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Literary critiques about the picture of dorian gray
Literary critiques about the picture of dorian gray
The picture of dorian grey essay
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No matter how hard Dorian tries to act innocent, his sins cannot easily be erased since he acts pure for selfish reasons, such as clearing his conscience. Additionally, Wilde uses mist to symbolize Dorian’s uncertainty about beauty. As Dorian enters the opium den, “the mist thickened, he felt afraid” (205). In Plato’s theory, Dorian does not completely understand the beauty of something, since he glances it from at a surface level and therefore, remains far from the truth and results in confusion and uncertainty, such as the mist. Moreover, Wilde suggests how before Basil’s murder, Dorian did not appear completely innocent but society could still consider him pure and white if he prayed for God’s forgiveness.
Dorian states that he would like to show Basil his soul, and he leads Basil to the room, where he keeps the portrait locked up. Shocked, Basil contemplates the disgusting and festering version of Dorian in the painting, and Dorian, stricken with rage from the portrait, Dorian murders Basil. Next morning, Dorian asks for help in disposing of the body from Alan Campbell, who is a scientist and a former close friend. Campbell refuses at first, but eventually agrees to help Dorian when he is blackmailed. After a couple of days later, Dorian attends a party which he finds rather boring, so, that night, he decides to go to an opium den.
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
Henry Wotton in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" represents the idea of hedonism and aestheticism. He is a character who believes in living life to the fullest and indulging in one's desires. He is a mentor to Dorian, encouraging him to pursue his passions and ignore the consequences of his actions. Wotton is often seen as a negative influence on Dorian, leading him down a path of corruption and moral decay. 8.
Choices Distinguish the Individual A man defines himself by his choices. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley both embody comparable characteristics about selfishness, prejudice, and desiring excess knowledge. The victims, Dorian Gray and Victor Frankenstein’s creation, become adversely influenced by Lord Henry and Victor Frankenstein respectively in divergent ways. Choosing to ignore his creation, Victor Frankenstein disregards any physical or emotional care needed by the creature. On the opposite hand, Lord Henry subjugates Dorian to his teachings by dominating his thoughts and lifestyle.
It is rather a trap that leads to the power of selfishness and the will to gain immortality, which took over Dorian Gray and created an evil and ugly side to him. In the novel, Basil Hallward, a painter believes that aesthetic beauty should be “unconscious, ideal and remote,” however, it all changes the night he meets Dorian. Dorian also comes under influence of Lord Henry, a poisonous influence, who believes that life is all about aestheticism and decadence. This path to eternal youth and Lord Henry’s guidance leads to Dorian’s dark side/debauchery and ultimately, his own destruction. As stated by Oscar Wilde, “Life imitates art more than art imitates life,” human beings should focus more on their ethics and mortality than living the life of pleasure where art should merely be an art, and not have any other goals.
Lord Henry serves as an artist and mastermind in the novel, manipulating Dorian in order to experience the life he preaches without punishment. From the start, Lord Henry is portrayed with a mysterious demur, making the reader unsure of his intentions and persona. It is only with further development in the novel, do Lord Henry’s true colors emerge. Lord Henry is a character who knows what he wants and who he is, and not easily swayed by the influence of others, unlike the other character in the novel, specifically Dorian Gray. With a quick wit and controversial philosophies, Lord Henry quickly makes a name for himself in the beginning of the novel.
His views, opinions and influences captivated by Dorian Gray which continuously encourages Dorian Gray into bad things. The third main character is Basil Hallward who was an artist that paints a picture of Dorian Gray and thus, becomes obsessed with him as Dorian Gray’s beauty was Basil’s art object. Basil feelings towards Dorian were left unclear, likely because in that time, those who involved in homosexual are going to be punish be society. ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray’ book, Oscar Wilde emphasized some relationships which were Basil Hallward and Lord Henry were friends of Dorian Gray, but, as I reach to the middle pages, Basil had feelings for Dorian Gray as he even confessed to Dorian in Dorian’s
Dorian Gray is a handsome, narcissistic young man enthralled by Lord Henry 's new enjoyment. He satisfies in every pleasure of moral and immoral life ultimately heads to death. Henry tells
As soon as Dorian enters in Chapter 2 of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wildes’ one and only novel, its is evident that there will be a battle between who will have the most influence on his pure, untouched soul. Basil Hallward, a painter and worshipper of art is an optimist and sees only the good in even the wickedest of people, such as Lord Henry. Lord Henry is a charming, self-indulgent aristocrat that shapes and molds Dorian to lead a life devoted to pleasure. Both Basil and Lord Henry represent two important opposing forces in the novel, good and evil. The greatest struggle in The Picture of Dorian Gray is inside Dorian; he himself embodies both pure good and pure evil.
From the beginning of the novel we get to see a model of poor and unconventional morality, Lord Henry Wotton, a man who is moved by an ethic current called “New Hedonism” which taking into account society’s ethics (specially the ones from the Victorian Era) is quite immoral. The New Hedonism basically consists in looking for the individual’s best comfort, pleasure and happiness (based on beauty), leaving aside the other’s comfort and what should be morally done. This character with poor morality is who guides the book’s main character Dorian Gray along his adventure. However, it is vital to take into account the fact that Dorian Gray is never forced to follow New Hedonism and that Wilde never influences or invites the reader to follow New Hedonist
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…”
As a writer one is greatly influenced by their personal experiences with social, historical, and cultural context within their specific time period. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was shaped by the aspects of the world around him. The themes of the text are are influenced by morality in the Victorian Era. Throughout the Victorian Era a deeper movement was also prominent in London called Aestheticism. Aestheticism is the worship of beauty and self-fulfillment.
In the early 18th century a new genre of fiction prose, named "Gothic Novel" was introduced. The term ”Gothic” used to refer to the German tribe of the Goths. The Gothic novel spread over the 19th century and had the popular theme of haunted places such as castles, crypts, gloomy monasteries; supernatural elements having the role to intensify the atmosphere. The characteristic motifs of the gothic genre were the strange places, the supernatural, magic objects, monsters, demons, science used for bad purposes. And many of them appear also in "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
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.”
