Dorian Gray syndrome

that we were ever young; / It is to add, immured/ In the hot prison of the present, month/ To month with weary pain” (Arnold 21-25). Similar to Dorian Gray, the speaker would do anything to stay young and beautiful, aware of the better life one can live in society. During the late Victorian Era, there was an immense pressure put upon people to maintain their beauty. Aestheticism was an ongoing movement where individuals only had a value in society if they had a youthful appearance. Pressure to…

Miss Julie is naturalistic play written by August Strindberg in 1888. A naturalistic piece is a more extreme form of realism that is defined as “An avant-garde movement, which flourished between 1880 and 1914, that portrayed heredity and environmental factors as the primary causes of human behavior through the accurate rendition of external realities,” explains editor Tobin Nellhaus. Miss Julie contains these naturalistic elements as it takes place in real time and focuses heavily on survival of…

Known as the ‘Russian Byron’, Mikhail Lermontov is revered for his radical interpretation of the Romantic antihero in A Hero of Our Time. He sought to fashion “a portrait built up from the vices of our whole generation” (Lermontov, preface), to create a character who would embody the spirit of the contemporary Russian man. In what would be his only prose work, Lermontov employs traits commonly associated with the Byronic hero as the basis for the character of his protagonist, Pechorin, such as…

Introduction Morality is one who conforms and follows the moral standards. The main protagonist named Jean-Batiste Grenouille in the novel Patrick Süskind, Perfume: the story of a murderer, defies such standards. The character is a man obsessed with scent and strives to acquire what he identifies as the “master scent”. In order to obtain such scent Grenouille commences murderous behavior upon young victims, specifically virgin girls as he is lured by the purity in their aroma. Set in 18th…

In The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde the author explores the close ties between beauty and corruption through his use of the character Lord Henry and his beliefs, the dramatic irony throughout Dorian Gray’s life, and the use of the imagery of the painting of Dorian Gray. One of the first characters the reader is introduced to in the book is Lord Henry. He immediately comes off as arrogant…

performance of exaggerated personalities led to Wilde’s Dandyism: his actions and words had impact on the society Wilde surrounded himself with, but were rather meaningless for Wilde himself. Dandyism is also an important aspect of “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, expressed first through the character of Lord Henry Wotton and it later also shows in the spoiled soul of…

Picture of Dorian Gray has been adapted into many film, T.V. shows, and specials since its publication. Detail changes in the movie adaptation Dorian Gray (2009) portrays a more innocent Dorian than The Picture of Dorian Gray. From the beginning, Dorian Gray creates sympathy for the title character by emphasizing his traumatic childhood. The film shows awful scars across Dorian’s back while Basil is painting him, encouraging the audience to pity the young boy. In addition, Dorian has…

23 March 2016 Very rough draft What is the definition of a monster? Is it a slimey creature that hides in the closets of children, or perhaps creature with teeth sharper than steak knives? Nearly infinite definitions exist, but The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley help to paint a clear picture of what a monster actually is. Frankenstein and Lord Henry are used to show that a true monster is someone that ruins the lives others either through negligence or…

of that struggle. Doubles give the reader an inside perspective into the minds’ of William Wilson and Dorian Gray. William Wilson’s struggles with vice and challenge to his authority are exposed by his double, and Dorian Gray’s challenges with vanity and self-indulgence are exposed by his. Through this motif, the reader is shown how the characters’ of “William Wilson” and The Picture of Dorian Gray attempt to understand and resolve the conflict between one’s internal ideal and less ideal…

Both Dorian Gray and the Narrator of Fight Club when introduced do not have very strong personalities even though they are considered main characters. Dorian Gray is a young, high class individual who follows England laws and is seen as a very innocent and morally good individual until he realizes he is beautiful. The Narrator of Fight Club is a middle class, law abiding citizen who realizes his life is very dull and desires for a different life altogether. Both characters make a form of wish…