The Picture Of Dorian Gray Research Paper

The Reason for Dorian’s Downfall

The Picture of Dorian Gray demonstrates what would happen to an individual who is more devoted to maintaining their beauty on the outside other than trying to better themselves within. Oscar Wilde writes a novel that exposes the truth of what really happens in a society built on those who can only be happy through wealthy and beauty, slowly losing their innocents and soon enough their souls.

This is what happens to Dorian Gray, a young man of 21 who knows little of the world, his mind is open to many different aspects of how to start off living and how to grow in the process. It is when he meets Lord Henry that Dorian is steered in the direction that there is one explanation for everything that happens in life and one explanation only, Lord Henry explains, “Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him” (Wilde21). Lord Henry states his theory and leaves no room for conversation.

Lord Henry puts emphasis on the importance of beauty, simply stating that without it one is hopeless in the world, “And Beauty is a form of Genius…it cannot be questioned. It has its divine right or sovereignty…it is only shallow people

Thomas Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lies states, “The Nineteenth Century was said to be filled with writers who’s aims were pushing the building between the ordinary and the monstrous” (Foster 20). Oscar Wilde would soon be the man to make this statement that could never be far from the truth. Wilde would soon take advantage of opportunity to build a public persona and test the limits of what society would tolerate. The Picture of Dorian Gray, a man with a secret life, will be one of those successful