Haunting From The Portraits Of The Past In The Picture

Obsession in Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde’s development and use of a metaphoric painting allow multiple characters to interact with various principles of the aesthetic movement. First, I will evaluate Dorian Gray’s obsession with his portrait and its supernatural tendencies. Then, I will examine Dorian Grey’s mild obsession with Lord Henry’s aesthetic

As I was reading The Beauty Bias, by Deborah L. Rhodes, I came across a statistic that perplexed me, saying the total “annual global investment in grooming” comes to $115 billion (Rhodes, pg. 32). This shocking fact provokes a worrisome question: Why do we, humans, spend so much time, money, and thought on our appearance? As a complex question, there are several equally complex answers. However, the simple answer is that everyone else invests their time and thought into your outer shell, eliciting effort from you to improve what they study - your external image. The concern placed on one’s fashion choice or natural features by society takes away from larger, more pressing issues such as the declining economy, or feeding third-world countries.

This shows the emphasis society has put on appearance and that many of us hold it at a higher value than what's inside. We are shown how influential

The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel laced with sin, treachery, and raging battles of inner conflict, is Oscar Wilde’s sole novel. Considered immoral and scandalous upon publication, the book centers around a young man named Dorian Gray, who does not age or reflect the darkness of his heart outwardly, and instead a portrait of him bears the damage his destructive life wreaks on his soul. However, the meaning of the story extends past the simple fact that Dorian lives a life of immorality—he walks the path that takes him there with his two friends, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotten. The two attempt to guide and influence Dorian throughout the novel in their own ways, and are a vital piece of Dorian’s tale. Basil and Henry act as character foils as well as a symbolic angel and devil for Dorian Gray’s character, and also contribute themes of choosing one’s own fate.

According to Mandel, art reminds us that we’re human. It is a subconscious human instinct, even “in the midst of catastrophe” (Knopf).

The studio was filled with the rich odour 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 pink-flowering thorn. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, drips with this beautiful description that may infact be ironic. Pared with this delicate depiction throughout the book are abundant witty epigrams. And the whole story, when read closely, truly mocks society’s heavy value that it puts on the physical appearance. Oscar Wilde uses epigrams in his writing in order to create a lighter, more entertaining mood that will keep his readers interested while he conveys an underlying message that is much deeper and darker: society’s importance on looks will eventually be its demise.

The first sign of Dorian’s new development is when he first lays eyes on the portrait after hearing Lord Henry’s panegyric of youth. As Dorian gazes upon himself on the portrait, he comes to a shocking realisation. Wilde writes it as, “The sense of his own beauty came upon him like a revelation… Basil Hallward’s compliments had seemed to him to be merely the charming exaggerations of friendship… They had not influenced his nature. Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity. That had stirred him at the time, and now, as he stood gazing at the shadow of his own loveliness, the full reality of the description flashed across him… He would become dreadful, hideous, and uncouth. As he thought of it, a sharp pang of pain struck through him like a knife, and made each delicate fibre of his nature quiver” (Wilde 18-19). His beauty would not last forever, and he would become old and withered just like everyone else will. Dorian, who once didn’t care about his looks, had now become obsessed with the ideals and ideas fed to him from Henry. He makes his wish for the portrait to take on the burden of time and sin, instead of him. He says, “I know, now, that when one loses one’s good

Art, in all its forms is supposed to stir emotion within you. Some mediums, such as films, make it easier to define what you’re feeling because you can see and hear the characters and plot. Of course, not all films are like this. Traditional oil paintings can bring up more complex emotions. That is, emotions that are difficult to describe or tell apart. Pamela Stolz is a great example of an artist evokes these feelings. Her paintings make you thinks about what’s happening before, around, and after the scene which is showed. Light and colors come together to add more details and leave you wondering long after you’ve seen the picture. Two paintings that I’m going to compare are “Wasted Time”, oil on canvas, 2013, 14” x 14”

In this novel, beauty and youth reign over everything. In Victorian period, The Picture of Dorian Gray was characterized as scandalous and immoral. Typical idealistic image of behavior and modesty inherent to old time Victorian England was discredited in the novel. The Picture of Dorian Gray contained radical ideals for the period of time it was written. Dorian represents all what was disgraceful and forbidden condemned in Victorian

     Art, in each and every form that it comes in, shows us who we are. Our

In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the author introduces the naive protagonist Dorian Gray as he undergoes rapid transformation to seek self-indulgence through hedonism. Throughout the course of the novel, he demonstrates his allegiance to his beauty and seals his conscience in the form of a painting as to never expose the desecration of his soul to society. Oscar Wilde manipulates allusion, pessimistic diction, and subtle imagery to manifest Dorian’s perpetual fear of his youthful deterioration being publicly showcased and the temptation of enamoring his aesthetic appearance, which facilitates the process of initiating the Faustian pact as a Byronic Hero.

Oscar Wilde once said, “No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to exist” in his “The Decay of Lying”. This quote foreshadows the death of artist Basil Hallward in his The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde is known for being a participant in the aesthetic movement. This movement emphasizes that the role of art is to provide beauty to the observer.

After countless hours of meticulously replicating the handsome man on the pedestal with delicate brushstrokes, Basil Hallward completes yet another exceptional portrait. Dorian Gray’s first glance at the masterpiece leaves him vacant and speechless. The disheartened painter interprets this silence to be disappointment, but in actuality, Dorian’s mind is flourishing with sinister thoughts of envy and detestation toward the everlasting youth the painting possesses. As the

It seems to be his defining characteristic to all that interact with him. Wilde included this aspect for a specific reason. Aestheticism was an up-and-coming movement during Oscar Wilde’s time. It rejected the Victorian notion that art was supposed to have a moral purpose. Instead, aestheticism said that art should be enjoyed purely for its beauty, and should not contain any purpose or meaning given by the artist (Quintus 559). Wilde was a strong proponent of this movement, and he incorporated many of its themes into his work. In the preface of The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Wilde starkly outlines his beliefs about art in a series of epigrams, saying, “the artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim (Wilde 2).” Wilde clearly demonstrates his alignment with aestheticism and the appreciation of beauty. Not only does he personally hold these beliefs, but his characters do as

Aestheticism was a popular dogma in the late 1800s that centered on the belief that art should exist for beauty alone. This doctrine is defined as an “exaggerated devotion to art, music, or poetry, with indifference to practical matters” and “the acceptance of artistic beauty and taste as a fundamental standard, ethical and other standards being secondary” (“Aestheticism,” def. 1 and 2). In Oscar Wilde’s sole novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, aestheticism is a fashionable belief accepted by society at the time. Oscar Wilde uses the moral deterioration and ultimate destruction of Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray to emphasize the negative effects of society’s preoccupation with aesthetics and offer a moral for the reader.