How Is Dorian Gray Morally Wrong

In the preface to the book, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde says, “No artist has ethical sympathies,” (Page 3). In his writing, he does a phenomenal job of making it up to the reader to declare if the book is morally correct. He forces the reader to either think of the actions of the characters as morally correct or not correct, or to not think anything at all about them. Wilde never straightforwardly shares his point of view and he did that on purpose. He never says what is right or wrong and he is not sympathetic towards any one side.
In Wilde’s writing, before he even starts the story, in the preface, he makes it very clear that he does not want any ethical sympathies to come from the book. Wilde writes, “There is no such thing

He hides his own thoughts through the story but in some aspects he does show his own perspective. He uses the portrait of Dorian as a way to express his own opinion. Everything that Dorian does affects the painting, whether it is good or bad. He writes, “For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its fairness. But he would not sin. The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience, (Page 89). Wilde conveys his own opinion by changing the painting according to Dorian’s actions. He also shows his opinion by how Dorian starts to rethink all of his actions. All of Dorian’s actions start to eat away at his soul towards the end of the book. Wilde writes, “Ugliness that had once been hateful to him because it made things real, became dear to him now for that very reason,” (Page 177). This is one of the earlier times in the story where Dorian sees that what he has been doing is wrong. He also writes his opinion by how he portrays Basil in the story. By giving Basil a characteristic of being homosexual, going against what society thinks, and then killing Basil shows that Wilde has his own opinion on homosexuals and going against the common

He never firmly shows if the book has morals or if there are any ethical sympathies. In the preface, he says, “All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors,” (Page 4). This quote explains Wilde’s thought that it is up to the reader to take away any morals from the book and that it is dangerous to do so. Wilde uses Dorian and Dorian’s portrait in the story to prove that he does not write with any ethical sympathies but it is up to how the reader wants to understand his writing. He uses Lord Henry to show how he thinks everyone should live. He says, ““Oh! Anything becomes a pleasure if one does it too often,” cried Lord Henry, laughing. “That is one of the most important secrets of life. I should fancy, however, that murder is always a mistake. One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner,” (Page 203). Lord Henry lives his life according to what he thinks is morally correct and does not let society define his actions. He decides what is morally correct or incorrect. He does not give Lord Henry morals and he writes, “Lord Henry laughed. “If a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart,” he answered, sinking into an arm-chair,” (Page 204).