Matteo Pellegrino 9/10/09

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‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde

Which aspects of the novel do you consider to still be relevant to a modern reader?

Though written more than 100 years ago, ‘The picture of Dorian Gray’ contains
many elements that a modern day reader can still identify with. Oscar Wilde was born on
the 16 of October 1854 and died on the 30th of November in 1900. He was an Irish poet
play writer, and author of many short stories and one novel. He was one of the most
successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest
"celebrities" of his day.His one and only very successful novel written during the
Victorian era where his main character lived a life fully influenced by art and the high
society bourgeoisie. Dorian gray was hooked up to the world of beauty by Basil Hallward
who found him incredibly beautiful and started to paint a portrait of him. I believe from
that moment on he gained a lot of confidence and self esteem to the point that he
thought of himself superior to others. An element relevant to the modern reader is
hypocrisy. Dorian spent his nights going to balls and parties where only the finest nobility
and artists were present. He made people believe he was what he looked like. People at
the time mostly looked at a person’s physical aspects and barely ever did they look
inside. Therefore Dorian until he started growing old looked like a very well educated
and healthy young man… but things weren’t like they look, Dorian did allude people into
thinking what they thought but then his double personality turned him into a vicious
murderer which no one knew about. Another aspect concerning us as readers is
homoeroticism. Oscar Wilde was forced to edit his first version of the novel as his first
one included too much homosexuality which at the time was a crime. Oscar Wilde
eventually did go to prison for having to do with homoeroticism but it had nothing to do
with his novel. Even today are homosexuals discriminated and not given the same rights
as today. In some countries gay marriage is not even allowed but very fortunately
thi8ngs have improved and to see two people of the same sex is not a crime or shocking
towards anyone.

We are very similar to the Victorians in many ways as today we are very vane as
well. Most people today spend more time than ever looking at themselves in the mirror
and being concerned on how they look. People today with the help of technology are
even going as far as changing their body for the sake of looking good! Dorian himself
was a bit like us, he wanted to be beautiful but it wasn’t enough. He was told that as he
aged his body would age as well, and that his beauty would not be eternal. I know that
many people today would love to stay beautiful eternally! WE are also similar to them in
the way that we also sometimes do things that are unthinkable to get what we want.
Unfortunately even today people kill themselves to reach their goal. Dorian went through
many murders and eventually didn’t even get what he wanted; today people kill
themselves in wars but also for illegal matters. The scene where Dorian kills Basil
because he finds out basil knew he started sinning and wasn’t perfect happens very
often even today. When people have power and see it fading away in front of their eyes
they will do anything to get it back… Although we are very similar to the Victorians, we
are also very different. High society balls are become less popular and people nowadays
tend to be friends with people they work with or know very well. People nowadays don’t
look at the outside of a person but have learned that what really maters is what’s inside!
Going back to the similarities between back then and today, we can point out that even
today people are extremely concerned about their appearances and the image they give
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to other people. Dorian is very similar to an average 20 years old but also very different.
As Dorian belonged to the high society, he went to balls with other high class people and
therefore adopted a posh attitude. He was also very modest, and used to compliments
coming especially from other men like Basil Hallward and Lord Henry who greatly
admired him. Although between Dorian Gray and a young man his age today were quite
similar they are also different. Today there is less and less aestheticism as with modern
technology the pleasure of painting and drawing and admiring is slowly fading away.

Basil's is obsessed with his friend's appearance and this does have
consequences. When Lord Henry tells him that the only thing worth living for is youth,
Dorian, with the help of Basils encouragement, falls in love with his own image, his own
youth. At first to the reader this may seem absolutely normal as it happens even today
that people fall in love with themselves, but Dorian takes too far. Essentially, Dorian is
going to become what others think of him. He will live his life as a work of art, seeking
only pure pleasure, forgetting about the rest of the world and what goes on around him.

Oscar Wilde uses a lot of Gothic references and he writes in gothic style to
increase the effect on the reader. Gothic writing is a style of literature that relies upon the
evocation of moods, feelings and imagery for impact. This style of writing was developed
during an age of great scientific discovery. -The Novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’
contains a very important gothic aspect that can be compared to a gothic story like ‘The
Red Room’. The actual picture of Dorian is a supernatural element itself. As Dorian Gray
stays young, the portrait ages until Dorian starts his moral decline. We as a modern
reader are still very attracted to this genre as it usually uses aspects of our everyday life
to scare. For example in the ‘Red Room’ A mansion during the night is used; In ‘Dorian
Gray’ it is a bit different, as a painting that ages depending on whether you sin or not, is
not something we encounter on a daily basis. However when Dorian ends up murdering
people it is a gothic element that does concern us as today murder is an important issue
still out there. It happens often and it is a sensation we have already experienced and
can relate to.

Another important aspect from the novel making it more appealing to a modern reader is
that it includes many ancient myths, fitting them in perfectly with the story: It includes
Adam and eve, Faust and Narcissus. In the second chapter of the novel we can start to
see temptation scene. It takes place in a garden; just like in the myth of Eden and eve.
Basil Hallward, the painter, is like God the creator; he has just created the picture of
Dorian in all his perfection. The tempter is Lord Henry, who wants to persuade Dorian to
ignore all the conventional rules of society, just as the serpent wants Eve to disregard
the commandments from God. ‘The
Picture of Dorian Gray’ is also a retelling of the Faust story. A temptation is placed
before Dorian just like in the legend of Faust, and he falls for it, offering his soul to get it.
One of Faust's principal wishes is also to remain young. Dorian does the same: “If it
were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that
was to grow old! For that - for that - I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the
whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that’s!" Faust and Dorian also both
seduce a young woman and then leading her to death. "The soul is a terrible reality. It
can be bought and sold. It can be poisoned or made perfect. There's a soul in each one
of us. I know it." This is another statement made by Dorian Gray to his best friend, Lord
Henry, a few hours after he realizes that his behavior of the last eighteen years has been
absolutely terrible. Dorian is said to be Faustian figure because he wants to have eternal
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youth, something that under normal circumstances no human being can obtain. Finally
Dorian can easily be compared to Narcissus. He was told by everyone he was the most
beautiful, and then corrupted just like a child by Lord Henry’s persuasion. I believe this is
what caused Dorian into his moral decline. In the first two chapters, the mythical
character Narcissus is mentioned a lot as Oscar Wilde wanted to give that impression
him. Just like in the myth, Dorian gray is very modest and full of himself until one day
everything is turned back against him and he ends up murdering himself. This can also
be linked to the relevance of the novel to today’s audience as people nowadays are also
lured into believing things, until they are absolutely positive that what they are told is true
(Dorian’s ‘eternal’ beauty) of the painting until one day he remembers that as her sins
the painting will age until one day Dorian started to age himself…

Henry completely corrupts Dorian’s innocence and gets him into Hedonism which
is finding pleasure from all the different sensations. Lord Henry said ‘The only way to get
rid of a temptation is to yield it’. This once again in my opinion is completely false! –It
was a hedonistic view that Henry had on things. ‘Be always searching for new
sensations. Be afraid of nothing. . . A new Hedonism, that is what our century wants’.
Dorian is like the first man, Adam, innocent and perfect, who is being told by the snake
to taste of the forbidden fruit of sensual experience. At various moments in Dorian's life,
Henry retains the role of the tempter. He is at Dorian's side encouraging him to adopt an
attitude towards life that will eventually work against him.

‘The picture of Dorian Gray can also be compared to ‘Dr Jekyll and Hyde’, two other
famous characters from the Victorian era. Dr Jekyll also has a double personality; he
takes a drug that turns him into Mr. Hyde. Another very famous and successful story
‘Dorian Gray’ can be compared to is star wars. The double personality aspect is very
relevant to a modern audience and is still present in most famous movies or books, like
the superman series, the Spiderman series and the Star Wars series. I believe that
double personality is an important aspect as in everyday life it is used. Nowadays people
are affected by different people and therefore act differently depending on their
surroundings. This isn’t exactly what happens in the novel but similar. Dorian Gray
doesn’t act differently because he is influenced by the people he is with but because his
innocence has been corrupted by Lord Henry: ‘The only way to get rid of a temptation is
to yield it.’ This is a statement made from Henry to Dorian which in my opinion is false.
Dorian has been tempted at various occasions to kill people. For example when Basil
finds out Dorian started sinning and that the painting started to age, Dorian is greatly
disturbed by the fact that his greatest admirer finds out he isn’t all that good. Lord Henry
is aware that he is completely changing Dorian’s moral but he believes he is just
‘awakening a seed…’Henry also gets Dorian very much into the theme of hedonism and
aestheticism . Dorian Gray himself gets obsessed with his looks and it is for that reason
that in the end when he starts to age, he kills himself. Hedonism is the pursuit of
pleasure through the different senses; it is similar to being an aesthete which is
someone who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature.
Dorian eventually strongly believes in both of those aspects and therefore loosing his
own esthetic beauty would be terrible!

In ‘the picture of Dorian Gray there is another very important aspect that can be
linked to today’s audience: Homosexuality. People back then were very intolerant with
homosexuals and still today they are intolerant with homosexuals. The book itself had to
be re-edited and a new edition had to be printed as the first edition was too open when
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speaking about homoeroticism. Oscar Wilde very intelligently includes the theme in his
story indirectly, he leaves to the audience to figure out that the story was based on
homosexual characters.-There is pure evidence that Basil has feelings for Dorian Gray
and that Henry probably does as well but as regards Dorian there is no proof. ‘When I
like someone immensely I never tell their names to anyone.’ Or: ‘He is much more than
a model or a sitter.’ At one point he even had a girlfriend which he was about to marry:
Sybil Vane. ‘I love Sybil Vane. I want to place her on a pedestal of gold, and to see the
world worship the woman who is mine. What is marriage? An irrevocable vow. You mock
at it for that. Ah! Don't mock. It is an irrevocable vow that I want to take.’ Oscar Wilde
uses a certain vocabulary which was used by high society artists at the time. We can
even tell just by the way they talk and by the words they use ‘on a pedestal of gold’ that
they were all extremely hedonistic and aesthetic; appreciating all that is beautifully
artistic or that involves pleasure from the senses. But his confidence was too great …
Once again Dorian is corrupted by Lord Henry. "Men marry because they are tired;
women, because they are curious; both are disappointed." Dorian got extremely
disappointed when seeing Sybil’s performance at the theatre and therefore ended up by
shouting at her and breaking their relationship which led to her suicide!
Dorian Gray found Sibyl charming because
of her Art! He loved the idea of her being an actress on top of her beauty. People from
the high class society of the time only focused on the esthetic appearance of a person.
They never bothered to look deep inside the person as the people Dorian Basil and
Henry interacted with were all excellent artists with a mind focused only on beauty. "To
me, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by
appearances." Henry and Dorian can be compared to a father and son. Whatever Henry
speaks or does Dorian seems to pick up with great ease, as I think believe Henry was a
role model for Dorian. Dorian’s mind was easily corruptible.

Unfortunately He is not the slightest bit interested in Sibyl as a person (her personality).
He knows nothing about her personal history, and does not want to know. When he
praises her for all the different roles she plays in the theater, Henry asks him "When is
she Sibyl Vane?" Dorian replies "Never". When they first met, Sibyl regarded Dorian
"merely as a person in a play. She knows nothing of life," he says. It appears at this
point that like Dorian, Sibyl moves only in the world of art. Nothing else has any
existence for her. To support this perception, Wilde use similes drawn from beautiful
forms in nature to describe her: she "moved like a creature from a finer world. Her body
swayed, while she danced, as a plant sways in the water. The curves of her throat were
the curves of a white lily. Her hands seemed to be made of cool ivory". But when Sibyl
falls in love with Dorian, she decides that she prefers real life to art, art eventually fades
away from her interests. Dorian, true to his beliefs rejects her. He swears at her and tells
her many things that for us as the reader are hard to imagine… ‘You have killed my love.
You used to stir my imagination. Now you don't even stir my curiosity. You simply
produce no effect. I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius
and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and
substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and
stupid.’ This produces the first age mark in the picture. In dealing with Sibyl so cruelly,
and indirectly causing her death, the pact between Basil and Dorian is broken. The
painting starts to age. From this point on the story starts its climax. Dorian finds out of
her death and even though he wanted to apologize and try to go back and start
everything from the start it was impossible. Dorian is extremely annoyed… even more
when he finds out that Basil was aware of situation as well. When basil knew, Dorian
wasn’t the perfect person anymore; he knew that more and more people were
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discovering double personality and mental problems. Even Alan Campbell who was a
chemist and once a good friend of Dorian ended his friendship when Dorian's reputation
began to come into question. He there for kills Basil aswell, making the painting age and
making him even more paranoid. From this point on Dorian begins his moral descent
where there is no turning back, it was a choice he took that caused him death.

I believe, ‘The picture of Dorian Gray’ is very similar to a novel of today, and
therefore very relevant as well. Even though I don’t think it was his intention, Oscar
Wilde in his only novel did a great job in including very valid themes concerning life and
people in general. The themes; vanity, aestheticism, homoeroticism but especially the
double personality, are themes that are valid today and will be valid in the future. They
are themes that concern human nature and in my opinion, no matter how much we
evolve those themes will still vaguely be there. Although the novel is very relevant to a
modern reader with all of its great themes, there are also some aspects that show us it
was written In the Victorian era. The language used is not the language a modern reader
would use today. For example back then they spelled the capital of Japan; ‘Tokio’
whereas now its spelled ‘Tokyo.’ or they spelled ‘Tomorrow’; ‘To-morrow’. They also use
certain words which have now been replaced by more modern words with which we are
more familiar. They say ‘Languidly’, instead of, in a tiredly manner/lazily or ‘Tremulous’
instead of ‘stands out’. I personally think that the message Oscar Wilde wanted to pass
through was how vain everyone is. Dorian Gray is very concerned, about growing old,
with everything Lord Henry tells him. ‘No!, its not fair! This portrait is going to stay young
and beautiful for ever, and I’m going to get old and ugly’ He is symbolism for what
everyone wants to be. Everyone, even nowadays; whether they are artists or not, want
to remain young and beautiful. A link can be made once again to ‘Narcissus’, the Greek
legend who falls in love with himself but then ends up as a flower rooted in the soil next
to a river; unable to move. This happened with Dorian gray who was so fond of himself,
and eventually ended up killing himself because of his paranoia, and it even happens
today. People today, especially the very ambitious, also get themselves into serious
troubles like stealing or murdering, which then cause them even bigger problems.
Another good theme he used is homoeroticism, which is an issue still being dealt with
today although people have become more flexible! Once again, I believe Oscar Wilde
did a great job in selecting themes that will be relevant to the human race eternally.
Although it has many modern themes which succeed in attracting a modern reader, the
old words and style of writing are more de-motivating. It is not a very easy book to read
because of some of the old words which have become very uncommon because new
words have taken their place. For example, words like: ‘petulant’ meaning ‘unreasonable
or irritated’ confuse the reader. Overall it is an excellent and easily recommendable
novel!