The Picture Of Dorian Gray Literary Criticism

Throughout the book, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde the protagonist Dorian Gray is influenced by various people in his life. Dorian, a handsome middle class bachelor is heavily guided by an antagonist, Lord Henry. As a result of his interactions with Lord Henry Dorians’ morals are conflicted such as, his preference for beauty over knowledge. Furthermore, Dorian’s painting made by Basil is also affected because it expresses every sin he commits by aging. From Dorian Gray it can be concluded through symbolism that beauty and youthfulness is society 's main concern.

Influence in The Picture of Dorian Gray And The Book of Job The Picture of Dorian gray is a novel written by Oscar Wilde. Dorian Gray is the main character in this book and it revolves around his life and how the characters in the novel influence the protagonist’s life. Dorian Gray is depicted as a wealthy, beautiful, and unspoiled male who changes his life completely by sinning and pleasure after meeting Lord Henry who totally influenced his life. Wilde writes a story whereby the main character Dorian Gray is influenced to embark on a hedonistic life; a life he had feared for a very long time.

The Picture of Dorian Gray which told about Dorian Gray, a young man on his twenties who insists to be forever young was written in 1890 by Oscar Wilde, an Irish writer born on October 16,

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.

His idolization of Dorian causes him to let Dorian dominate him. Small as it is, it shows Dorian for the first time what his beauty can do to people. The fact that people are willing to believe and do anything for him because of his beauty. This realization causes a lot of problems later on in the storyline. Lord Henry Wotton is another influencer on Dorian Gray.

Wilde urges the audience to consider that art reflects only itself. His aesthetic ideas are reflected and shown through the character of his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry. But as well as the novel, which evokes a feeling of terror in the reader and has as a lot of common gothic characteristics like the supernatural, doppelgangers, magic objects and the secret room, the key character-Lord Henry also has gothic features, he is a hidden devil in the novel. Aesthetic and hedonic ideas, expressed through gothic diabolical nature, make Lord Henry to a very unordinary character with an essential role. He deliberately spoils Dorian, by turning him into him little clone and plays with his soul, remaining on the safe

The Picture of Dorian Grey is not the typical gothic literature, but this book does include several examples of gothic literature. Although Dorian’s mansion was not spooky, the old, secret school room he kept the portrait in was spooky and covered in cobwebs. In spite of Basil’s attempts to keep Dorian innocent, Lord Henry acted as the Devil and corrupted young Dorian’s pure mind. Dorian decided to sell his soul early in the book and he watched the supernatural portrait change as he remained young and beautiful. He became evil by first destroying Sibyl and her family.

In the Picture of Dorian Gray, author Oscar Wilde depicts the positive and negative effects of living a double life and how deception ultimately can lead to downfall, specifically exemplified through the main character Dorian Gray, influenced by Lord Henry, and the good and bad of it all. “Dorian Gray is my dearest friend," he

Wilde’s sexuality and effeminate nature shaped his relations to the natural beauty of the world, which in turn manifested itself in the moral implications of his now famous works. For example, his very own personal ordeals are envisaged through the passages of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and it has been passionately hypothesized that characters such as Basil, Dorian, and Lord Henry are personalities of Wilde’s own flamboyant character. In an interpretation written by Donald H Ericksen, Wilde had written the following: “Basil in how I see myself, Lord Henry how the world sees me and Dorian how I would like to be”. The discussions surrounding The Picture of Dorian Gray were linked to the egregious homoeroticism displayed through the synergy of Wilde’s characters and how they interacted with each other. In a time of irrational Victorian thinking, it comes as no surprise that Wilde’s writing had evoked such a backlash.

Oscar Wilde utilizes Lord Henry as the catalyst of Dorian’s awakening of his true self, while the film adaptation portrays Dorian as the physical manifestation of Lord Henry’s evil inner soul. As a result of the different roles Lord Henry plays, the novel and the film portray Dorian’s true self in opposing ways. On one hand, the novel focuses on the influence Lord Henry has on Dorian Gray upon meeting him. Lord Henry stirs a change in Dorian’s perspective of the world and awakens Dorian’s evil intentions and soul. On the other hand, the film adaptation characterizes Dorian as the physical form of Lord Henry inner corrupted soul.

In Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the symbolism of the portrait illustrates the conflict between outer appearance and inner immorality.

In the book, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian can be seen as a modern day narcissus. The whole novel portrays characteristics from the Greek mythological story about Narcissus and his love for himself. Dorian and Narcissus can be seen in the same way, for they both have narcissistic personalities. Their personalities is what carry the plot throughout the two stories and have such an impact on what happens. The Picture of Dorian Gray and the tale of Narcissus both show the common plot of a young male being in love with himself, which in the end, results in the tragedy of the two stories.

Dorian Gray is a young, vain, impressionable, narcissistic man. He is obsessed with youth and goes as far as selling his soul to the devil. Gray realizes the beauty of youth while sitting for a painting for Basil Hallward. The influential Lord Henry changes his life. He tells Dorian the greatest secret of life to get rid of temptation by yielding to it.

Dorian Gray shows that through the misreading of persona, an individual can assume a sort of power that threatens the established order of things. When Dorian begins to take Lord Henry’s advice, the original pure personality of Dorian disappears and thus begins his downfall. He lives according to what Lord Henry professes, and what Lord Henry inspires Dorian is an attitude indifferent to consequence and altogether amoral. He no longer has that pure light in him that he had once before.

1. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” displays the Victorian Period by having a prevalent terminology of a proper naming system, indicating the social class of certain important figures. Another theme that is hidden throughout the story is the homosexuality of Basil, and the disapproval it would have generated in Victorian society. The events that take place in the story also describe a setting that was proper and exquisite. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” also intermixes works of art into the landscape while keeping social norms in the spotlight (Wilde 17, 41).