Dorian Gray Essay

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Dorian Gray
(How responsible is Lord Henry for the ruined life of Dorian Gray?)

The soul coexists with our bodies which are credited with the faculties of thought, action, and emotion. In Oscar Wilde's, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray, destroys his innocence and his soul and becomes corrupt. He becomes corrupt by failing to live a life of virtue but of sin. Although the painting was a huge factor in Dorian’s transformation, Lord Henry is largely responsible for the ruining of Dorian’s life. Lord Henry fills Dorian's head with his outrageous philosophies such as, "….youth is the one thing worth having. …. You have only a few years in which to live really, perfectly, and fully. When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it…" (pg.34)
His philosophies lead Dorian to believe that the only why he will ever be happy is through his youth and beauty. As a result Dorian exchanges his soul for immortal youth. This caused him to become corrupt due to the fact that his body would not pay for his action but rather the portrait would. In addition, Lord Henry is responsible for the suicide of sibyl, which causes Dorian to live a life of sin. Dorian has great admiration for Lord Henry and his view on art. Dorian, Lord Henry, and Basil go see sibyl perform at the theater. Sibyl has an awful performance. Dorian is embarrassed because he spoke so highly of her and her acting. Basil seems to brush off the whole performance and tells Dorian that his love is more important then her talent but on the other hand Lord Henry tells him, "It is not good for one's morals to see bad acting. Besides, I don't suppose you will want your wife to act. So what does it matter if she plays Juliet like a wooden doll? She is

Dorian Gray

as Lord Henry’s influence on todays youth. The value of beauty and youth is being idolized through out the book, ”The Picture of Dorian Gray by the vast spectrum of characters introduced by the author Oscar Wilde. Lord Henry was Dorian’s influential corrupter that claims to value beauty and youth above everything else in life. He basically comes out and warns Dorian that his life won't be worth living once he loses his youth, off course young and beautiful men is suddenly struck with a fear of ageing…

Words 2129 - Pages 9

Essay on Dorian Gray

9 January 2015 The Theme of The Dangers of Indulgence in The Picture of Dorian Gray From a young age, children are taught that too much of a good thing makes it bad, thus creating an open window to introduce the psychoanalytic theory of both the virtuous and illnatured influences in the conscience. The constant struggle of upkeeping both one’s personal need for indulgence and maintaining one’s moral ethics leads to a stage of passionate wars between the moral and immoral voice within the conscience…

Words 3248 - Pages 13

Dorian Gray Epigrams

Epigrams in The Picture of Dorian Gray are used to portray Oscar Wilde’s belief that the society of Victorian England is corrupt because of its over-objectification of beauty and ignorant, narcissistic personality. The epigrams serve as a way for Wilde to directly address the issues that he sees occurring around him. The mentality of those living in Victorian England has a progressive path of destruction. The base issue is their narcissism and obsession with others’ impressions of themselves and…

Words 1529 - Pages 7

Essay on The Creation of Dorian Gray

Creation of Dorian Gray In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, a young man is pressed into a mold by moral and physiological influence by two characters. This constant assault by Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward will ultimately be decided in the mind of Dorian Gray. These attacks give Dorian no option on which he is a person, even though in the end, his actions are his sole decision and reflect his individual character not the character of others. Early in the novel Dorian already has…

Words 1017 - Pages 5

The Picture Of Dorian Gray Essay

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde displays that the people of the Victorian era value menial things the same as things of higher importance, coupled with the encompassing dull mindset of the people of the time. Wilde expresses that society values menial things rather than having good morals throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde states “ Society, civilized society at least, is never really ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are rich and fascinating. It feels…

Words 501 - Pages 3

Frankenstein And Dorian Gray Analysis

Frankenstein (1818) and Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray (1890) are two gothic genre texts that share similarities via their 19th century Victorian setting, philosophical questions about preservation, and superstitious themes and beliefs about immortality. The texts differ however, with Frankenstein using the theme of reviving the dead to bring up questions of existence and purpose while also using sacrilegious methods to proceed with these experiments. In contrast to this, Dorian Gray explores more of the themes…

Words 599 - Pages 3

Corruption In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes,” Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde shows us how these mistakes can be used as symbol within the novel. The Dorians mistakes cause his life to be destroyed and his soul to be completely corrupted. The portrait that Basil Hallward made of Dorian captures all of Dorian’s “experiences” throughout his life as he continues to make wrong decisions. As Dorian commits more and more of the seven deadly sins, the portrait becomes distorted…

Words 500 - Pages 2

Dorian Gray Loss Of Innocence

novel, to separate Dorian and Lord Henry. Unfortunately, Basil is unable to accomplish this task, as both Dorian and Lord Henry are very interested in one another, and spend a lot of time together. This then leads to Lord Henry successfully corrupting Dorian Gray, which leads to the murder of Basil Hallward. These archetypes are more evidence of Dorian Gray losing his innocence. Lastly, Wilde uses Lord Henry Wotton as a motif in the novel, as he represents recurring evil. When Dorian confronts Lord…

Words 351 - Pages 2

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Handsome Man Dorian Essays

The Picture of Dorian Gray Who is Dorian Gray? He is a very handsome, sensitive and wealthy young gentleman. Because of the Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian becomes more concerned of his beauty and begins to pursue the whole things about him. He hopes that he will get more and more experiences, whether good or bad, moral or immoral. This is Dorian Gray, the main character of story. This is a classic of overconfident story. The handsome man Dorian Gray saw the portrait that a painter…

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Lord Henry's Influence On Dorian Gray

Without the presence and influence of Lord Henry, Dorian Gray would have remained pure and innocent throughout the entire novel. Dorian Gray is the neutral; Basil is the angel, and Lord Henry is the devil. Throughout the novel Lord Henry’s words and actions, corrupted Dorian Gray, which resulted in the death of an actress, the death of the angel, and the self-destruction of the neutral. This showed that if Lord Henry never encountered Dorian Gray, these events would not have transpired. In response…

Words 1368 - Pages 6