Now that I have finished the novel, I am still trying to grasp some things that occurred in the book..
What I don't understand though is why Dorian Gray was so susceptible to everyone else's opinions, especially that of Lord Henry. Lord Henry is obviously a mean, selfish person. He even says so himself with the new Hedonism point of view. Even Dorian says that he would be unable to bear it if his soul looked hideous. But he is so seduced by Lord Henry, and when the picture starts to change, and thus the disintegration of his soul, it doesn't even seem that he even looks to Basil who could "save" him. He totally embraces sin and destruction of his life and others. This just seems like that what he says at the beginning of the story won't add up.
The other things that didn't quite seem right to me was that throughout the novel, Wilde seems to be in agreement with beauty, especially outward beauty and aestheticism, but all of the characters become corrupted or their downfall is because of it. How can he have such descriptive, romantic notions throughout the novel, supporting art, but then says something about people ad that they will do anything for beauty.
Also, about the "all art is useless" quote. Wilde obviously doesn't believe this because he himself was an artist of sorts, depicting pictures through writing. Is he trying to say that art is what is made for true beauty, because people are not expecting anything else from it. With people, if they are beautiful, others expect them to be a good, moral person, such as an angel. Beauty is connected to angels and heaven, while ugliness is connected to demons and hell. This shows the split of Dorian, because since he is beautiful, people forgive him for all of his atrocities. Maybe Wilde is commenting on the flaws of society to be obsessed with beauty. Even today, society reads gossip magazines and worships celebrities.
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I do agree that there is a degree of "hypocrisy" through out the novel. I understand that Dorian is so dramatically influenced by Harry because of his charm but also because Dorian sees Harry's soul as being similar to his own. Dorian doesn't want to be "ugly" or continue to do the evil things he does, but he does them regardless because that is the person he sees himself as.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't think that the love of outward beauty is the 'moral of the story' but more of a reverse psychology or something. As you said, those obsessed with beauty met some kind of downfall or misfortune (although Harry lived, he was obviously miserable inside and his wife left him). Maybe the whole point is not only to write about homosexuality but to warn us of our ability to completely and utterly destroy ourselves.
One could argue that Dorian killed himself because of the influence of Harry or the mental abuse of his grandfather, but Dorian did, ultimately, make his own choices and must be held accountable. We can all choose to be different and live up to our own standards (rather than end up like Dorian).
I have come to the conclusion that most of the hypocrisy we see throughout "The Picture of Dorian Gray" stems from Wilde's desire to reconcile public and private life. It seems that he wants us to think about how hard it must be for Dorian to be charming on the outside but to know that he had his grotesque painting back at home.
ReplyDeleteAmber,
ReplyDeleteI had never really thought of it as a reverse psychology. It is true that most people who valued beauty met a downfall, and another example may be Basil. He valued the beauty of Dorian so much, and his masterpiece was ruined. But you're right! Thanks for the insight.