Theme Of Hedonism In Dorian Gray

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 …show more content…
The impression we therefore gain of Lord Henry straight away is his sarcastic and cynical view of life. Lord Henry is an advocate of hedonism, i.e. he pursues pleasure as the overall aim of his life. Despite this, his character remains fairly consistent and tamed. While Lord Henry 's philosophy of hedonism would lead us to believe he would live a life of immorality through sordid affairs etc. we later find out that he actually spends his time going to theatre 's and perhaps does not live the lifestyle he wants to portray to others.

Lord Henry does not take life seriously; the consequences of his actions are never taken into consideration which is an ultimate cause for Dorian 's downfall. Lord Henry is amoral, doing only what pleases him whether others are affected by that or not isn 't deemed as his problem. This is all evidenced purely by his response of “what nonsense you talk” as Basil asks him to“not spoil him, don 't try to influence him, your influence would be bad” when discussing the initial meeting of Dorian Gray. Possibly unbeknownst to Lord Henry, his influence would be the overarching cause of Dorian 's downfall as a …show more content…
Throughout the first chapter he is talked about thoroughly, however we are yet to meet him. Basil describes his initiatory meeting with Dorian that when he had laid eyes on him, he had “come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself.” The creates such a powerful image and impression of Dorian. As he is described throughout the first chapter, we imagine Dorian to be this strong, influential character, however this is challenged at the beginning of chapter two when we finally meet