Misconceptions In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Decent Essays
Many misconceptions have evolved throughout the years pertaining to art, to life, and to love. Art, life, and love are commonly misconstrued for one another. In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, these three points are highly expressed through the character Dorian Gray. Dorian has a rather different experience with these topics throughout the novel. Dorian Gray repeatedly misinterprets love in the novel. While at the playhouse, Sybil Vane had a rather mediocre performance, making Dorian realize he doesn’t love her. Basil Hallward had to caution Dorian, “ ‘Don’t talk like that about anyone you love, Dorian. Love is a more wonderful thing than Art’ ” (Wilde 76). Dorian mistakes his love for art with true love. Since Sybil is an actress

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

    (109) Narcissus and Dorian share a similar pain: being in love with their own beauty that seems so unattainable to…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Dorian Gray Controversy

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The picture of Dorian Gray was published in July of 1890. It was written by Oscar Wilde and it was first published in Lippincott's monthly magazine before it was published into a personal novel. One thing that made the book such a hit was the historical controversy that comes with it. When the story was first published into the magazine the conflict of the time changing was highly argued. In fact before Wilde published The picture of Dorian Gray into a book he was urged to censor some parts of the story as it was offensive to many.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray depicts the life of Dorian a young impressionable aristocrat who captures Basil’s artistic imagination and soon becomes a friend to basil. Along with becoming Basil’s friend and muse Dorian meets the famous Lord Henry at one of the painting sessions. Lord Henry is a witty man who enjoys celebrating youth, beauty, and the selfish pursuit of pleasure. Basil reluctantly introduces Dorian to Lord Henry, who soons influences the young Dorian. This paper of The Picture of Dorian Gray will discuss three situations of how Dorian’s actions by being influences have affected his life.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In all most of our lives, we take some type of influence from many other things whether it is positive or negative. In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the main character Dorian Gray is being influenced by these two completely different impactful characters his friends; Basil Hallward and Lord Henry. Basil paints a portrait of Dorian gray appreciating the epitome of beauty and Lord Henry and acquaintance of Basil convinces him to sell his soul to be forever young while the portrait grows old. The piece of art flares varying attitudes closest to Dorian and he begins to be more self-indulgent and corrupt inside and out. In the novel, Lord Henry is considered a negative source for Dorian.…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Oscar Wilde does an excellent job utilizing Heteronormativity and Homosocialality to portray masculinity throughout his book, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Heteronormativity is the idea that heterosexuality is the only established sexual orientation. While, Homosocialality focuses more on the idea that men can bond with men without being labeled homosexual. The three main characters, Basil, Lord Henry and Dorian, experience many situations that illustrate these two theories. There is also an erotic triangle that links the two enemies, Basil and Lord Henry, to a romance which is Dorian.…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Artists can paint life, but they can also portray fantasy or non-reality as a means of expression. The spectator, however, holds the consciousness and decision to interpret the piece of art in his or her own way. Humans see what we want to see. And so most of the time, art reflects our desires instead of life and reality. In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, characters like Lord Henry, Dorian and Sibyl confuse and even manipulate the nature of art, who ultimately are convinced by their own interpretations of a work of art, base their life on that interpretation, and so become troubled when they are exposed to reality because they do not know how to handle it.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    It can be said that within the core of every human being, lies a certain amount of darkness. While this is true, it can also be said that this internal darkness can only surface given the right opportunity and within the right environment. However, once this darkness does manage to emerge, its force is powerful enough to destroy the very part of us that makes us human. This darkness and evilness of man is a prominent theme reflected in the setting, plot structure, and characterization of Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness and Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray.…

    • 1792 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The trouble with defining the nature of Dorian Gray, is that one is left wondering if he should be defined based on his morals, or on the morals held by most of society. If Gray is evaluated based on his morals, those of beauty and ugliness, he would be described as beautiful. This presents a serious flaw in Dorian’s own moral system, as he may be a “beautiful creature” (Wilde 7). In reality, though, he is evil. Even Dorian is aware of his own evil nature, saying “he… tarnished himself, filled his mind with corruption and given horror to his fancy” (Wilde 184).…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior 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

    In today’s society the idea of everlasting beauty is very prominent. This is seem through the many creams that can be used to help conceal wrinkles and make the skin smoother, however, those do not stop aging forever. In “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” by Oscar Wilde, everlasting beauty is an important aspect that leads to ultimate demise. During the Victorian era, beauty was extremely imperative. When an individual shows beauty they were considered to be very wealthy and influential people.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When people criticize The Picture of Dorian Gray lacks of standpoint about morality, Oscar Wilde defends his book by saying, “ All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment”. The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde, describes a beautiful gentleman Dorian Gray, under the influence of his two best friends, sells his soul in exchange for everlasting beauty and youth, and dies tragically at the end. In this novel, Dorian learns beauty and vanity when he saw his portrait painted by Basil Hallward, and desires for beauty and pleasure after listening to the words of Lord Henry. As Oscar Wilde moralized, these three main characters in this novel are all punished due to their excess or restrained emotion, which refutes…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved 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
  • Improved Essays

    The whole book from the very start is purposed to be contradictory and radical but utterly devoted to aesthetics The character of Dorian Gray is a adolescent, wealthy and unreasonably captivating. His aura alone captures a multitude…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays