The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay Example for Free

The Picture of Dorian color in Essay1.The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a young and beautiful troops named Dorian Gray who is frightened by the fact that he will eventually lose his veracious looks and youth as he ages. Dorian Gray is the subject of a pic by an artist, sweet basil Hallward. sweet basil introduces Dorian Gray to Lord enthalpy Wotton, who slowly begins to gain immenseer influence on Dorian Gray. Lord Henry believes the only things worth pursuing in life are viewer and fulfillment of the senses. Once 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 portraiture 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 pay off engaged. But Sibyl decides to quit acting because of she believes she cannot pretend to love acting when she loves Dorian so much to a gre ater extent. Once Dorian finds that Sibyl has quit acting he breaks the mesh topology and that night Sibyl hangs herself.After Sibyls death, Dorian begins a life of debauchery. Once rumors begin to spread of his infamous acts Basil comes to Dorian to confront him astir(predicate) the rumors. come in of rage Dorian kills Basil and needs help disposing the body. After the murder Dorian is full of guilt and instead of repenting his sins he takes the knife he use to stab Basil and stabs his picture instead. Dorians servants find Dorians portrait a beautiful picture of a young small-arm and their masters body lying on the floor. Dorians body is an old disfigured man with a knife in his heart.2.The master(prenominal) 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 and pled ges 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 invariably.3.There are multiples themes in The Picture of Dorian Gray but the most central theme would be physiological 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 set about old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June.If it were only the other way If it were I who was to be always yo ung, and the picture that was to grow old For that for that I would fleet 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 save 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 thought her great. Then she had queer him. She had been shallow and unworthy. (pg95) Dorians attitude towards the ending 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-place example of how narcissistic attitude leads to destruction is the ending of the stor y. In the end of the story Dorian ends up killing himself because of all the horrible things he had through with(p) 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 committal to writing 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 biliousness with his theories on how life should be lived with only pleasure. More 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 form 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 setting. 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 tasselled 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 passim the entire story. Lord Henrys wit was striking a nd offensive but also thought provoking. The slight homosexuality between Basil and Dorian was humorous.Not only was the book full of interesting 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 pleasurable 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 pleasant of dry to me.