Social Commentary In The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

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. The novel is constructed to even deceive the reader. The first paragraph of the first chapter begins with a description of a beautiful summer day with “delicate perfume” (Wilde 1). It is a beautiful and pleasantly smelling environment but it is also

innumerable cigarettes” by the name of “Lord Henry Wotton” (Wilde 1). Lord Henry Wotton begins the book as the poison in the air corrupting the beautiful environment. The next chapter begins with Dorian Gray who was just described by Basil as having a “simple and a beautiful nature” (Wilde 14). It begins with a beautiful description again through the use of pleasant diction. Wilde writes about it being “perfectly charming”. The chapter then is corrupted by Lord Henry's influence on page 17. This structure of chapter continues through the first 10 chapters and then shifts to fill a more gothic idea. The setting becomes more ominous with the environment having blinding “fog” (Wilde 147) and the “cold rain”(Wilde 184). As corruption is about to take over Dorian's life he becomes blinded by the “lovely night” and environment again. Each chapter is written