The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
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The Picture of Dorian Gray Essays
Morality and immorality (the picture of dorian gray and a streetcar named desire) nataniel lessnick, the picture of dorian gray.
The measure of a manâs character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.
Thomas Babington
Morality is the very foundation of goodness and the pillar of righteousness. Immorality, however, is the threshold towards conspicuous...
The Life of Secrecy Anonymous
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde writes of a beautiful young man with an ugly secret. While Dorian Gray will forever retain the innocent looks of his youth, his portrait will degenerate with every wrong he commits. Unburdened and...
Break On Through To the Other Side Anonymous
After ten weeks of intently studying a wide range of some of literature's greatest authors and their representative works, one is hard pressed to single out only four of these transcendiary pieces from such a distinguished list. However, four of...
The Art of Immorality: Character Fate and Morality in Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray Valerie Prevosnak
Murder, sex, scandal, and drug abuse-all of these sins of the main character thread together to shape Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, a dark tale of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth while his portrait bears the scars of...
The Unconscious Image of the Conscious Mind Anonymous
The Unconscious Image of the Conscious Mind
“Psychology helps us to talk about what the novelist knows” (Fish and Perkins), as through the meticulous analysis of a literary work, its major themes or symbolism, one can theoretically reach at the...
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words: The Role of Art in The Picture of Dorian Gray Justin Caleb Walters College
Throughout history, art has played a major role in portraying the structure of society and the different roles people play in it. In Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, art seems to dictate the life of young Dorian Gray to the point of...
The Scarlet Prayer: Genesis Allegory and Christian Symbolism in The Picture of Dorian Gray Anthony J. Otten College
The Scarlet Prayer: Genesis Allegory and Christian Symbolism in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray and the Bible (NKJV) seem to agree on at least one semblance of doctrine, if only partially. They both maintain that the body is a temple,...
Linked Imagery in 'Dracula' and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' Daniel A. Speight 12th Grade
Throughout the Gothic novel Dracula , Stoker uses symbology and imagery to reveal social anxieties and fears of the late Victorian era, for example the use of animalistic description and blood. Wilde, in his own Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian...
Representations of the Double Life in The Picture of Dorian Grey. Anonymous College
‘Those who go below the surface do so at their own peril’. If the aesthetic exterior of a person is the ‘surface’, it is assumed that below this surface is sensibility and emotion. Wilde warns against probing too deeply, or at all, the conscience;...
Liberation of Language in The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Victoria Joss College
All language exists with two definitions. The primary, literal meaning is defined as what the object physically is, and the secondary, symbolic meaning is what the object represents. An object’s literal meaning remains a stationary constant, as it...
Significant Locations In ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ Jess Mockford 11th Grade
In his novel of 1891, ‘ The Picture of Dorian Gray ’, Wilde uses setting and location to explore not only the character and moral conscience of his protagonist but also the divides inherent within Victorian society as he contrasts the wealthy homes...
Dorian Gray and Critical Theory Anonymous 12th Grade
Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is without a doubt a reflection of its author and its time. As an academic, social, and political figurehead of late 19th century London, Wilde was highly engaged in the ongoing public dialogue surrounding the...
The Picture of Dorian Gray: aestheticism and morality Chris Kostantewicz College
The Picture of Dorian Gray demonstrates a divide between aestheticism and morality that Oscars Wilde depicts by giving each character a very specific persona that either challenges or indulges in the immoral vices of life. This is all while Dorian...
Basel and Lord Henry's Influence on Dorian Anonymous 11th Grade
In Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the concept of influence is clearly reflected in two different characters and in two different forms, and juxtaposes them though the main character and his reaction to the two clashing ideologies...
Murder and Mental Breakdown in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and The Picture of Dorian Gray Madisen Marie Johnson 12th Grade
Dr. James Knoll, a forensic psychiatrist, says, “The paranoia exists on a spectrum of severity. ... Many perpetrators are in the middle, gray zone where psychiatrists will disagree about the relative contributions of moral failure versus mental...
Lord Henry’s Experiment: A Life without Restraint Riley Steppe College
In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, an experienced and insightful man shares a compelling life philosophy with a younger, less refined man. This transmission of ideas opens the interpretation of how art and society influence...
Dorian Gray: Wilde's Ending and Its Moments of Ambiguity Anonymous College
In Chapter 20 of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian is presented to us as a figure torn between reforming and alleviating himself from the sin and corruption he has perpetuated on others, and pursuing his exclamatory yearning for his “unsullied...
Obsession, Destruction and Control - A Film vs. Novel Comparison of Whiplash and The Picture of Dorian Gray Anonymous College
Although created in different eras, Oscar Wilde’s 1980 gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and Damien Chazelle’s 2014 drama film Whiplash are comparable in the exploration of obsession, destruction and control by the text’s creators. Chazelle...
Elements of a Traditional Gothic Novel in The Picture of Dorian Gray Zaneb Mansha 11th Grade
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, is a classic example of a traditional Gothic novel, despite the fact that it isn’t scary. Gothic literature received its name because many examples of the genre were set during the late-medieval, or...
What Is In a Name?: Close Reading of Dorian Gray and His Fellow Characters Brittany Schenk 12th Grade
French author Marcel Proust once stated “Words do not change their meanings so drastically in the course of centuries as, in our minds, names do in the course of a year or two.” What this quote means is that while names merely are words, they hold...
The Body as a Site of Horror Anonymous College
Horror can be defined as the feeling excited by something shocking or fear-inducing[1]. The physical or represented form of the body certainly can induce these feelings given the appropriate circumstances and contexts. The present paper will...
Characteristics of The Antagonist Anonymous 12th Grade
An antagonist is essential to any story. Establishing a clear “bad guy” gives the story more emotion, uniting the reader with the protagonist(s) against a common enemy that is easy to hate. Every story has an antagonist, but only some are evil....
Social and Economic Mobility in The Picture of Dorian Gray Elizabeth Girdharry College
Aristocratic beauty and values comprise culture which is used as a proxy for social and economic and mobility in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. To at least appear as having the same intelligentsia as the Victorian upper class is to...
“The Picture of Dorian Gray”: The Question of Love in the Novel Essay
The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the most brilliant works as it touches upon really important issues: beauty, sin, love, art, virtue. There are numerous questions to address. One of the most interesting questions is concerned with love. Some may claim that his first and true love is Sibyl Vane. However, I argue that he does not love the poor girl. So, can Dorian’s feelings to Sibyl Vane be regarded as love to a woman? Is Sibyl Vane Dorian’s True Love?
When reading the first passages concerning the poor actress and Dorian’s fascination, it may really seem that the young man falls in love with the beautiful girl. Dorian assures his friend Lord Henry that he really loves Sibyl (Wilde 51). These words make the reader think of the great and pure love of the two young and beautiful creatures. However, it is soon clear that Dorian has no feelings to the girl. He is fascinated by her talent. He loves her inspiration and her devotion to art. The young man is fascinated by a dream, not a girl.
When the girl loses her ability to act, Dorian is disappointed. He is cruel and impatient. He confesses (to himself rather than to Sibyl) that he loved her because she had “genius and intellect”, because she “realised the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art” (Wilde 85). It turns out that the only pure love Dorian experiences is love to art, not to a woman.
Therefore, the answer to the question cannot be so definite. Obviously, Dorian does not love the girl. However, he does love Sibyl Vane who is a kind of symbol of greatness of art. Dorian loves the image he creates. He falls in love with his own Sibyl Vane. Thus, Dorian does love Sibyl Vane, but this woman has nothing to do with the material world. This is the symbol of beauty and greatness of art.
I think this is one of the central ideas of the book. In this way Wilde reveals his own views concerning art. Admittedly, Wilde was one of the greatest figures of the movement of aestheticism. The author worshiped art and beauty. This can be vividly seen in the book. Thus, the author reveals his idea that the beauty of a woman is something that passes soon. However, only art is immortal. Dorian is deprived of the ability to love a woman. He can only truly appreciate art and beauty (his own youth and beauty).
I believe art should reflect reality, not vice versa. However, Wilde as well as his creation (Dorian) lived in a somewhat distorted world. Thus, Dorian tries to create an ideal world to live in. He is not interested in real feelings and real happiness. He seeks for phantoms created by the world of art. These ideas corrupt the young man who becomes an evil creature incapable of love or any affection.
Dorian falls in love with a dream and, at the same time, he destroys the beautiful world around him. Did Dorian love Sibyl Vane? The answer is positive. However, this love has nothing to do with material world as Dorian creates his own Sibyl Vane and falls in love with his ideal in his ideal world of beauty and art.
Works Cited
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray , New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. Print.
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IvyPanda. (2018, November 6). "The Picture of Dorian Gray": The Question of Love in the Novel. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/
""The Picture of Dorian Gray": The Question of Love in the Novel." IvyPanda , 6 Nov. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/.
IvyPanda . (2018) '"The Picture of Dorian Gray": The Question of Love in the Novel'. 6 November.
IvyPanda . 2018. ""The Picture of Dorian Gray": The Question of Love in the Novel." November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/.
1. IvyPanda . ""The Picture of Dorian Gray": The Question of Love in the Novel." November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/.
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IvyPanda . ""The Picture of Dorian Gray": The Question of Love in the Novel." November 6, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/.
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