The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay Example for Free

The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay1.The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a young and beautiful military personnel named Dorian Gray who is frightened by the fact that he will in the end lose his fair looks and youth as he ages. Dorian Gray is the subject of a house painting by an artist, common basil Hallward. basil introduces Dorian Gray to noble enthalpy Wotton, who slowly begins to gain spectacularer influence on Dorian Gray. Lord total heat believes the only things worth pursuing in life ar cup of tea and fulfillment of the senses. at a time Dorian realizes that his good looks and youth will eventually fade away he decides to pledge his soul to his painting to ensure that the portrait will age and bear the burden of his infamy instead of himself.Shortly after doing so Dorian meets an actress named Sibyl Vane. He falls in love with her and they pass away engaged. But Sibyl decides to quit acting because of she believes she cannot pretend to love acting when sh e loves Dorian so much more. Once Dorian finds that Sibyl has quit acting he breaks the engagement and that night Sibyl hangs herself.After Sibyls death, Dorian begins a life of debauchery. Once rumors begin to sp fill of his infamous acts basil comes to Dorian to confront him nigh the rumors. forbidden of rage Dorian kills Basil and needs help disposing the body. After the murder Dorian is full of guiltiness and instead of repenting his sins he takes the knife he apply to stab Basil and stabs his picture instead. Dorians servants find Dorians portrait a beautiful picture of a young objet dart and their masters body lying on the floor. Dorians body is an grey-headed blemish man with a knife in his heart.2.The main characters in this story are Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward, and Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian Gray is an incredibly handsome and wealthy young gentleman whom Basil Hallward paints a picture of. Once Dorian meets Lord Henry he finds that his beauty will eventually fade an d pledges his soul to the painting Basil made. He soon begins a life of corruption.Basil Hallward is a painter who is infatuated with Dorians extreme beauty. He is the painter that creates Dorians painting that ages as Dorian doesnt. Basil is also a friend to Lord Henry Wotton.Lord Henry Wotton is a noble witty friend of Basil and later becomes a friend to Dorian as well. He eventually has a huge influence on Dorian and first puts Dorian in the mindset that beauty doesnt last for of all time.3.There are multiples themes in The Picture of Dorian Gray but the most central theme would be physical beauty and narcissism, and how they lead to self destruction.There are numerous situations of Dorian Gray hinting at narcissism. In the second chapter Dorian murmurs How sad it is I shall flummox old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this grumpy day of June.If it were only the other way If it were I who was to be always young , and the picture that was to grow old For that for that I would use everything Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give I would give my soul for that (pg28) This is when Dorian realized that his youth, his dazzling beauty, will not last forever. Dorian now realizes that he should treasure his youth more than ever. He also realizes would give up everything to go on his youthful beauty, even his soul. However, everything has a price to pay.Another example of Dorians narcissism in the book is on page 95 where Dorian blames Sibyl for the reason he ended their engagement. It was the girls fault, not his he had impression her great. Then she had disap fateed him. She had been shallow and unworthy. (pg95) Dorians attitude towards the expiration of his relationship with Sibyl shows how overconfident he is in his beauty and because of this overconfidence he loses the woman he loves.The last example of how narcissistic attitude leads to destruction is the decision of the story. In the end of the story Dorian ends up killing himself because of all the horrible things he had d unrivalled in his life. He stabs himself with the knife he used to kill Basil and once he kills himself he turns old and his picture becomes young again.4. Oscar Wildes penning style in The Picture of Dorian Gray uses a great deal of detail and an abundance of witty dialogue. Wilde uses Lord Henry to provoke humor with his theories on how life should be lived with only pleasure. more(prenominal) often though Wilde uses description to create the mood, tone, and setting of the story. Wilde describes each setting in the story with great detail making clear what he wants the picture of the setting to look like in ones head. On page 4 Wilde wrote As the painter looked at the gracious and comely act upon he had so skillfully mirrored in his art, a smile of pleasure passed across his face, and seemed about to linger there.In this description Wilde sets the mood, tone, and sett ing. He also describes each character with great detail. Lord Henry stroked his pointed brown beard, and tapped the toe of his patent-leather boot with a tasseled ebony cane. (pg11) Wildes descriptions of Lord Henry helps the reader create a better idea of what the characters are like and what they look like.Wilde wise point of view on the story gives insight to each of the character thoughts and reasoning behind their actions. With this point of view the reader can understand Dorians motives behind pledging his soul, breaking his relationship with Sibyl, and ending his life.5.The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the most intriguing and unique books I have ever read. The storyline of the story is unique itself because I dont believe Ive ever read a book about a man pledging his soul to a painting to preserve his youth. Dorian Grays character is invigorating. His selfishness made me want to both strangle him and continue reading throughout the entire story. Lord Henrys wit was strik ing and offensive but also thought provoking. The slight homosexuality between Basil and Dorian was humorous.Not only was the book full of interest viewpoints on life and rude behavior it was also enlightening. Although Dorian was selfish and wrong for pledging his soul so that he could stay young his thoughts are understandable. The notion that getting older isnt as satisfying as it may seem to others is an idea that I can relate with but I would never sell my soul for it. This book was well worth the read even though the beginning seemed diverseness of dry to me.