In a world where individualism is cherished, and everyone cares only for their sole interests, influence over people is admired, some even consider it an art of the spoken word. Oftentimes, people influence other people without wanting to. Unconsciously, they alter the thoughts of the influenced mind, creating a new, different person. Similarly, in the book The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde, several characters fall prey to the art of influence. The protagonist, Dorian Grey, is influenced by several people during his lifetime, such as Lord Henry, a rich, upper class gentleman that introduces Dorian to hedonism, and Basil Hallward, an artist that is enchanted by Dorian’s appearance.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka focuses on the twisted hidden identity of people and how it affects the society when it is revealed. Kafka depicts this ugly truth through an exaggerated extended metaphor of Gregor Samsa’s random transformation to a bug. Gregor is a travel salesman who found himself “transformed…into (1) one morning, and this transformation is what causes Gregor and everything around him to change: the ones he loved, the ones who loved him, and the rest of the society. Kafka’s usage of extended metaphor changes Gregor’s development, which argues the restricted social norms thus the social rejections when one reveals his or her true self: the animal instinct.
World War I Through The Realist’s Lens World War I or The Great War was a war that shook the world to its core originated in Europe which took place from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. This global war had such a resounding effect that can be felt and seen till this present day. In analysing the First World War especially on how it started, many events can be attributed to it but to understand how and why the war happened, perhaps it is best to start from the Concert of Europe which some would argue, is the first domino piece that started the sequence of events that led to the outbreak of the First World War. Ironically, the Congress of Vienna or Concert of Europe that was initiated by the Austrian State Chancellor, Prince Klemens Wenzel
Many pieces of literature explore the boundaries of self and society. Ideas from the labyrinth of adolescence in John Green’s Looking for Alaska, to the metamorphosis of Gregor in Kafka’s famous novella are two examples that explore relationships, transformation, and isolation and make readers rethink the boundaries of self and society. Looking for Alaska, by John Green, published March 3, 2005, is a coming of age novel about being young and going through life as a teenager. It is filled with themes of grief, hope, loss, and love. Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafkz, published in 1915, is a novella about a man who wakes up one morning transformed into a monstrous bug.
Ed Cohen’s article begins with a summary of Oscar Wilde’s trial and how it captured the “imagination” of the public. Cohen articulates how the British “middle aged” and “middle class” men judged Wilde not only in court but in the press too. The court and press saw themselves as needing to protect British vales and their children from the realms of homosexuality, thus Cohen explains that “Wilde provided the perfect opportunity to define publicly the authorised and legal limits” within which a man could “naturally enjoy the pleasures of his body with another man”. Cohen explains through Oscar Wilde’s dandyish behaviour how Wilde lived a life “straddling the lines” of class relations due to his aristocratic upbringing, but in his sexual encounters, he was working class. Through brining Wilde’s background and personal life into focus, Cohen article argues that Wilde was detached from the prevailing bourgeois culture in Britain and constantly challenging its ideals.
Franz Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis, reflects the difficulties Kafka endures throughout his life that lead to his isolation as a result of being insecure about his repulsive appearance, having a poor relationship with his father, and being socially awkward to the point in which he isolates himself. Kafka’s insecurities about his appearance ends up creating a burden on his life which lead to his alienation from society. The author creates Gregor Samsa in order to not only reflect how Kafka views himself, but how his parents view him. Kafka creates Gregor as a beetle to reflect the hideous features that he despises in himself. Both of their fathers abhor them because neither of them are a reflection of his perfect child.
The researcher decides Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned to be the objects of the study on inferiority and superiority complex causing hedonistic lifestyle in main character. The first reason, both of literary works cover the changing of each life of the main character, society and ultimately the individual. Second, they both share the same social background of the main character in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian, displays a well-respected young man. He doesn’t recognize his own beauty until he sees it reflected in Basil’s portrait, and, once he does, it’s all too late. While Anthony in The Beautiful and Damned is illustrates reaching pleasure as the lifestyle and it becomes a habit.
In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the theme of societal fears continuously shows through the author’s vivid metaphors and language. Both novels demonstrate how people's opinions on another’s appearance drastically affect them as a whole, ultimately still connecting emotions to physical characters. Kafka conveys how Gregor feel’s as a person by turning him into a bug and this causes his family to shut him out. In Frankenstein, the hideous creature feels like he does not fit in because of his appearance, therefore he does not conform to the beauty standards of society, he becomes isolated and depressed from rejection. Therefore, these both are prime examples of fear and not being able to fit in based on appearance.
Even human literature reflects this idea, purposefully or not. In “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, the idea of society turning an individual into what society perceives
In 1997 Maureen was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and had to look at the world through the eyes of a disabled woman. She leaned heavily on her religion as she faced a future knowing one day she would not be able to walk. “It really hit me when I had to apply for the disability tag.” Being disabled, Maureen appears to have the quiet, steadfast resolve that is common with her generation. Despite her disability, she continues her gardening, serving alongside her husband in various churches, and traveling to see their children as they all settled in different areas of the country.
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.
When someone consistently destroys the lives of those around them, which comes first: the realization of what one has done accompanied by self-loathing, or the eradication of one’s conscience? Dorian Gray makes it a habit to enter people’s lives, charm them, and then drop them as soon as he is no longer entertained by them. He leaves a path of destruction behind him, one full of whispered rumors that would be enough to tarnish the reputation of any well-loved person, no matter how pure they may seem. Readers that enjoy books that make their mind think would enjoy The Picture of Dorian Gray, but it is not for the faint of heart. Oscar Wilde has included plenty of dark, calculating characters, gore, and violence in his only novel.
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Today society struggles with the resistance of temptation, but continues to grow with the strength of devotion and loyalty.
The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of Oscar Wilde’s masterpieces, portrays one of the most important values and principles for him: aestheticism. As a criticism to the life lived during the Victorian era in England, Wilde exposed a world of beauty a freedom in contradiction to the lack of tolerance a limitation of that era; of course inspired due to Wilde’s personal life. All the restrictions of the Victorian England lead him to a sort of anarchism against what he found to be incoherent rules, and he expressed all this to his art. His literature is a strong, political and social criticism. He gave a different point of view to controversial topics such as life, morality, values, art, sexuality, marriage, and many others, and epigrams, for what he is very well known, where the main source to the exposure of his interpretations of this topic.
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.
