...Writer “Dorian Gray the Escape Artist” is the culmination of my work in my WR100 seminar, Fantasy at the Fin-de-Siècle. The final assignment was to create a research paper based on an interesting problem or paradox I had found in Oscar Wilde’s book, The Picture of Dorian Gray. For me, one of the book’s most fascinating elements was Dorian’s immature behavior; though he grows older, he never seems to “grow up.” At first, I investigated how my idea related to aestheticism and what Dorian’s immaturity showed about aestheticism; however, I could not find a solid way to prove my thesis. My greatest problem was being unsure of how writing a paper based on a research problem in The Picture of Dorian Gray constituted a researchable argument and not just a literary analysis. Hoping to gain a different perspective on the assignment, I met with fellow classmates to talk out my problem. It turned out that they were having the same issue with their essays, and through discussing my paper with them, I realized that my topic was too narrow to be easily supported by sources; the idea of Dorian growing older without growing up was interesting but could not easily be supported with sources outside the novel itself. With this in mind, I modified my thesis, claiming that though Dorian Gray demonstrates aesthetic behavior in The Picture of Dorian Gray, his fascination with artistic things serves less to pursue aestheticism and more to evade his dark past. In this manner, I argued, Dorian could...
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...The Picture of Dorian Gray: Plot Analysis The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a fiction novel that tells about a man who goes through many trials and tribulations that test his sanity. The novel takes place in the late 19th century which is considered to be the Victorian era. The Victorian era was an era of great judgement and it really depended on your social class whether or not you would get treated with high regards. The contrast between middle-class society and the sins of the wealthy corrupted upper class played a huge role in the novel. Dorian Gray was considered to be of the higher class, therefore, he struggled with the madness that came with it. Dorian Gray was beautiful. So beautiful that Wilde made a point to explain to the reader how beautiful and good-looking he was. “Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair” (Wilde 11). Not only was Dorian Gray well respected, but he was quite the man to look at and everyone admired him. However, Dorian Gray had some of his own demons to battle with his quest to stay forever young. Having this impossible and selfish wish comes him transforming from a gorgeous innocent pure soul, to a full developed maniac. To continue, like many other novels, there’s other characters that have a great impact towards the main character. Lord Henry is the definition of a bad influence that impacted Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray does not have any parents because...
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...Everyone Wants an Extravagant Lifestyle: Is Your Soul worth Losing to the Seven Deadly Sins Oscar Wilde’s fictional novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is about a young, charming man that is in conflict with the cultural anxieties of living an extravagant, seductive, moralistic, and self-confident life style along with two friends with similar conflicts. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel that reveals many aspects of cultural anxieties instilled in three characters. The cultural anxieties complicate the virtues of every character in the novel and lead each of their lives into the vices of their virtues. All the characters have the anxieties for living great lives. However, all their lives turn for the worse including death. Each character wants more or less than their role, place, and identity in society. The anxieties of the Late Victorian Era were “sexual restraints, low tolerance...
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...The novel, A picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde, glorifies one’s conforming to society that Lord Henry had laid out for them so much that the “rebels” who do not adapt to the social standards, are eventually lead to their downfall. As long as they don’t mix their inner thoughts or feelings into their perfectly molded social lives, there is no problem. However, as soon as the two intersect, they are doomed. This idea is presented many times throughout the book with various characters ultimately ending with Dorian himself. This notion of social conformity goes beyond just the book- the whole book to the Victorian’s was insane and in no way an act of conformity, an idea that was also glorified greatly in their society. Lord Henry is the...
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...To give an insight into society and humanity whilst still being aesthetically interesting and thought provoking is a feat that only the best of classic literature can accomplish. Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897) and The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (1893) are such novels and they both reveal different aspects of life in the Victorian era. Whilst Stoker’s writing affirms the ideas of British supremacy in technology as well as the fear of foreigners, Wilde’s writing sheds light on the superficial nature and decaying morals of people in the era. With the aid of language techniques such as imagery, descriptive language and gothic style both texts are an aesthetic read and provoke thought as they both subvert ideas readers may already have...
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...In the two passages from Dorian Gray, Lord Henry seems to give off this mysterious and romantic tone. His tone was mysterious and somewhat romantic and he was able to change his view of Dorian despite his past into a romance story of some sort. The way the passage was said affected the meaning in the sense that it made Dorian Gray seem to have an even bigger interest in Lord Henry, but it still kept whether Lord Henry feels the same a mystery. It even made Dorian seem like he was hypnotized and just sat there gazing at Lord Henry while he spoke. A quote that shows this “Dorian Gray never took his gaze off him, but sat like one under a spell” (38-9). With this, the reader is never completely sure whether or not Lord Henry feels this obsession...
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...2012 The Power and Destruction of Vain Pursuits in the Picture of Dorian Gray “In fact, despite his power of rationalization and the continuing influence of Henry. Dorian is increasingly disturbed by doubts about his moral freedom and stung by the pangs of the conscience that will not die” (Liebman 10). Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is centered upon the effects of liberty of the soul and degradation that results from it. If one chooses to always act on inner desires and passions, ignoring ethical values, one’s life will be destroyed by vain pursuits. Dorian Gray a wealthy young man has been challenged to “embark upon a hedonistic life, after having feared it for so long, developing every intellectual, aesthetic and sensual appetite to the utmost. Despite the look of his innocent beauty...”(Magill Book Reviews 1) Dorian becomes very vain with the pursuit to simply fulfill his desperate desires without looking into the ethical importance of his actions and thus becomes hopeless and defenceless to his own desires. When one becomes aware of the fear to venture in life, one will pursue to fulfill every incomplete/unfulfilled passion without limits. This in turn leads to an amoral representation of one’s life. For once in his life, Dorian Gray was inspired. He was woken up to a world of freedom. Lord Henry Wotton opened his eyes to a world of hedonism saying “You, Mr. Gray... with your rose-red youth... and ... boyhood ... you have had...
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...Everyone is capable of committing evil acts and some people take full advantage of this. In the tragedies Macbeth, Dr. Faustus, and The Picture of Dorian Gray the three protagonists make decisions which lead them down the path of wickedness. The supporting characters also act as evil beings by encouraging the protagonists to make bad decisions. With evil acts on their minds, the protagonists have many symbols that represent their conscience in different ways. Though obvious to the readers, the protagonists had to commit many evil acts to realize the errors of their ways. The protagonists of these stories commit many acts of wickedness which all lead to their final damnation in hell. As the age old question goes; Are people born evil or do...
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...‘Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One’s own life—that is the important thing.’” (ch.6) He tells Dorian that one’s own comfort, along with the pursuit of pleasure, should be the utmost priorities in one’s life. By doing this, he establishes that any resulting damage or loss of life is secondary to the preservation of Dorian’s hedonistic lifestyle. As Dorian takes Lord Henry and Basil to see Sibyl Vane perform, Lord Henry reprimands Dorian for forgetting, in favor of love, all of his “wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories,” saying that “Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one’s age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality.” (ch.6) Here, Lord Henry expands on the advantages of individualism: he believes that he and Dorian are people that require different standards than society in order to thrive. Thus, he dismisses modern morality, which governs the many, in favor of a self-determined morality that applies only to himself. In other words, he instills in Dorian an alleviation from the law and ethics alike, which later allows Dorian to commit atrocious acts with no regard to their moral significance. He essentially labels Dorian as an exception to the rules of...
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...I want to bring up a theme that I noticed from the beginning of the book to the end of the book; the use of the color white. Dorian's direction from a figure of innocence to a figure of degradation can be seen by Wilde's utilization of the color white. White ordinarily represents purity and innocence, as it does when Dorian is first presented. It is in fact "the white purity" of Dorian's childhood that Lord Henry finds so dazzling. Also Basil conjures whiteness when he discovers that Dorian has gave his innocence, and, as the artist looks at the ruined painting, he cites a scriptural verse from the Book of Isaiah: "Though your sins be as scarlet, yet I will make them as white as snow." But the times of Dorian's blamelessness are finished. It...
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...contrasting settings portray a gulf between social classes in Victorian society.’ How far and in what ways do you agree with this view of The Picture of Dorian Gray? The novel’s contrasting settings do portray a gulf between social classes in Victorian society but also represents the dualism in The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Wilde specifically chooses to pick two opposite settings, the East End and the West End, and ignores the middle class areas of London. This is due to the suggestion that Wilde wanted to convey class indifference explicitly and clearly in the novel, but also the double aspects of Dorian and his life. Dorian comes from the West End of London, living in a very wealthy and prestigious “Grosvenor Square”, the wealth in the glamorous side of London is explicitly different to the “foul” East End, with its “grisly prostitutes, drunken brawls, and opium dens”. These two contrasting settings are very interesting as Dorian, a wealthy man likes to spend his time in the “darkest” London. Not only is Wilde portraying the gulf between these two social classes, he is representing Dorian; the glamorous West End acts as a mask for Dorian, whereas the “evil” East End is a true representation of the real Dorian Gray and his true nature. However the rest of high Victorian society would not tolerate such visits Dorian went on and Dorian would fact social ostrication, however as long as immorality was hidden it was fine. Rita Felski suggests that this portrays the “crass vulgarity...
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...How are the thoughts and feelings presented in the extract from Origin of the Species? Compare to War of the Worlds. The extract from Darwin’s Origin of Species – ‘Recapitulation and Conclusion’ – presents Darwin’s final ideas of Natural Selection and to convince and challenge the scientific community, as well as the general population due to the religious controversy. Similarly to Darwin’s extract, the novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H. G. Wells also challenges traditional thinking and presents ideas of Natural Selection. However, indicates a sense of fear and shock at the rate of changing opinions which are presented through language, structure and form. Both the extract and the novel present ideas of change in the fields of science and religion. Darwin presents the idea that science is much more powerful than originally thought. Although, does not dismiss religion, therefore creating a balanced argument, which makes his theologies more accepted by the readers. ‘…not as special creations, but lineal the descendants…’ This quote is representative of Darwin’s controversial ideas as he is disagreeing with past assumptions by suggesting a limit to God’s power – ‘not as special creations...’, highlighting that man or God has...
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...Summary Published in 1891, The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. An immediate and popular success, it has never been out of print. The story is set in London towards the end of the 19th century. Basil Hallward has painted a portrait of a handsome young man, Dorian Gray. Thrilled by the beauty of the painting, Dorian Gray wishes that he could always stay as young as his image in the picture. He gives up his soul to achieve this wish. Dorian sets out on a life of self-indulgence and evil. His behaviour seems to be reflected in the portrait and he realises that his wish has come true – the portrait is beginning to show a corrupted man while he remains unchanged physically. Frightened of what is happening, Dorian hides the picture in a locked room. The years pass and Dorian leads an increasingly depraved life, but the years have no effect on him; he looks as young and beautiful as ever. Then one evening he meets the artist once more and, after he has shown him the evil-looking portrait, Dorian kills him in a fit of hatred. Dorian tries to carry on with his immoral life but he is tormented by feelings of guilt and decides that the only way he can make up for what he has done is to destroy the painting. In the climax of the story Dorian tries to kill the man in the portrait, but kills himself in the process. Aestheticism was inspired by the principle of 'art for art's sake (art for the love for art) ...it had to simply create beauty. The Aesthete believed that...
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...The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde This eBook was designed and published by Planet PDF. For more free eBooks visit our Web site at http://www.planetpdf.com/. To hear about our latest releases subscribe to the Planet PDF Newsletter. The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapter I The studio was filled with the rich odor of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pinkflowering thorn. From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as usual, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-colored blossoms of the laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid jade-faced painters who, in an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the black-crocketed spires of the early June hollyhocks, seemed to make the stillness 2 of 250 The Picture of Dorian Gray more oppressive...
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...first read The Picture of Dorian Gray, what struck me most, and what inspired me to write my essay, was the irony that Dorian exhibited in his life. In pursuing aestheticism—a philosophy based in the simplistic beauty of things—the pursuer may, in the end and without notice, emerge uglier than ever before. Dorian, the once wide-eyed innocent, buckles and caves in to depravity while practicing an aesthetic lifestyle, despite the beauty that such a life idea claims. I began to wonder what Oscar Wilde intended to convey with his portrayal of the Aesthetic Movement incarnate and its often harsh consequences, especially given the well-documented involvement of Wilde in promoting aestheticism in his contemporary society. The juxtaposition of Wilde’s support for the Aesthetic Movement with Dorian’s corruption at the hands of it provided a great jumping-off point and a lingering question with which to begin an essay. What exactly is Wilde’s view of aestheticism when one bears in mind the story of Dorian Gray? In writing my essay, I realized Wilde’s outlook is not as straightforward as it may first appear. Throughout the writing process, a difficult task I faced was to encapsulate the aesthetic position when the philosophy often meant different things to different people. In researching the movement, I found that the moral philosophies of various proponents of aestheticism often varied and, thus, it became difficult to nail down the aesthetic tenets and apply them to Dorian Gray. In retrospect...
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