The Downfall Of Beauty In The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

Great Essays
The Downfall of Beauty Why everyone desires to be pretty? Some studies show that people general have higher first impression and give out nicer attitude to the ones who are beautiful rather than the ones that are ugly. Even though people say they are not judgmental, subconsciously people are more likely to trust the faces they like. However, the attractiveness of the physical appearance does not represent one’s soul. In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the protagonist Dorian Gray’s excess obsession with beauty, easily influenced nature, and irresponsibility for himself ultimately trigger his downfall in the end of the novel. The superficial and excessive desire for beauty of Dorian Gray distorts his mortal value and leads to denigration …show more content…
When Lord Henry informs him with the news of Sibyl Vane’s death, Dorian suddenly becomes offended and believes Sibyl “had no right to kill herself [and] it was selfish of her” even though he strongly scolds and humiliates her last night (72). Dorian blames the tragedy to Sibyl rather than reflect on himself; the self-centeredness of him makes him always want to parry off the seriousness of the situation instead of investigate the impacts and fulfill the moral obligation. He tries to conclude the fault of every problem to someone else and isolate himself to be forever innocent and flawless; in his essence, he misses a quality of examining himself, fails to recognize his inadequacy, and is unable to take responsibility of his actions. The responsibility does not only means the obligation to take charge and remedy the mistakes; it also means to manage and respect one’s self. One has to understand one’s feeling, pay respect to the goal and dream of life, appreciate the precious time and young ages in order to be responsible of one’s self. Without the incentive to take in charge and to respect one’s own life, like Dorian Gray in the novel, one have a higher chance to dedicate oneself into pleasure, neglect the positive goals and dreams, be too comfort at current situation, lose …show more content…
In the early stage of the story, Dorian reveals his wish to trade his soul for containing the beautiful and innocent visage of him for eternity; his paranoid addiction of surface beauty distorts his moral values and drives him to be a villain who care nothing but to maintain his appearance. As the major turning point of his life, Sibyl Vane’s suicide strongly affects Dorian life and displays his nature indecency of credulity and irresponsibility that foreshadows continuation of decadency of soul. Serving the role as a moral book, the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray teaches readers to live in a positive, good and moral life rather than allows defects such as excess pleasures, covets, and naivety to impact the bright future. Life is one’s own life and it is one’s decision of whether or not listen to someone else’s opinions; instead of blaming to people around, one should take the responsibility of their own. By studying literatures that represent and demonstrate certain morality, the readers can feel the profound literary accomplishment of the authors as well as be taught of certain moral lessons that will be beneficial for

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