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.
Plato...playdough funny. and I agree that Dorian was manipulated by Lord Henry but is Dorian shaped by his actions or Lord Henry's suggestions? it seems that though Lord Henry implanted the first idea and encouraged Dorian to degrade he could not have possible moulded Dorian's soul. only dorian could have done that. he chose to be corrupted and give into temptation, to yield to the voice of the devil. He made is friends addicts, and ruined destroyed lives. Henry could not even imagine the depths of Dorian's debauchery and corruption and could not influence a soul so far over on the dark side. Henry towed the line with his talks of morals but Dorian went places henry did not follow and therefore was no longer under his influence at all. I reiterate, Henry may have been a supporting beam, but Dorian was the architect of his life and therefore his soul and it's eventual demise.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your comparison between Galatea and Dorian. The idea of Dorian being a statue carved by Lord Henry was well done and very apt. I would have liked to hear more about your ideas on the eternal nature of stone and Dorian's seemingly eternal youth that you hinted at in the last sentence of he paragraph. I also really liked your line "The destruction of vanity does not cause stir in me, I would not call that beauty. Beauty is strength in spite of weakness." It is a very different approach to beauty than we have taken in class and in most of our readings, and it is a nice contrast.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed your continual reference to Lord Henry chipping away his own marble to create the ideal Dorian. However, I question when you say that there was complete control over Dorian. Don't you feel that, although Lord Henry has mildly corrupt intentions, he would not wish to kill his friend? If there was complete control, then wouldn't Basil's life have been spared? I strongly agree with your definition of beauty as a strength in spite of weakness. It gives a definition that allows for many forms of beautiful objects. I leave you with one last thought: because Dorian was once so pure and innocent, almost ideal in fact, that was the reason it was so easy for him to fall victim Lord Henry's sculpting hands as apposed to someone who had some experience with a seedier society?
ReplyDeleteAn excellent post, if I say so myself. You used excellent imagery in your description of Lord Henry's manipulation of Dorian. It truly was a long, but measured process. Each conversation was another small stroke of Henry's masterpiece. While the individual exchanges may have seemed relatively harmless, the combined effect was catastrophic to Dorian and led to his self-destruction. It was truly an expertly planned corruption. Great post!
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