"All art is quite useless"(Wilde, XVI) is the phrase Wilde concludes his preface with. The preface, which was added after The Picture of Dorian Gray received severe backlash, condemns the over-analyzation of art. Society was not ready for the aestheticism lifestyle and scandalous behaviours that were glorified in the novel, and they criticized Wilde for his radical ideas and degenerate characters. Wilde felt that it was preposterous that people were offended by art, as its sole purpose is to entertain those that it appealed to. Dorian Gray was not meant to be a heroic character, his purpose was to warn people the repercussions of succumbing to vanity and aestheticism. Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray explores the corruption of Dorian
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It is Lord Henry who advocates the new hedonism as he believes "the senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade. Who could say where the fleshly impulse ceased, or the psychical impulse began?" (Wilde, 52). Lord Henry's eloquence and romanticization of new hedonism seduced Dorian's mind and he began to stop using his logic and reason to dictate his decisions, allowing his impulses and desires guide his life. This caused him to go to the theatre every night for months just to watch the "absolutely and entirely divine" Sibyl Vane (Wilde, 49), it also drove him to cultivate many beautiful fabrics, scents, and furniture as to surround himself with beauty, as "nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul" (Wilde, 18). These actions were just the beginnings for his new lifestyle after he dipped his toe into how carefree and fun hedonism can be, he only threw himself deeper into the pit of self-gratification. Gray did nothing to better society, in fact, his self-indulgent actions caused him to gain an infamous reputation, men were cold to him, women despised him, but he could not care less. The hedonism made Dorian jaded towards things that did not directly affect him, ultimately leading to his downfall, making him self-obsessed and susceptible to sin. While Gray's new lifestyle guided him to a dark path, it was his newfound morals and beliefs, prioritizing beauty over intellect, that enabled him to continue on the
It is Lord Henry who advocates the new hedonism as he believes "the senses could refine, and the intellect could degrade. Who could say where the fleshly impulse ceased, or the psychical impulse began?" (Wilde, 52). Lord Henry's eloquence and romanticization of new hedonism seduced Dorian's mind and he began to stop using his logic and reason to dictate his decisions, allowing his impulses and desires guide his life. This caused him to go to the theatre every night for months just to watch the "absolutely and entirely divine" Sibyl Vane (Wilde, 49), it also drove him to cultivate many beautiful fabrics, scents, and furniture as to surround himself with beauty, as "nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul" (Wilde, 18). These actions were just the beginnings for his new lifestyle after he dipped his toe into how carefree and fun hedonism can be, he only threw himself deeper into the pit of self-gratification. Gray did nothing to better society, in fact, his self-indulgent actions caused him to gain an infamous reputation, men were cold to him, women despised him, but he could not care less. The hedonism made Dorian jaded towards things that did not directly affect him, ultimately leading to his downfall, making him self-obsessed and susceptible to sin. While Gray's new lifestyle guided him to a dark path, it was his newfound morals and beliefs, prioritizing beauty over intellect, that enabled him to continue on the