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How To Read Literature In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

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Our lives are filled with stories; but I believe that writers are the ones who have the courage to tell the world its own tales. I believe that the quality of literature relies on the capabilities of an author, and that the journey a writer must endeavour to find their own abilities is just as fascinating as the journey their readers experience from the stories they produce. Following Oscar Wilde’s statement from his novel, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter”, I believe that when a writer truly wants to begin their journey, they must be true to their own thoughts in order for them to create a captivating story. First, you begin with yourself, then you get …show more content…

A Level English Literature allowed me to draw in the works of writers that have made the course such a vibrant experience for me, as well as the playwrights and poets I've encountered outside of the classroom. For example, Ian McEwan's philosophically provocative 'Enduring Love' led me to develop a predilection for novels that challenge and alter the reader's beliefs. McEwan ultimately breaks the connection between the reader and the novel's unreliable narrator, allowing McEwan to leave the possibility for alternate endings, whilst defining the importance of trusting one's self by exploring the effects of the segregation between rationalists and theists. Consequently, in my own time, I avidly read other works of the same style, such as Ellis's transgressive 'American Psycho', and Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos'. A level Physics has heightened my analytical skills as well as my appreciation for texts that question the most important ______ that undoubtedly influences any writer: life. Language is an ever evolving bridge that allows readers to discover variety. This is why I chose to study French alongside English Literature. By giving me the opportunity to read Francoise Sagan's novel, 'Bonjour Tristesse', French has enhanced my understanding for the different writing styles of cultural difference. Although,

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In addition, Foster not only focuses on the accomplishment of the writer but also makes comments on the role of readers in the process of interpreting and engaging with literature, “We tend to give writers all the credit, but reading is also an event of the imagination; our creativity, our inventiveness, encounters that of the writer, and in that meeting we puzzle out what she means, what we understand her to mean, what uses we can put her writing to.” (Foster 60).

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The greatest philosophers of our time would have you believe that everything that exists within our world is imperfect. Socrates and Plato believed that this carnet world was one that existed as a representation of a more perfect spiritual world. Boethius saw this perfect spiritual form as the presence or the essence of God (The Consolation of Philosophy). Nothing that exist in our world could ever be more beautiful, more perfect than God right? In The Picture of Dorian Gray, we are not challenged by the idea of what is and what is not beautiful, instead we are presented with a moral dilemma.

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All of which helped tremendously with becoming a more precise writer and developing my identity as a writer. In the beginning of this course we worked with different readings that were intended to challenge us intellectully. Readings such as “To see your story clearly, start by pulling the wool over your own eyes” which is found the New York Times and “All Writing is Autobiography” by Donald M. Murray where readings that were meant to be challenging yet unfamiliar to us as well. This concept helped me greatly because it proved that I can be a flexible reader.

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As we can tell the author views art as very big way of showing your feelings and emotion while also showing how you feel about certain things and what you did could be conveyed on a canvas or any other form of art. This inference is shown in both texts, the first text of this being shown is in “The Picture of Dorian Gray: Preface” by Oscar Wilde we see this example being shown when he tells us this “ The artist can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.” We can see from this piece of evidence how clear the author is being about telling how artist can express everything but in any form.

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I thought the most recent chapter of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" written by Oscar Wilde was mostly just explaining how Dorian's life goes on and progresses over time. He contemplates life and the way he will grow as a person and how it will be when he gets older. He is buying lots of beautiful expensive things and as the time goes by he doesn't age but he watches the painting of himself that Basil had done. Dorian is usually horrified when he looks at the painting of him as he ages because it is the painting that changes. He also fears that one day the painting will be stolen which will cause someone else in the world will see him and how he is supposed to look.

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‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is the title of this book which wrote by a great author named Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde had writing many books based on his experiences and most of his genre is quite dark and mysterious, same as this book he wrote which contain gothic genre. I found this story had gothic genre because the storyteller, which is Oscar Wilde illustrating supernatural event in this story such as the Dorian’s wish seem like coming true as the portrait was the one that kept aging instead of Dorian Gray himself. Thus, the portrait has reflected as Dorian Gray’s soul and his personality grew darker and more evil as his life continued. This book that I read has quite artfully as it is like engaging me to keep reading more to know the

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In the novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, Dorian’s attempts at reformation ultimately fail due to self-centered and unwholesome intentions. Dorian spends years living an immoral life, with Basil’s painting bearing all of his guilt and consequences. Eventually, he becomes tired of living an immoral life and decides to change for the better. He describes his first act of reformation as sacrificing his desires so a young woman can live her life without the negative influence of Dorian. He discusses his act of reformation with Lord Henry and says, “I spared somebody.

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The "Aesthetic Movement" refers to the introduction of principles that emphasised art in the production of furniture, metalwork, ceramics, stained glass, textiles, wallpapers and books. We will only touch on a few examples. The movement incorporated both exotic and historical influences. It is widely agreed upon that the roots of the Aesthetic Movement lie in the reaction to Industrialisation (Nguyen, 2002). It is important to consider the foundation of The Aesthetic Movement, which is the Arts and Crafts Movement.

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The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray shocked the moral judgments of British book critics. Some of them said Oscar Wilde deserved to be pursuance for breaking the laws guarding the common morality because the uses of homosexuality were in that time banned. This book was for that time unusual because it had a pretty serious criticism on the society from that time. The novel is about a young and extraordinarily beautiful youngster, named Dorian Gray that have promised to his soul in order to live a life of eternal youth, he must try to adapt himself to the bodily decay and dissipation that are shown in his portrait.

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1. Introduction The turn from the 19th to the 20th century has given to the world a whole group of literary geniuses. It was a time of cardinal changes, the death of the old principles, of revolutions and wars. Former ideas and rules disappear and it slowly, but inevitably leads to the generation of the new directions in literature, philosophy, and art.

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Relatively all authors are very fond of creating an underlying message to criticize society. Authors do this through social commentary. The book “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is no exception. The author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the upper class through the consistent underlying idea that people are often deceived by one's beauty and are unable to understand the poison that fills the world is corrupting it. From the beginning of this book, the social commentary towards the upper class begins with the structure of the novel.

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In England, 1890 to 1920 was the time of Aestheticism. A time period that changed people 's mindset and is an important part of European history, especially in terms of literature. One of the most famous representatives of the Aesthetic Movement is Oscar Wilde who became well-known among others for his novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" that shows typical aspects of Aestheticism. Aestheticism Aestheticism is an European arts movement from 1890 to 1920. The main idea behind this movement is that beauty has priority and any other aspects of art, literature and music are less important.

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In the early 18th century a new genre of fiction prose, named "Gothic Novel" was introduced. The term ”Gothic” used to refer to the German tribe of the Goths. The Gothic novel spread over the 19th century and had the popular theme of haunted places such as castles, crypts, gloomy monasteries; supernatural elements having the role to intensify the atmosphere. The characteristic motifs of the gothic genre were the strange places, the supernatural, magic objects, monsters, demons, science used for bad purposes. And many of them appear also in "The Picture of Dorian Gray".

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Consistently throughout humanity, people can influence others' lives with knowledge and deception, shaping the way humans act, talk, and think. While people can affect those around them in many positive ways, they can also corrupt others. One who may appear to be a friend could instead be a foe; having an entirely different image than originally thought. Our inherent fear that the truth will betray us is always looming over every relationship. The fear of knowledge lies in its misunderstanding; knowledge has proven to be both a blessing and a burden.

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The theme of appearance extends further in Dorian’s life. Dorian’s outer beauty allows him to get away with almost anything, due to the fact that people equals his outer beauty to him being a good person. In reality, Wilde makes it very clear that Dorian Gray is not a good person. The theme of appearance is illustrated through underlying criticism within Wilde’s use of motifs and symbols. A main motif used by Wilde is the painting done by Basil Hallward.

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