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Vanity And Obsession In The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

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Recommended: Critical study of the picture of dorian gray

In a world that often places great emphasis on external appearance and societal expectations, the dangers of vanity and obsession with beauty are ever-present. When one's true self is sacrificed in the name of physical perfection, it can result in a severe loss of identity and descent into moral decay. These themes were explored in The Picture of Dorian Gray, a book by Oscar Wilde, through the tragic journey of its main character. As Dorian becomes increasingly captivated by his physical appearance, he loses touch with his identity, succumbing to a profound loss of self. The once-charming and innocent young man develops into a morally questionable person as his obsession with beauty increases. His moral compass slowly began to deteriorate as a result of this obsession, which made him put his own physical attractiveness before his beliefs and values. Additionally, Dorian becomes isolated and lacks genuine connections because of his hedonistic lifestyle and disregard for social conventions. The failure of these relationships serves as a stark reminder of the harm done to those unfortunate enough to be associated with him as well as a demonstration of the destructive power of vanity. Through the portrayal of these interconnected aspects, Wilde serves as a cautionary …show more content…

However, Dorian's vanity and his inability to love beyond appearances ultimately lead to the demise of their relationship. When Sybil's acting fails to meet his expectations, Dorian heartlessly rejects her, proclaiming, "You have killed my love" (Wilde, Chapter 7). The consequences of his callous actions unfold tragically, as Sybil, devastated by Dorian's rejection, takes her own life. Through this heartbreaking loss, Wilde highlights how vanity and obsession with surface beauty destroy the potential for genuine emotional

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Oscar Wilde is the author of “The Picture Of Dorian Gray” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray: Preface”. Based off of these two texts, I infer that Oscar Wilde is often misread. This is shown in both of the texts because they are about how things are often misconceived. First, the text titled “The Picture Of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde states, “: Forgive me, sir! I almost killed an innocent man.”

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Dorian Gray had a portrait of himself made and, accidently, infused it with a special power. This power caused the painting to take all the damage of age and sin for Dorian Gray, leaving him looking exactly the same as he did when the painting was made. Dorian abused this power and performed and crimes and sins with none of the repercussions falling on him. At one point he was about to be killed in an alley by James Vane, the brother of Sibyl Vane who was lead to suicide by Dorian, but James stopped after seeing Dorian’s face and thinking that he looked too young and to innocent to be the one who “killed” his sister. (Wilde

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Dorian fame, youth, and beauty attracts the innocent young actor, and the two fall in love. At Sibyl’s performance of Romeo and Juliet, she completely botches the acting. This enrages Dorian and he goes backstage to confront her. Dorian claims he does not love her anymore and Sibyl runs to her dressing room where she poisons herself out of heartbreak.

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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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812 Words | 4 Pages

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”.

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750 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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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.

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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

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1108 Words | 5 Pages

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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1283 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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1421 Words | 6 Pages

153). Dorian often stared at his portrait in disgust of how it displayed his sins and scarred soul. Just the same, he would stand in front of his portrait with a mirror, happy and full of pride. He even “smil[ed] with secret pleasure at the misshapen shadow that had to bear the burden that should have been his own” (p. 153). However, the more he viewed the portrait, the more crimes he seemed to commit.

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493 Words | 2 Pages

Once he realized it was only a reflection he became depressed and committed suicide. Both Dorian Gray and Narcissus destroy themselves with narcissistic tendencies through both novels. They destroy not only who they were before, but they destroy sibyl vane and echo also. Once Dorian basically makes sibyl kill herself, he sees himself as a monster which only makes the plot of the novel go farther, this is what makes him obsessed with the portrait. Narcissus with rejecting echo gets what he deserves as he falls madly in love with himself and slowly realizes he could not actually have himself as a partner which destroy him mentally and

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1121 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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829 Words | 4 Pages

Basil has come to ask Dorian about all the horrible rumors surrounding him, and hopes they turn out false. Basil also asks about the portrait and why Dorian hides it, so Dorian decides to show him his “to see your soul. But only God can do that—you shall see it yourself to-night!”. Dorian then takes Basil to see his picture, which at first cannot be recognized by Basil, but soon he realizes the true horror of the situation, “an exclamation of horror broke out from the painter’s lips as he saw in the dim light the hideous face on the canvas grinning at him” (Wilde 113). Dorians soul has become rotten to the core with selfishness and pleasure, mainly because of Lord Henry’s poisonous words.

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937 Words | 4 Pages

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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