Dorian Gray Conscience

Dorian stated “Conscience and cowardice are really the same things”. He believed that his conscience is what made him truly scared and afraid of himself. He was afraid of what he had done to himself and those around him. Inadvertently he destroyed his own life and those of whom he was close to. Dorian’s conscience caused him intense paranoia.“Was it true? Had the portrait really changed? Or had it been simply his own imagination that had made him see a look of evil where there had been a look of joy? Surely a painted canvas could not be altered? The thing was absurd” (Wilde, 91). This excerpt from the book shows the worry Dorian had over the portrait and how he was psyching himself out and overthinking.
I do believe that Dorian was “unconsciously self-punished”. Dorian’s conscience ate at him and he killed himself over the matter. He ruined practically every relationship in his life over this portrait and allowed it to consume his everything. The only thing he accomplished was beating himself mentally with worry. I believe that Basil Hallward however was not self-punished. I do not feel like he did anything deserving of punishment. Basil was the only person who remained truly loyal to Dorian. Despite him not being apart …show more content…
He saw them as mere objects. He did not believe in getting attached to women emotionally. “My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals” (Wilde, 47). His thoughts towards women were extremely negative. Lord Henry feels that women wreck men’s lives. “I fancy that the true explanation is this: If often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style” (Wilde,