Archetype In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Decent Essays
Based on the playwrite “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray: Preface” both by Oscar Wilde, it could be inferred that the author fits under The Sage archetype because of the tone of the text, and the morals of the texts. To illustrate how the author fits under The Sage archetype because of the tone of the text is when “The Picture of Dorian Gray: Preface” by Oscar Wilde says, “We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.” In simplicity, this is showing how Wilde believes that art should not be heavily admired to be useful. This supports the inference that the author fits under the archetype of The Sage because it is showing how the tone of the text is serious, and leads the reader to …show more content…
Furthermore, to show how the author would fit under The Sage archetype because of tone is when the playwrite “The Picture of Dorian Gray” says, “‘You’re the one who painted the portrait. This is all your fault!’ In a rage, Dorian kills Basil.” To be straightforward, this is showing how after main character Dorian feels remorse from looking at the painting, he blames the artist and kills him. This supports the claim that the author fits under The Sage archetype based upon the tone because it shows how the tone of the text is also serious, and leads the reader to believe that the main character has no self control. The tone of the text makes the author fit under The Sage archetype in the aspect of a biggest fear is to be duped mislead or ignorance. To portray how the author fits under The Sage archetype based upon the morals of the text is when “The Picture of Dorian Gray: Preface” says, “ Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Dorian Gray “The Japanese say you have three faces. The first face, you show to the world. The second face, you show to your close friends, and your family.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Custom House,” an excerpt from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” defines Romanticism as a type of writing which integrates “the Actual and the Imaginary” to expose life in a new and “unusual light.” According to Hawthorne the best time to write Romantically is when “glancing at the looking glass, we behold… all gleam and shadow of the picture.” In other words, the best time to write a Romantic piece is when looking at life in a clean perspective because that is when all opposition- whether it be “gleam and shadow,” imagination and reason, or opposition in opinions and ideas- becomes as clear as “the looking glass” itself. In this time of clarity and inspiration (from other perspectives), any Romantic author will be able to…

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everything is simply as it seems. Romanticism, as a literary genre, portrays the world in a mystical manner and the audience must read between the lines in order to find the true meaning of a literary piece. Common roles within a novel are often the easiest to find this differentiation and importance placed upon a character's appearance. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, father figures’, love interests’, children, and antagonists’ appearances reflect the differences between the Romantic and Realist literary movements and their depictions of these characters within a novel.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Masterful Living Summary

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The author utilizes the story of a father and daughter looking at the painting in the Sisteen Chapel, at first the father cannot identify the true meaning in the painting. But later with his daughter’s help, he is able to see the nature of the master in the painting. In this story the author sets his intent for his reader, which is to reflect on the…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lauren Boyd Mrs. Mary Smith AP Literature 20 September 2017 How to Read Literature Like a Professor Essay Thomas Foster’s novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor is an analysis of how most literature is written now and in the past. He hits hard on how symbolism, foreshadowing, and patterns which he mentions both of the topics multiple times in each of the chapters with symbolism being mentioned all the time. Throughout the book, he gives multiple examples for each chapter and he even asks questions that require the reader to use critical thinking to help expand their views on how literature can be interpreted. Foster even bolds important things that he wants the reader to focus on while reading the chapter, which helps the reader,…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It makes the student think about what they wrote or, even better, what they did not write. By using these Aspects, we are able to uncover symbolism found in unexpected places. Random sequences that most scholars would gloss over can now be uncovered to allow new depth and insight into a centuries old work with new context. However, what makes the Aspects truly valuable is their ability to apply to situations outside of literature. Dr. McShane’s Aspects teaches us how to think critically in class discussions, debates, and lectures.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is why art’s role in society is to allow an artist to communicate a message and express beliefs, so the audience can create their own interpretation of the art and therefore reflect their own nature in the work. During the Victorian Era in England, refined sensibilities and traditional customs were followed by most of society. However, Oscar Wilde was a prominent figure in opposing these ways of life with his flamboyant appearance and contempt for cultural values. While he was an ambassador for Aestheticism, Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray, which portrayed many of his beliefs.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There are many debates about the greatest book that ever existed, and this debate will continue to rage on but what is undeniable is that The Picture of Dorian Gray is definitely a well written book. The morality of this book however is a different issue altogether as this book discusses many different themes from youth to the dangers of influences. There are many facets such as the amount of irony and symbolism that is found throughout the novel. In the Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde uses symbolism and irony in order to expose the workings of human nature and…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Black, White, and Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a well-known story about a innocent young man’s fall into corruption. In the beginning of the book, the main character, Dorian, is depicted as a very attractive, innocent, young man; ‘“…the willful sunbeams of life…”’(Wilde 56). A painter, engrossed to Dorian’s beauty, paints a portrait of Dorian, capturing his essence on canvas. However, after listening to his friend, Lord Henry, about the horrors of growing old, he wishes his sins and old age to be transferred to the portrait – his acrylic self – instead of his actual flesh.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Victorian Era was the mid nineteen centuries to the early twentieth century when a woman’s role was to be at home having nothing to do with work or out of home things. The feminine side was looked to as powerless. It kept women from having any sort of power and made sure that women were not look at as normal people not only in the eyes of men but women as well. The Picture of Dorian Gray displays the aftereffect of disregarding women. In this novel, the way the male characters treated the women it was as if the women were not important and this was shown through the evil acts of Dorian Gray.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For centuries, mankind has had a propensity to utilise the biological distinctions of the sexes in order to enforce a societal distinction between the sexes, which is known as gender. Gender, as the socially imposed division of the sexes, allowed societies to delineate certain characteristics to each of the sexes, and thus assign different roles, moral codes, and, in certain societies, thoughts and emotions to them. As such, the study of gender is of profound importance to the manner in which one reads and studies literature. For instance, the delineation of the sexes prior to the 19th century, women were educated to a lesser extent than men, having an education limited to that of moral virtues, modern languages, and societal accomplishments…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Art captures the brevity of life — it embodies, to many, the soul of its creator and grants the viewer insight to a single moment. However, in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, a portrait morphs into a catalyst of dual lives. Tempered through an impulsive desire, Dorian’s essence is divided between the seen and the discrete. Through the use of the portrait and opium motif, Oscar Wilde develops the theme of dual existence/true identity.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, sin and redemption is an occuring theme. The main character, Dorian Gray, commits plenty of sins and has the opportunities for redemption, however, when Dorian tries to atone for his wrongdoings he is unsuccessful. Dorians’ underlying intentions keeps him from redemption, due to his hedonistic views. In the beginning of the novel, Dorian is portrayed as a young and innocent boy that is easily influenced by Lord Henry, a character with a hedonistic view. Hedonism is described as the “theory of ethics in which pleasure is regarded as the chief good, or the proper end of action.”…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Oscar Wilde opens up the novel of Dorian Gray with exceedingly sensuous language such as; “catch the gleam of honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of laburnum whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs..” These sensuous elements, as well as many other examples throughout the first few chapters is intended, by Wilde, to correspond with the idea of aestheticism. Being a large theme of the novel, the deeply sensuous language allows the reader to connect with not only the novel, but even Wilde himself. Through only using our senses, the reader is not only able to feel a part of the story Wilde is telling as we can vividly imagine the smells, colours and sounds etc. as a result of his…

    • 2395 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In amending his work the following year, Wilde introduced additional chapters, considerable alterations and a preface, which serves to defend and explain his philosophy of art, including the famous passage: “There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written or badly written that is all.” In order to comprehend his claim fully, one must firstly take into consideration the moral environment of the time period, and the Victorian sensibility regarding art and morality. The picture of Dorian Gray is set at the height of the decadent artistic movement, making the novel a contemporary of its author, Oscar Wilde, a leading figure of this movement, popularly known as Aestheticism, in Britain. The decadent movement however, celebrating aesthetic pleasure and experience, took place in the broader setting of the late Victorian era, which of course was dominated by Victorian morality.…

    • 2902 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Superior Essays