Sin And Redemption In The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

The novel The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde is about the life of the character Dorian Gray. Dorian is a young and beautiful man who makes a Faustian pact that his self-portrait, drawn by painter Basil Hallward, would grow older as time past instead of Dorian. Throughout the story, Dorian commits many sins, for example, using his influence to ruin others’ lives and the murdering of Basil Hallward. However, Dorian’s appearance is still young and beautiful because the portrait suffers from all the sins he commits but not him. In the end, he tries to destroy the picture and ends up killing himself. One of the main themes of the novel is the relationship between sin and redemption. To commit a sin is to commit wrong actions that …show more content…
However, all of his attempts end as failures because his motivation in redemption is not purely good. For example, the first time he wants to atone for his wrongdoing is with Sibyl Vane. Sibyl is a beautiful low-class actress whose acting is phenomenal that Dorian is impressed the moment he laid eyes on her. When Dorian invites Lord Henry and Basil to watch her performance, Sibyl acts terribly because she realizes how her real life really is when she falls in love with Dorian. Dorian is furious with her poor acting and ends their engagement. Later, when he finds out that the portrait of him becomes crueler, he decides to redeem his sin by marrying Sibyl. Unfortunately, Sibyl killed herself before he could do it. Dorian is very angry when Lord Henry tells him the news, as he believes Sibyl “had no right to kill herself” and “it was selfish of her” to do so (Wilde 84). Dorian doesn’t show any remorse toward Sibyl’s death, as he is more worried about his stained soul. His motivation for atonement is selfish as he only wants his soul to be free from all sin. He cannot redeem his sin because the intention is not purely for Sibyl. Another attempt in redemption is when Dorian is in his forty after he indulges in committing sins. Dorian falls in love with Hetty Merton, a countryside girl who is innocent and pure, but he later decides to break up with her because he doesn’t …show more content…
In the novel, Dorian tries to redeem his sin multiple times; however, all his attempts do not change the portrait, which is his corrupted soul, for better because his motivation in atonement is not to compensate the victims, but rather, to erase his sins. Because he does not atone his sins with truly good intention, his sins are still there until he has to face the punishment of his heath. There are many real life accounts that reflected on the impossible of redemption, and one of the examples is the famous YouTuber Logan Paul. People cannot redeem their sins because the motivation is not sincerely for the victims but for themselves and their reputation. For those who want to change to better, they have to not commit any more sins and have a true intention of compensating their