1. Basil’s handsome model Dorian Gray is the main character in the novel. At the beginning of the novel is portrayed as a man with sincere feelings and conscious mind. As soon as the artist had depicted the young man, with the help of innovative technique on canvas, Dorian transformed into a soulless Narcissus, who was ready to sell his soul in order to become immoral. Basically, Dorian says: “If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now!” ( Wilde, 43). Dorian’s worldview had split apart, as the concept of “beauty” was raised by him to the upper spoke of hierarchy of values. His desire was heard and he had received exactly that, what he wanted. The character’s narcissism had manifested in his actions and interactions, as it is not only the manifestation of aestheticism, it is Dorian’s conception of the world, which also may be considered as the act of divaricating. Day by day he continued acting the role of narcissus, by simulating a kiss on the lips, which were depicted on the picture or by standing in front of his portrait, feasting one’s eyes and experiencing love towards it. His persuasion of beauty was driven far from the form of moral logics, his mythical beauty was only the key to appearance, while his inner filling was decomposed. He became a victim of one’s passion, the love towards oneself. The main subject of his world outlook from now on was the embodiment in life the philosophy of “new hedonism”. His dream was to create a brand new philosophy of life, which would have sensible grounds, consecutive principles, so called spiritualization of emotions and feelings. In other words, Dorian, an exquisite aesthete, without acknowledging the action of raising his hand on “the most beautiful and eternal” he made himself dead and transformed oneself into an old man, with wrinkles all over his face, which symbolized his criminal actions.
2. The leading principle of Oscar Wilde’s world view is the concept of aestheticism. The author’s assertion that art is behind the sphere of morality does not fit the facts as each individual understands differently his piece of writing nowadays. In Oscar Wild’s imagination the morality was transferred in the book and had been depicted with the help of youth and beauty. Exactly these two concepts became the symbol of moral degradation. The author reminds us that “Now it was to hide something that had a corruption of its own, worse than the corruption of death itself,—something that would breed horrors and yet would never die. What the worm was to the corpse, his sins would be to the painted image on the canvas” ( Wilde, 145). By focusing on the following words, Wilde overlooks the deeper problem of human nature. Dorian’s pursuit of delectation and new impressions loses the conception between good and evil, as well as Christian morality. The loss of moral codes leads to human’s death. I quite agree that the society cannot violate the norms of human’s life with impunity, everyone should be responsible for their actions. Dorian was not an exception, he wanted to kill his conscience, which was a reflection of morality, but at that specific moment he killed himself. The main author’s idea was to send the message to readers that the art simply reflects and saves the beauty, it is neither measured out by time nor by moral laws. But there are people, who are dependent on moral laws and their task is not to violate them if they do not want to lose the part of themselves.
3. The main image of Dorian Gray passes the two main stages of development in the novel. Firstly, the young man was under the Lord Henry’s influence, but he clearly tried to resist it. The turning point was Sibyl’s death, who was the only one who could resist the Henry’s seductive manner of speaking. Dorian’s love was dead, it was the first time the main hero felt that this world is nothing for him without her. The kind and light-hearted person woke up in his personality but it was too late. Dorian states that: “Somehow, now that it has happened actually, and to me, it seems far too wonderful for tears. Here is the first passionate love-letter I have ever written in my life. Strange, that my first passionate love- letter should have been addressed to a dead girl” ( Wilde, 112). After her death, Dorian became the conscious preacher of Henry’s ideas, he spread his ideas and had destroyed lots of people’s lives. He thought that it was right thing to do because his life did not have any sense without Sibyl and it was considered by him just as a revenge. The main connection between the internal identity and his appearance was the fact that nobody could believe that he led an immoral life. The habitants could not believe that this handsome man, whose face was bright and calm would empoison and cripple their life. For Henry Dorian was just a form, the outer coat of a good and well breed person, just a masque which hid his evil plans. His appearance deceived many people, who thought that this young boy only wanted good for them. Dorian and Henry were controlled by the principle “ everything was allowed”, and that principle was the main reason to ruin their life.
Works cited
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Dover Thrift Editions, 1993. Print.
