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Juxtaposition Of Aestheticism And Ethical Considerations

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The Juxtaposition of Aestheticism and Ethical Considerations in The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde asserts both the ideals and aberrations of Victorian society through the philosophies embodied in his characters and the duality of themes —appearance versus reality, art versus life, or pleasure versus virtue— presented in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novel hones in on the ethics of a hedonistic lifestyle as embodied by the eponymous protagonist, Dorian Gray, after moving to London and meeting and being influenced by Basil Hallward and, more importantly, Lord Henry Wotton. Hedonism is the theory that all pleasure is intrinsically valuable and is concerned only with maximizing pleasure, rejecting any pain as that is the only …show more content…

Writer Oscar Wilde brought to light “the nineteenth century dislike of realism…[and] romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in the glass” (1). Wilde alludes to Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, and refers to Caliban, who is illiterate until a colonizer named Prospero comes and “civilized” Caliban and his community which leads to Caliban being taught a language, ironically, giving him the facilities to curse his fate. Wilde’s antithesis highlights the contrast between realism and romanticism, logic and reason, during the Victorian era’s literary periods of the Romantic era (18th to 19th century) and Realism (19th to 20th century). He mocks both types of thinkers as both would not like reflecting on themselves in the mirror, outraged by the ugliness staring back at …show more content…

Once Dorian kills Basil, he adds to the heinous crime by blackmailing his friend, Alan Campbell, into disposing of his body. Conversely, for levity from the terrible horrors he commits and to relive his soul, Dorian buys flowers symbolizing ephemeral beauty and the purity that comes with it, comparative to Dorian’s lasting beauty and ugliness of his soul due to the atrocities he has committed. Moreover, Dorian, the epitome of hedonism and aestheticism, kills Basil, the pinnacle of Victorian ideals and norms, stressing the novel's (and Wilde’s) defiance of standard views and

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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.

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Dorian’s evil side creates a long-lasting ugly change in his portrait, because his unkind actions were the reason why Sibyl died. Along with that, Dorian attempts to destroy the painting in hopes of living in tranquility. When Dorian looks around his room and finds the knife that he stabbed Basil with, he believes that destroying the painting, “would kill this monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings, he would be at peace,” (20). After finding his good nature to become a newly changed man, Dorian

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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.

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Cruelty plays a vital role in developing the plot and characters in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Throughout the piece, many acts of cruelty are displayed from Dorian Gray and others that show truly who they are how they've developed from it. Dorian takes on a huge change in his morals and standards because of the influence taken in from others. This influence causes him to only care about his own youth and vanity, resulting in a huge change of personality. The more Dorian becomes influenced by Lord Henry and the painting, the crueler he becomes

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Throughout the novel, Wilde utilizes Basil’s portrait of Dorian Gray, Sybil’s acting, and Dorian’s obsessions to combat the usage of Social Darwinism to justify the

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College Education Argumentative essay Is a college degree worth the money, time, and stress? Yes, a college education is not only worth it but it is the smarter and safer choice for your future. I can understand why others don’t agree with college but to me I think it is a very important step in your life to make. Going to college should be more than just going to make a better salary or being able to say “I have my degree!”

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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

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At the end of the book, he has lost all of his innocence and gained cruelty. Bad company and objects are what causes Dorian Gray 's corruption. Basil Hallward is a painter who wants to paint Dorian 's picture. He is a quiet and unchangeable man. When he first meets Dorian, they talk about how it was destiny for them to meet.

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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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As soon as Dorian enters in Chapter 2 of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wildes’ one and only novel, its is evident that there will be a battle between who will have the most influence on his pure, untouched soul. Basil Hallward, a painter and worshipper of art is an optimist and sees only the good in even the wickedest of people, such as Lord Henry. Lord Henry is a charming, self-indulgent aristocrat that shapes and molds Dorian to lead a life devoted to pleasure. Both Basil and Lord Henry represent two important opposing forces in the novel, good and evil. The greatest struggle in The Picture of Dorian Gray is inside Dorian; he himself embodies both pure good and pure evil.

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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.

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From the beginning of the novel we get to see a model of poor and unconventional morality, Lord Henry Wotton, a man who is moved by an ethic current called “New Hedonism” which taking into account society’s ethics (specially the ones from the Victorian Era) is quite immoral. The New Hedonism basically consists in looking for the individual’s best comfort, pleasure and happiness (based on beauty), leaving aside the other’s comfort and what should be morally done. This character with poor morality is who guides the book’s main character Dorian Gray along his adventure. However, it is vital to take into account the fact that Dorian Gray is never forced to follow New Hedonism and that Wilde never influences or invites the reader to follow New Hedonist

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As a writer one is greatly influenced by their personal experiences with social, historical, and cultural context within their specific time period. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was shaped by the aspects of the world around him. The themes of the text are are influenced by morality in the Victorian Era. Throughout the Victorian Era a deeper movement was also prominent in London called Aestheticism. Aestheticism is the worship of beauty and self-fulfillment.

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829 Words | 4 Pages

The Paper of Dorian Gray Throughout Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, we view the horrible actions of the main character, Dorian Gray. These actions, however, never seem to affect Dorian. We soon come to realize that this self-portrait reflects Dorian’s actions and aging process instead of Dorian and allow him to live a secret life of horrible acts. In the novel, Dorian takes full advantage of the portraits power, calling the portrait a reflection of his soul, and makes no effort to preserve his soul due to the poisonous influence from Lord Henry and his own selfishness.

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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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