Essay on Picture of Dorian Gray: Discovering Wilde -- Picture Dorian G

Discovering Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray can be defined as a symbolic representation of a dialectic between two aspects of Wildes personality. Dorian is an prototypic image by which both aspects are fascinated. This suggests that his behaviour symbolizes Wildes unconscious(p) (i.e. unacknowledged) attitudes. Dorian is characterized by his evasiveness and his fixation with objets dart. For example, when Basil comes to console him about Sibyls death, he is unwilling to discuss the matter. He does not want to admit the fortuity that his behaviour was reprehensible. He tells his friend If one doesnt talk about a thing, it has never happened. It is simply expression, as Harry says, that gives reality to things (107). Later, after murdering Basil, he again seeks to avoid acknowledging what he has done He felt that the orphic of the whole thing was not to realize the situation (159). Dorian escapes from all unpleasant realization by turning his att ention to other things. nonvoluntary to admit that his actions require moral implications, he seeks refuge in art. On hearing of Sibyls death, he accepts an invitaton, for that very evening, to go to the opera. He learns to see life history only from an aesthetic perspective. He reflects Form is absolutely essential to it. It should have the dignity of a ceremony, as well as its unreality, and should combine the gilded character of a romantic play with the wit and beauty that makes such(prenominal) plays delightful to us. (142) The consequence of this attitude is that he finds himself increasingly stepping outside his experiences in order to observe them from a distance. Instead of living his experiences more intensely, he finds himself o... ...It is worth noting that Wilde wrote of the characters in his only novel Basil Hallward is what I ideate I am Lord Henry what the world thinks me Dorian what I would like to be -- in other ages, perhaps (Letters, 352). Dorian personifies a conflict between Dionysian and Apollonian elements particularly fascinating to his creator. He has a passion for the colour, the beauty, the joy of life (40), but avoids becoming involved with both experience for fear of it causing him possible pain. Basils and Lord Henrys fascination with him represents Wildes obsession with a young dandy whose evasiveness and pseudo-aestheticism symbolize his own unconscious fears. Works Cited Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ed. Isobel Murray. London Oxford University Press, 1974. Wilde, Oscar. The Letters of Oscar Wilde. Ed. R. Hart-Davis. London Hart-Davis, 1962.