Wilde, Oscar - Life and The Picture of Dorian Gray (3)

Oscar Wilde's life and struggles

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin at the end of the 19th century. During his studies he became a disciple of Walter Pater and accepted the theory of art for art’s sake which states that art has no more aim and it is done only for giving pleasure to the writer and to the reader.

He moved to London where he became famous for his aesthetic because he had an extraordinary characteristic of style of dress as a “dandy''. His life's aim was searching for beauty and aesthetics. He married a woman and they had two children, but he had a lot of relationships with men out of his wedding. He's triumph died when was discovered he's homosexuality in fact he was accused of sodomy and sentenced two years of hard labour. When he was released he was a broken man. His wife refused to see him so he decided to go on exile in France where he lived his last few years.

Oscar Wilde adopted the aesthetic ideal and he lived a double role of rebel and dandy. He was searching for beauty and freedom because for him life was meant for pleasure.

Dorian Grey's influence and corruption

The novel is set in London at the end of the 19th century. The main character is Dorian Grey, a young and fascinating man who's beauty impressed a painter named Basil who decided to paint his portrait. The painter is introduced to Dorian by Lord Wotton, a noble who influenced Dorian in a negative way. Dorian started to live a life based on pleasure and this led the soul of Dorian to being corrupted by society. The portrait started to get older instead of Dorian because he represented the innocence of Dorian’s soul while now the purity of his soul has changed.

Dorian wants to free himself from the corruption given to him by the portrait so he stabs it and kills himself. When Dorian died the portrait got back to his original look, while Dorian got transformed into the man represented on the portrait.

Allegorical meaning and moral

This novel has an allegorical meaning, it is a different version of the Legend of Faust, talks about a man who sells his soul to the devil and all his desires are satisfied.

In the novel of Wilde the picture represents the corruption of Dorian's soul who had a timeless beauty. The moral of the story is that every excess must be punished and there is no escape from reality. When Dorian stabs the portrait he gets the punishment for his sins. The horrible aspect of the portrait symbolises corruption and immorality of the Victorian middle class, while Dorian beauty is the symbol of bourgeois hypocrisy. The portrait that comes back to the original beauty means that art is eternal and survives to people.

Opening of 'The Picture of Dorian Grey'

This text is the opening of the novel” The Picture of Dorian Grey”. Basil, the artist, has just finished a portrait of a noble and he received the visit of the friend Lord Wotton who saw the painting and was impressed by his beauty.

The first lines of the extract begin in a positive and happy way: a lovely warm evening. The girl refuses to believe that Dorian is wicked because he is not old and ugly (lines 13-14). He would like to be able to change (lines 7-8,22,28-29). First Dorian blames his own pride and passion for his situation, then he blames the fact that he has received no punishment to purify him. Then he blames his youth and beauty (Lines 31-36). But Dorian doesn’t blame himself for the deaths of Basil Hallward and Alan Campbell. Basil’s murder did not weigh most on his mind (line 60) and he describes it as a moment of madness (lines 64-65). Campbell committed suicide, so Dorian does not consider himself guilty (lines 65-66). The only one good thing he has done is that he has spared an innocent girl (line 68) and decided that he will not tempt innocence again. He hopes that the portrait will show some improvement, but it does not. The look of cunning and the hypocrite (line 83) on the portrait tells Dorian that his act of goodness had merely been vanity, or even just another another curious search for a new sensation (lines 86-87) and his reaction is of pain and indignation (not remorse, line 81). On the other hand he rejects the idea of confession, he does not think people will believe him as he has been so careful to get rid of evidence. He rejects the thought of punishment and feels no remorse (lines 93-96, 99-100, 112-113). The servants identify the body of the dead man in front of the picture only by his rings (lines 154-155).

Dorian's internal conflict and realization

While looking at the picture, Dorian considers his portrait loathsome (line 84), and he feels guilty and sorry towards his way of behaving. Dorian considers the portrait not as an independent being, extraneous to himself, but as a reflection of his own soul. In lines 22-125, Dorian is aware of his sins and crimes, which are reflected on the picture, as well as of the fact that it is impossible to escape old age and death. In the attempt to change his reality, he looks back at his unstained boyhood with a sort of nostalgia and wonders if it is possible to destroy his maturity, which has become hideous to him, and put an end to his life of corruption. Before reaching the final decision to destroy the picture.