Be Careful What You Wish For

Eternal youth. It is a common topic in stories throughout time, one that appears in as early as the writings from Herodotus in Ancient Greece and is still alive today. Over the centuries, the idea has evolved to fit each story's need, but there is a common misconception at the first enticement of eternal youth: that it is a joyous, carefree existence. After all, one would never experience the horrors of watching their body and mind deteriorate. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde initially portrays Dorian with this mindset, only to have him reconsider his decision like countless of characters before and after him.

When a young, innocent Dorian Gray sits for a portrait done by Basil, he is unaware as to what the portrait will become. Add Lord Henry's sinful ideas into the mix, and Dorian pleads for the painting to grow old instead of him. As he is corrupted more and more by Lord Henry, using drugs and women at free will, the painting does exactly as he wishes, turning into a sinister form of the "perfect" Dorian. His physical self however, remains as youthful as ever, which becomes a point of contention among his friends.

There is a love that flows through the painting that is two-fold. Basil is entranced by Dorian's beauty, and initially is afraid to show anyone his work for fear that his feelings for the young man will be revealed. The painting also contains Dorian's love for himself, specifically for his youth. Plato would feel that the painting is simply a copy of the ideal beauty, and therefore feel that Basil has wasted his life away when he could have been doing something useful.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde's warning to all those that wish to posses eternal youth and beauty. While initially carefree, Dorian soon becomes obsessed with the paintings new form because of its horrific nature. He hides the painting away, yet that does not stop him from thinking about it or sneaking away to look at it. In Plato's writings, Diotima states, "at the sight of ugliness [beauty] frowns and contracts and has a sense of pain, turns away, and shrivels up..." (72). Dorian has a similar reaction viewing the painting. Finally fed up with the hold the painting has on him, he stabs the painting with a knife only to be killed, with the painting restored to its original, youthful state and Dorian in the older, sinister form that painting had. It is the true message of Dorian Gray to be young while you can, but to avoid looking for ways in which to stay young, because that leads to a life of misery. It is a message that in today's society of botox and plastic surgery should be embraced.

Twisted Shadows of Perfect Youth

    Oscar Wilde's  The Picture of Dorian Gray is an intricately composed criticism of human vanity and the folly of the young mind. The book follows the introduction and carefully orchestrated destruction of a perfect specimen of beautiful youth, revealing in his vices the darker points of desire and the sickening search for pleasure and happiness that plagues the human condition. The maestro of this ill-fated symphony of corruption manifests in the character that is Lord Henry Wotton. When Lord Henry first analyzes Dorian Gray, he describes the young man as Plato would describe any beautiful specimen: "Grace was his, and the white purity of boyhood, and beauty such as old Greek Marbles kept for us...Dryad-like, and not afraid, because in his soul who sought for her there had been wakened that wonderful vision, to which alone are wonderful things revealed: the mere shapes and patterns of things becoming, as it were, refined, and gaining a kind of symbolical value, as though they were themselves patterns of some other and more perfect form whose shadow they made real"(Wilde 34). Dorian is to Lord Henry the closest thing to Plato's vision of a perfect ideal, the universal as in when Plato stated "If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals." In this case, Dorian is the universal for young, naive beauty. What Lord Henry decides to do with this ideal model is what gives the story its sadistic draw. 


    Lord Henry plants in Dorian's mind a fear of maturation, and the seeds of corruption. One of the most dangerous ideas that is planted is this: "'The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.'" (Wilde 19). This, in combination with the notion that "'youth is the only thing worth having.'" (Wilde 21), is the slight blemish on Dorian Gray's innocent psyche that allows him to tear himself apart, piece by piece. As the reader pulls his or herself through the story, Dorian spirals more and more deeply into sin and waste, seeking out only things that he finds new and stimulating, while giving in to his rawest emotional desires. He even kills one he once regarded as a friend for little more than an opinion. 


    As the book comes to an end, one is left with a sense of something, once pure, that has been so twisted and deformed that it is a saddening thought to even consider, yet thought provoking and beautiful in its significance. 
    

Playdough

Plato wrote of a world of ideal forms, separate from the physical world (filled with forged copies of objects from the ideal world). In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde uses the character of Dorian Gray to explore how close to Plato's ideal world humanity can tread. Dorian is described as the expression of beauty itself, no mere copy. There is something in his countenance that entrances all those who look upon him. One such onlooker is a man called Lord Henry, who takes special interest in Dorian. Lord Henry wishes to take Dorian and his beauty on as his own experiment, to mold his personality into an ideal form (Henry's form) worthy of the body which encases it.

This project that Lord Henry takes on is much like that of Pygmalion in Pygmalion and Galatea. Dorian begins as something more than man, purer, like a face of white marble. Lord Henry chips off flecks of marble bit by bit, in order to create the form he desires and instill the correct emotion into the piece. He has complete control over the artwork. When the work is finished it is marveled at, for, to the beholder, it still holds all of the purity of the original slab even in  the human likeness. However, there is something within the stone that has changed- it's identity comes in question. Are the curves of the body real enough to caress or will the coldness of the stone turn away the hand? Out of this internal change, a man is born. But with this new birth, the aw of the stone is lost. I wonder if Pygmalion felt this way. For no man or woman will ever hold the beauty of the stone for very long.

The Picture of Dorian Gray shows the destruction of innocence and corruption of human weakness. It made me cringe to watch Dorian bend so easily under the greasy palm of Lord Henry. I do not believe that beauty is as frail as it was portrayed in this novel. The destruction of vanity does not cause stir in me, I would not call that beauty. Beauty is strength in spite of weakness. Dorian was strong when he was told he deserved to be so based on the vanity of the time, and weak almost constantly. I did not find him at all beautiful. He is mush, not Plato's ideal but playdough in a child's fingertips.

Motionless in Wonder

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wild, tells the story of a beautiful youth. He is happy to be young and beautiful and live his life, until he is convinced he will be worthless after his youth and looks fade. This young man, Dorian Gray, does not get caught up in his own looks until he is shown a portrait of himself. When he was first shown this picture, “A look of joy came into her eyes, as if he had recognized himself for the first time. He stood there motionless and in wonder” (24).  Dorian is mesmerized by the image of himself. It is easy to view this as an allusion to the story of Narcissus, a Greek man of great beauty. The very first time Narcissus saw an image of himself, in the manner of his reflection in a pool, he was entranced by his own beauty. Narcissus fell in love with his own beauty and became so obsessed with his imaged that he died because he was unable to stop gazing at his reflection.

Dorian Gray’s life parallels that of Narcissus, from the he stands “motionless and in wonder” at his own picture, to the moment of his death. Dorian’s downward spiral toward his death occurs because of his own image and beauty, though he does not stay physically staring at his portrait, he instead attempts to keep the beauty of the portrait on his actual visage, and as the youth captured in the picture. Yet like Narcissus, Dorian dies in front of his image.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde includes ornate imagery, adding detail after detail, creating an image-by-image picture of every scene for the reader. Stylistically, this makes the writing develop like a painting. Many people would view using prose that reflect the content of a story, in this case painting, to add to the beauty of it, however, if Greek Philosopher Plato were to review The Picture of Dorian Gray, he would find the writing style to detract from the book. In Book X of his work The Republic, Plato conveys his contempt for the artist. He expresses that the artist’s “creations have an inferior degree of truth” (41).  The inferiority of art’s truthfulness comes from the fact that artwork is merely an imitation of something more real.

Plato would look with scorn on Dorian Gray and Narcissus for falling for such imitations of their beauty, however his view of Oscar Wilde would be harsher. Wilde’s writing style, while trying to emulate painting, becomes in Plato’s view, an imitation of an imitation. Plato would therefore believe that only a minute amount of truth could possibly be represented in the work. He would view Dorian as having wasted away his life with no hope of finding truth. Plato would advise Dorian and Narcissus to leave their motionless wonder, and try to find the beauty of the real world. 

Got Morals?

The Portrait of Dorain Gray was a very interesting piece of literature. It was a great novel for the unit we're currently in, and overall it had a really strong message. It was a true testament towards the importance of inner beauty. Dorian did horrible things, breaking up with Sybil because she chose not act anymore for example, and his outer looks were never affected by it. That shows that a person can be aweful on the inside, but appear beautiful on the inside. I thought the portrait was a really cool representation of the change Dorian under goes during the novel. It's really a great metaphor for today's society. People are so wrapped up in achieving outer beauty, and neglecting what's truly important which is the person on the inside.

The overall style of the novel was beautiful to read. His usage of diction was well done. I thought he did a good job of developing the characters, and it's easy for the reader to hate Lord Henry, and have sympathy for Basil, and his hopeless lust over Dorian. I really like the capitalization of certain words in the text emphasizing their importance to the core meaning of the novel.

My experience reading Dorian Gray, was very different from my experience listening to and analyzing the love poetry. The love poetry spoke to the closet romantic within myself, and it brought me to an almost daydream state. It made me remember those butterfly feelings I had during previous romances, which was pleasant and innocent. Dorian Gray however was a much more cognitive experience for me. It allowed me as a reader to really reflect on how I view myself, and I how I view the world. It made me question my beliefs, and those of the characters. It was also alot more pessimistic than the love poetry when it came to romance which made it a little less fun. It wasn't as relatable as the love poetry, and when I was reading I didn't feel a strong connection to the characters as I typically do when I read a novel. There were characters I liked and didn't like, but none I could empathize with. Overall Dorian Gray was a very interesting, enjoyable book to read!

Aphrodite and Dorian

Aphrodite is known to the world as the goddess of love. She is the sheer essence of beauty, it is in her definition. Gods find themselves becoming attracted to her when ever she is around. In the classical mythology 179 has quoted Aphrodite as "the goddess of physical attraction and procreation." On the other hand she can act in cruel ways. Such as, turning a village of women into  prostitutes for not obeying her enough. Although, the man who is repulsed by such prostitutes was granted a wife by Aphrodite. It seems as though her will to do good and bad are equal. As for love, Aphrodite is capable of loving. She also is capable of only loving herself.

Dorian Gray is known from the book The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is remarked in almost every page of the novel that Dorian is a stunningly, beautiful person. This beauty is merely aesthetic. He is corrupt from beauty and does unpleasant things. He bares no sign of corruption on his face. Dorian stays as beautiful as he did when he was twenty. He has the will to do bad, yet at the same time he morns killing his friend and fiance. He thought he loved her, that was just beauty though.

Aphrodite and Dorian are unique symbols of love. They both are capable of loving and doing punishable deeds. I wonder what would happen if these two met. First Dorian would be entranced by Aphrodite's beauty and vice versa. Neither of them can resist beauty. Dorian, I believe, would become bewildered by his feelings for Aphrodite. Aphrodite would most likely do everything in her power to have Dorian. She could even put a spell upon him. Their love would be epic and godly. A half god half perfect human would be their child. With both of Aphrodite and Dorian obtaining unimaginable beauty, a lust for things which are beautiful and a dark side that prevails, it is hard to think these two wouldn't be an unimaginable force of entrancing desire and beauty.

Parallel Contradictions

There is a unique feeling and individual can get after reading such intellectually advanced works as Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Plato's Philosophies of Art and Beauty; and once that particular individual has spent a fairly great amount of time pondering the similarities and incongruities between the two. At first glance, the two pieces seem to be quite contradictory in manner. First, there is the romanticized view expressed by the characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray: "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul." This is spoked by Basil, the painter, to Lord Henry in regards to his portrait of Dorian Gray. The impressions that one receives from this is that Oscar Wilde's views of art are quite idealistic. At the beginning of reading excepts from Plato's works on Philosophies of Art and Beauty, one can fairly safely assume that Plato's views on art are nothing like those of Oscar Wilde.
On the subject of imitators (i. e. artists), Plato states: "... we are pretty well agreed that the imitator has no knowledge worth mentioning of what he imitates. Imitation is only a kind of play or sport." Plato shows a clear distain for those who practice art. This would apparently contrast the views of art in Wilde's novel, but once one continues into the works, they turn from contradictory to an odd sort parallel. 
In the latter half of The Picture of Dorian Gray, the portrait of the book's namesake has become a curse of sorts, and the beauty has turned sour. Without revealing too much about the ending, Wilde expresses that: "Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame. That is all." Wilde at this point in the tale would most likely agree more with Plato's view of art. Art is imitation, and cannot be worthy of being the focus of a person's life force. Both authors might agree that art can never be truly beautiful, because it will always be overshadowed by the ideals of the human psyche.