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The style of the picture of dorian gray
The relation between Dorian Gray and the picture
The style of the picture of dorian gray
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Dorian stabs Basil to death. The next day, he goes back upstairs to check the portrait, and with disgust, he realizes “that loathsome red dew that gleamed, wet and glistening, on one of the hands, as though the canvas had sweated blood” (Wilde 127). With every crime that Dorian Gray commits, the portrait shows what he did by shedding blood on his hands and showing lines of cruelty along the wrinkles in his face. Also, the portrait symbolized how the worldly influences tainted Dorian’s innocence, turning him into a corrupted monster. Going back to the beginning of the story again, Basil Hallward paints Dorian Gray, capturing “his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue
Although almost all of the epigrams in the preface of The Picture of Dorian Gray can be disproved to a certain degree by this particular painting, Wilde’s statement “No artist desires to prove, anything. Even things that are true can be proved” is particularly at odds with the message
In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray is the main character along with Basil Hallword and Lord Henry. The novel is based off the legends of Foust and Narcissist, which give the book the themes of youthfulness, obsession with oneself, and good vs evil. When these themes are reveled, it displays the true characteristics of Dorian Gray along with the outstanding symbols in the novel. For example, the meaning of the portrait and the symbolism of the yellow book. This passage specifically displays foreshadowing into the novel, Basil’s obsession with Dorian, and the temptation that Henry brings to the novel.
The Picture of Dorian Gray which told about Dorian Gray, a young man on his twenties who insists to be forever young was written in 1890 by Oscar Wilde, an Irish writer born on October 16,
With every action on Dorian’s part, the painting reflects a change in his soul, creating a clearer picture with every subtle change. The first change occurs after Dorian tells Sybil that he is no longer in love with him. Wilde writes, “ The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth…but the strange expression seemed to linger there, to be even more intensified even (Wilde, 87-88). Dorian had become uninterested in Sybil and proceeded to begin a new aspect or relationship in his life.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde shows the rapid decline and loss of Dorian’s pure soul. But, Dorian seeks to fill the void that has been created by his loss of innocence. After he loses his innocence, Dorian seeks to gain it back by using beauty. Throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian becomes aware of the loss of his innocence and tries to gain it back by finding, keeping, and experiencing beautiful things while getting rid of anything unpleasing.
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray depicts the depraved and patriarchal society of the nineteenth century England, but also the narcissistic, Faustian and hedonistic moral views that Dorian Gray, the eponymous character, goes throughout the novel. This essay seeks to demonstrate that various views on morality are present and paramount to the integrity of the narration that is The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde’s novel encapsulates the dysfunctional and perilous life that a young man begins to experience after he had his portrait taken. In the very beginning, Dorian Gray is described to be the embodiment of what, during the Victorian era, was seen as the ideal young man “...this young Adonis, who looks as if he was made of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus”.
In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde portrays Lord Henry and Dorian Gray as talkative people with both harboring a great deal of opinions about sentimental relationships and the opposite gender. Both individuals possess different viewpoints about these topics. Nevertheless, they accept each other’s interpretations about romance, even though they do not share the same beliefs. However, throughout the story, the pair do share one thing in common. Lord Henry and Dorian Gray are both depicted as knowledgeable characters on the topics of relationships and the opposite sex through their wise speech and actions.
Understanding both Poe and Wilde’s narrative styles is extremely important in fully understanding the texts and the authors behind those texts, for example on one hand Poe throws the reader into an already finished story in ‘William Wilson’, while in The Picture of Dorian and Gray Wilde’s use of aestheticism is undeniable. However unusually for Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray is also Gothic, this interesting departure from Wilde’s usual aesthetic style has been the subject of much debate and discussion among scholars, nonetheless for Sucur in The Picture of Dorian and Gray “the Gothic is dealt with from an aesthetic perspective”, (Sucur 2007, n.p.) yet the question still remains why would Wilde chose to depart from his successful formula of
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.
(Wilde 23). This conversation leads Dorian to wish that he will only age in the painting, and not in reality. Wilde creates a theme of superficiality as he shows through motifs and symbols how Dorian’s sinful and horrific inner beauty becomes excused as the characters of the novel primarily superficially values Dorian’s outer beauty. A main motif that helps Wilde illustrate the theme of superficiality is the colour white.
In the book, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian can be seen as a modern day narcissus. The whole novel portrays characteristics from the Greek mythological story about Narcissus and his love for himself. Dorian and Narcissus can be seen in the same way, for they both have narcissistic personalities. Their personalities is what carry the plot throughout the two stories and have such an impact on what happens. The Picture of Dorian Gray and the tale of Narcissus both show the common plot of a young male being in love with himself, which in the end, results in the tragedy of the two stories.
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.
As years pass the picture ages like a real person would age, but it not only grows older, but uglier because of his actions. The picture is the mirror of Dorian 's soul, as he commits terrible actions the picture becomes
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.
