Summary:
In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray is a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Wilde focuses on Dorian Gray's vanity and how it destroys his morality.
In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray is a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Dorian is a dynamic character who changes greatly throughout the novel. The main reason for these changes is due to the fact that he realizes he should take advantage of being young before he turns into a hideous, old man. This story represents a perfect example of the problem of vanity. Vanity causes all people to be stretched beyond what they are capable of. The more pride someone has in their youth; the more it causes people to believe that they are all powerful. In this story, Wilde focuses on Dorian Gray's vanity and how it destroys his morality.
In the beginning of the story, Dorian Gray represents the ideal man. The author describes Dorian as a young man with exceptional personal beauty, "Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. . ." (Wilde 15). His soul remained untainted from the evils of sin and pleasure until he meets a Lord Henry Wotton, and everything changes.
Critic Ted R. Spivey compares Lord Henry and Dorian Gray to the devil and Adam from the Bible (Spivey 501). Lord Henry plays the role of the devil, and Dorian Gray plays the role of Adam. In the book, Lord Henry tells Dorian, "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what it monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful" (Wilde 18). This is similar to the devil telling Adam to eat a piece of fruit off the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Before eating the fruit, Adam's soul was also untainted from the evils of sin. Afterwards,God banished Adam from the Garden of Eden, and his life was never the same again. In Dorian's case, Lord Henry tells Dorian to live life to the fullest and to find new sensations whether moral or immoral.
After Dorian's discussion with Lord Henry, Dorian realizes how wonderful the pleasures of youth really are and desires to remain forever young.
"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June. . . . If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that--for that--I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!" (Wilde 25-26).
At this point in the book, Dorian's morals begin to deteriorate. A beautiful actress named Sibyl Vane falls in love with Dorian. She is a talented actress, but she is also poor. She loves Dorian very much, but over time Dorian finds that Sibyl's acting abilities deteriorate somewhat. Because of this, Dorian decides to end the relationship. At this time, Dorian discovers that instead of being in love with Sibyl for being herself he has fallen in love with her acting abilities. As Peter Raby said "It is the test which confirms Lord Henry's domination over Dorian: in terms of the choice with which Dorian is confronted, he instinctively chooses art rather than love"(Raby 3963). Because Dorian falls in love with the art of acting rather than the person Sibyl, we clearly see how Dorian's morals have greatly diminish. Because of Dorian's loss of love for her, Sibyl commits suicide.
Over time, the portrait of Dorian Gray symbolizes his deteriorating morals. Every time Dorian commits a sin, the portrait changes, "For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its fairness" (Wilde 91). After Dorian read Lord Henry's letter about Sybil's death, he took a look at the picture and realized that it had changed. The picture now contained a cruel smile.
Wilde also uses personification with the picture. Rather than Dorian aging, the picture actually does the aging for him due to its curse. The picture turns old and its facial features change with every sin he commits, yet he stays young.
As shown, Dorian Gray deals with the problem of vanity in growing proportions throughout the book. In the beginning, he only listens to the voice of vanity as it beckons him to do what he would not. Eventually, the voice of vanity pushes Dorian to the point of giving in when it comes to the pride of youth. Over time, he gives up the opportunity to love and sins more and more each day. Vanity made a dynamic character out of Dorian as he proceeded through stages of change on his way to a sinful life. As he took each step toward sin, the portrait changed as well. Dorian's desire for youthful vanity corrupted him greatly and stole away many opportunities for a better future had he just lived his life.
This is the complete article, containing 844 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
