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The Picture Of Dorian Gray Good And Evil

1046 Words5 Pages

A youthful, special personality lies in the heart of a man that inspires a painter’s best work. This nature is intricate, kind, pure, and a wonderful focus for portraits and paintings alike. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, a close friend tragically robs this youth and leads the man to a life that terminates because of evil. Gray, the corrupt man of interest in Oscar Wilde’s novel, has a complex personality, giving him many different companions in the story. Fatefully, he meets the artist Basil at a party due to Basil’s interest in his friend’s striking and mysterious identity. Lord Henry’s charisma and charm draw the protagonist to him when first introduced at Basil’s home. Sibyl Vane, an actress that Dorian became infatuated with when performing …show more content…

For instance, when Gray brings Basil and Lord Henry to Sibyl’s performance as Juliet after he proposed the night before, she humiliates her fiance and comes to the conclusion that she can no longer act due to the true love that she found for the corrupt man. She says, “Before I knew you, acting was the one reality of my life… You taught me what reality really is” (Wilde 114). Because Dorian showed her the reality of romance, Sibyl can no longer portray these feelings onstage. In this moment, she is extremely sincere in her words and tries to soothe her fiance’s embarrassment after the harrowing performance. Nevertheless, he does not listen and instead breaks her heart. Basil also utilizes candor when discussing Dorian’s change and corruption due to the influence of Lord Henry. Basil wishes, “I want the Dorian Gray I used to paint” (Wilde 79). Here, Basil addresses that main character is not the same innocent person that he once was. Overall, Basil just wants the person he used to know, but his friend does not understand the harmful effects of being under the influence of Lord Henry. Clearly, Basil and Sibyl are truthful about how they feel with Dorian, even if he cannot understand how or

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Child Abuse In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

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According to Esther Rashkin who wrote “Art as Symptom: A Portrait of Child Abuse in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.”, Dorian Gray is the main victim of child abuse. She argues that Lord Henry is not the one that abuses Dorian by influencing him and forcing his ideas on him and that Lord Kelso is actually the person behind Dorian’s mental issues. However, she does think that Lord Henry was a catalyst that “awakened influences already present within Dorian” (Rashkin 69). Esther believes that Lord Henry merely resurfaced his childhood memories which traumatized him greatly and that Lord Kelso made Dorian who he truly is. Because Dorian was mistreated by Kelso, he leaves the portrait in the old schoolroom which he was imprisoned as a child.

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One day, Lord Henry’s Talks strikes a chord with Dorian. Esther then brings up the conversation Lord Henry had with his uncle about Dorian’s past. His uncle said that Dorian was born, but his mother passed away. Dorian was then left in solitude, to be raised by an old loveless man who may have abused him. Later in the book the reader sees Dorian’s hatred for his old

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Right at the start of the story Basil Hallward, who is somewhat obsessive over the young and beautiful Dorian Gray, decides to paint a portrait in his praise. Unbeknownst to Basil, Dorian had been speaking to Lord

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but I think I have the gist of it. Art represents God (abstract, everywhere, expressing emotion), and Basil is an extension of that he creates the world in his choosing and believes that Gray can be redeemed even after looking upon the state of his soul. Whenever, he creates Dorian’s portrait he creates the perfect version of him, an angelic form of him if you will. Henry is also introduced opposite of Basil, he can represent Dorian’s own devil on his shoulder coercing him to sin. When Dorian meets Henry, he realizes that he will never live up to the seemingly better version of himself, so he wishes to be better than it.

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The Picture Of Dorian Gray And The Beautiful And Damned

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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.

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Some feel very strongly about what they know to be certain. Some feel certain about religion, others about love. In Oscar Wilde’s book The Picture of Dorian Gray a character, Lord Henry Wotton, says this, : “The things one feels absolutely certain about are never true. That is the fatality of Faith, and the lesson of romance” (181). The truth one knows does not always prove to be certain.

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shows Basil as a very possessive man. Though he is far more caring, and considerate than Lord Henry, Basil’s intentions and influence to Dorian are just as prominent. Basil is a man of secrets and he wanted Dorian to be one as well. Ironically Basil tried to keep Dorian from Lord Henry but his constant disapproval of him led Dorian to seek more of Lord Henry. Basil’s influence was sometimes beneficial but never turned out they way he or the audience expected.

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Dorian Gray’s personality is introduced with softness, an untainted adolescence, that later becomes haggard and edgy. The smoothness of Gray’s character reflects upon an inexperienced youth. Later in the story, after several years transpire, Dorian has earned experience and emulates the narcissistic traits of Lord Wotton. The connection that

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1. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” displays the Victorian Period by having a prevalent terminology of a proper naming system, indicating the social class of certain important figures. Another theme that is hidden throughout the story is the homosexuality of Basil, and the disapproval it would have generated in Victorian society. The events that take place in the story also describe a setting that was proper and exquisite. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” also intermixes works of art into the landscape while keeping social norms in the spotlight (Wilde 17, 41).

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The genre of the novel is a terror, drama, psychology, humanitarianisms, romance and paranormal components. The Picture of Dorian Gray begins on a beautiful season day in Victorian-era England where Lord Henry Wotton, a determined man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the painting of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is Basil 's ultimate inspiration. Though sitting for the painting, Dorian listens to Lord Henry adopting his hedonistic worldview and begins to think that beauty is the only aspect of life worth trying. This encourages Dorian to wish that the painted image of himself would age in his stead.

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Another theme illustrated through Wilde’s use of motifs and symbols is the theme of superficiality. The theme of superficiality can be understood as a sense of the superficial view of outer beauty that is shown in the work. It relates to the concept of remaining young, which is an important factor of what is shown in the novel. This is an important part of the novel because outer beauty plays a bigger role for Dorian, than inner beauty does. In the beginning of the novel, Lord Henry and Dorian have a conversation that focuses on the topic of youth and Dorian 's outer beauty – Lord Henry mentions the fact that Dorian has a beautiful face, and later during this conversation, Lord Henry states that: “youth is the only thing worth having…”

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To me, the most intriguing part of The Picture of Dorian Gray is how quick Dorian is to abandon his close friend Basil for Lord Henry. From the beginning, it is obvious that Basil is very attached and protective of Dorian as well as going to lengths to preserve his innocence. “I couldn’t be happy if I didn’t see him every day. He is absolutely necessary to me.” (Page 7) is one of the first things he tells Lord Henry about Dorian.

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As the portrait significantly becomes more hideous, Dorian gradually loses his mind. The reader understands that what eventually leads Dorian to kill Basil Hallward, the only true friend he has, is the constant reminder of the evil found at the heart of Dorian’s nature, as represented by the portrait. In Dorian doing so, the reader realises that not only does Dorian kill Basil, he also kills his only chance of redemption of his soul. The reader realises that the statement that Dorian had expressed earlier in the story was the truth: “Yes, Basil could have saved him. But it was too late now.”

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