence, this began to grow on Dorian. The feeling of having so much beauty in his life satisfied his pleasure. Opening an opportunity for Dorian to fulfill his satisfaction of pleasure through all the materialistic and events within his control. Wilde writes, “Between two of the windows stood a large Florentine cabinet, made out of ebony and inlaid with ivory and blue lapis.”
Dorian Gray abandons parts of himself to please the devil figure, Lord Henry, and for his own greed for beauty and youth. In a discussion with Lord Henry about marriage, Dorian reaffirms Lord Henry’s belief and “[puts] it into practice” (34). Lord Henry has such an influence on Dorian Gray that Dorian states “I do everything you say” (34). There are several personality traits of a devil archetype: clever, charming, the ability to lie and manipulate, heartless, and mercifulness (Archetypes). Certainly Dorian Gray has his own morals, however, whenever Lord Henry is around he seems to surrenders his own to learn the corrupted perspective.
Foil: The contrast between Basil Hallward’s sincere care for Dorian and Lord Henry’s ill-motivated friendship with Dorian emphasizes Basil’s kind nature and Lord Henry’s slyness. This is clearly revealed in their differing reactions to news that Dorian has been engaged to a Sibyl Vane, a young actress. Basil expresses his concerns of the quickness of this engagement and the effect it may have on Dorian’s reputation while Lord Henry is merely amused as, to him, Dorian is a “subject made to his hand that…seemed to promise rich and fruitful results” (58). 23.
Dorian states that he would like to show Basil his soul, and he leads Basil to the room, where he keeps the portrait locked up. Shocked, Basil contemplates the disgusting and festering version of Dorian in the painting, and Dorian, stricken with rage from the portrait, Dorian murders Basil. Next morning, Dorian asks for help in disposing of the body from Alan Campbell, who is a scientist and a former close friend. Campbell refuses at first, but eventually agrees to help Dorian when he is blackmailed. After a couple of days later, Dorian attends a party which he finds rather boring, so, that night, he decides to go to an opium den.
Right at the start of the story Basil Hallward, who is somewhat obsessive over the young and beautiful Dorian Gray, decides to paint a portrait in his praise. Unbeknownst to Basil, Dorian had been speaking to Lord
Dorian is afflicted with this as he keeps to himself in his estate. Furthermore, without the influence of parents, as stated in the novel that he lived most of his childhood without them, he is offered no other perspective to guide him away from the negative influence from Lord Henry. But as he changes, taking in the influence Lord Henry has upon him, he acts upon his new perspectives without the help of Basil or other peers to turn him back around. This is Dorian’s fault, as he has the outlets in which to redeem himself, just as Frankenstein did, but chose to ignore them, and continued to let their attitudes and passions to get the better of their judgement through
His views, opinions and influences captivated by Dorian Gray which continuously encourages Dorian Gray into bad things. The third main character is Basil Hallward who was an artist that paints a picture of Dorian Gray and thus, becomes obsessed with him as Dorian Gray’s beauty was Basil’s art object. Basil feelings towards Dorian were left unclear, likely because in that time, those who involved in homosexual are going to be punish be society. ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray’ book, Oscar Wilde emphasized some relationships which were Basil Hallward and Lord Henry were friends of Dorian Gray, but, as I reach to the middle pages, Basil had feelings for Dorian Gray as he even confessed to Dorian in Dorian’s
Basil attempts desperately to lead Dorian to decency, to hold onto the perfect image of Dorian, being the one and only force of goodness in his life. He cannot accept the reality of Dorian’s actions after being influenced by Lord Henry. Basil’s good nature can be seen through the fact that he never loses faith that Dorian can change his ways and become the innocent, naïve boy he once painted and loved unconditionally. This goodness backfires after Dorian kills Basil. He had reached a point in his life in which he had lost his consciences and his corruption was out of control.
Dorian is a young man who is not yet fully formed in his thinking and has a very handsome appearance. Basil is instantly taken with him and finds that he wants Dorian all to himself. The way Basil influences Dorian isn 't through words but rather through his actions. He idolizes him.
Dorian Gray is a handsome, narcissistic young man enthralled by Lord Henry 's new enjoyment. He satisfies in every pleasure of moral and immoral life ultimately heads to death. Henry tells
Influence in The Picture of Dorian Gray And The Book of Job The Picture of Dorian gray is a book written by Oscar Wilde and it was published in 1880. The book was later revised by addition of more chapters and reprinted in April 1891. Dorian Gray is the main character in this book that is described as a beautiful and unspoiled male who changes his life completely by sinning and pleasure after meeting Lord Henry. Basil Hallward who is a painter develops obsession for Dorian because of his beauty whereas Lord Henry Wotton Basil’s friend influences Dorian with his theories about life, pleasure and women even though he had no intention of changing Dorian’s personality. Lord Henry’s influence in Dorian leads to his downfall.
To demonstrate, James refrained from enacting revenge upon Dorian after recognizing that Dorian “had all the bloom of boyhood, all the unstained purity of youth,” (Wilde 196). From this, we can see that not only does his beauty give him an advantage over rumors being spread about him, but additionally gives him the upper hand in situations deciding between life and death. The relation between Dorian’s appearance to his morality contradicts the assumption that the amount of beauty one holds is relevant to the
Basil has come to ask Dorian about all the horrible rumors surrounding him, and hopes they turn out false. Basil also asks about the portrait and why Dorian hides it, so Dorian decides to show him his “to see your soul. But only God can do that—you shall see it yourself to-night!”. Dorian then takes Basil to see his picture, which at first cannot be recognized by Basil, but soon he realizes the true horror of the situation, “an exclamation of horror broke out from the painter’s lips as he saw in the dim light the hideous face on the canvas grinning at him” (Wilde 113). Dorians soul has become rotten to the core with selfishness and pleasure, mainly because of Lord Henry’s poisonous words.
As the portrait significantly becomes more hideous, Dorian gradually loses his mind. The reader understands that what eventually leads Dorian to kill Basil Hallward, the only true friend he has, is the constant reminder of the evil found at the heart of Dorian’s nature, as represented by the portrait. In Dorian doing so, the reader realises that not only does Dorian kill Basil, he also kills his only chance of redemption of his soul. The reader realises that the statement that Dorian had expressed earlier in the story was the truth: “Yes, Basil could have saved him. But it was too late now.”
