The work of Oscar Wilde entitled «The Portrait of Dorian Gray» is mainly about the influence that receives a handsome young protagonist named Dorian by his two friends named Basil Hallward (the painter who created the portrait on which will turn largely plot) and Lord Henry Wotton (a friend counsellor). Between the two, get the protagonist ends are inquiring about the New Hedonism, wishing Dorian subsequently be young forever, without aging one iota over time. His interest in the eternal beauty is such that will sell your soul to the devil just to get it. This is where we are introduced to the priority outside than the inside one, through the valued beauty. Later, he will meet Sibyl Vane, a young actress who falls in love and with which he announced his commitment to marriage, but to finally be angry for a theatre audition, the woman will commit suicide for having been rejected and humiliated for which she would have been able to leave her own professional work.
Thereafter, it is when you start to glimpse the core of the novel. After the suicide of the woman, Dorian discovers that the previously painting portrait painted by Basil Hallward had had a slight change all of a sudden with cruelty in the eyes of its own expression. Gradually, the hero will fall in superficial pleasures, languishing in bad habits and as the protagonist is losing more and more with the passage of time, the portrait will be at the same time changing and modifying into something grotesque for the look. Later, Dorian ends up asking his friend Basil for advice about the decadent behaviour was going on, coming to show the tainted paint with all the evil deeds he had done after Dorian wanted to be young forever, through the selfishness of his own speed to belittle those who surrounded him in places he frequented. After a heated discussion between Basil and the protagonist, Dorian eventually kills his own friend in a situation of total loss of reason, showing at the same time the need for moral principles to find fit complicated situations. Finally, in despair at what he had done, Dorian decides to stab his own portrait, killing himself and destroying the paint exchanged at that moment, the beauty of the protagonist with painting the picture, becoming the protagonist in a being absolutely grotesque, ugly and corrupt.
The predominant themes in the play are: the corrupting influence because they are the friends of the protagonist who I convince him to end thinking like them with regard to superficial beauty; the main obsession of Dorian and most importantly for him, hedonism, with the egocentric attitude that incapacitates the subject to relate to others unless it is to exploit and satisfy your desire for pleasure; the Carpe Diem , dropping into all sorts of vices and making the most time ; narcissism, loving to himself above all, to the point of not wanting anything but kept as it appears in its own box; egocentricity, thinking himself the center of the world and caring only for himself; the marriage, being considered by the character of Lord Henry as that which causes losing our own personality and our own existence; eternal youth, as that idyllic to achieve in life; fear, through the panic of the protagonist in the confrontation that took with Basil when he wanted to see the painting as well as the paranoia that someone discovered the truth about the box itself, believing that the world would turn against him. Also noteworthy is that this feature of the work is part of the typical elements of gothic, and coincides in turn with horror novel, characterized by fear on the part of the protagonist as in the moment when Dorian was about to teach painting to his friend , whom he eventually kills. Also highlight paranoia situations by the protagonist, which are mixed with a sense of panic that would cause Dorian winding down choose to destroy the painting that theoretically it should have brought happiness, and that it had only brought him arrogance, fear, madness and despair; the excess as a negative issue, because when Dorian starts making all sorts of vices, he ends up regretting it and trying to get out from that bad life; Epicureanism by the protagonist, who only wanted a smart management of pleasures and pains with achieve a happy and pleasant to the destination without worry of destruction that was heading towards the life aestheticism , highlighting the work for the exaltation that is about beauty through art , rising even above the very moral and social issues ( such philosophical foundation was established by Immanuel Kant) .
I would highlight as well the existing analogy between the work of Dare Wilde entitled to Goethe’s «Faust,» in which the protagonist of the same comes to sell his soul for knowledge and power, this is to say, worldly goods. The same happens with the work on which this paper is focused, as the central character, Dorian, chooses to sell his soul in exchange for his portrait outside grow old in his place. Similarly, the character of the protagonist friend Lord Henry, would take the role of the Devil, trying to persuade and convince Dorian on his own perspectives of life through the exquisite and strong oratorical persuasiveness with a young inexperienced in life, looking for a model for the rest of his life. It would be here that the process of corruption would begin by the protagonist finally ending in pure tragedy and unhappiness.
Regarding the analysis of the characters stand for the following work: Dorian Gray, the main character and protagonist of the story, which we presented at first as a young man of seventeen, blond, blue eyes, with something shyness and naivety but gradually it will become something despicable, both for the London society of the time, as if to himself at the end of the work, because of the conversation held with Lord Henry about eternal youth, boundless beauty, as well as the consequences of the loss of that beauty. Prioritize pleasure over everything and its own beauty and physical attractiveness, not caring the opinion of others, who considered irrelevant to their own happiness, Lord Henry, best friend of Dorian and know the protagonist’s hand Basil. Henry stands in the work for his wisdom and culture, his ideals are able to convince most people by talking to them, appearing as someone with great intelligence and ease of speaking. We were shown during the play, continually talking with Dorian about various matters of all kinds of class, Basil Hallward, cold and completely dedicated to painting character, will be responsible to paint the picture of Dorian by the attraction he felt for the protagonist for his young age and company. Later, Dorian would blame him for all their woes have painted that picture, killing him in a fit of anger by Dorian; Sibyl Vane, refined and beautiful actress who ended up deeply in love with Dorian. Although it is presented as a character with little presence in the work in general, her importance is very relevant to the story line, because with her suicide for having talked to Dorian is when the first change in the protagonist’s painting will come out all of a sudden, and a Dorian’s change of habits and customs for Sibyl’s death .
Moreover, the secondary but no less important characters are: Lady Narborough , which will be both a woman friend Lord Henry as Dorian Gray; Lord Fermor, who is Lord Henry ‘s uncle and was the one who gave him precisely household information on the family and the origins of Dorian Gray, with the intention of knowing how to approach better the young man who was going to try to manipulate by his high oratory; Alan Campbell, friend on top of the protagonist, but ultimately he will stop being his friend when Alan is forced to dispose of the body of Basil Hallward Dorian had murdered; James Vane, who was the younger brother of Sibyl Vane, the woman who would eventually fall in love with Dorian Gray and would end up committing suicide in a fit of helplessness and rejection because of Dorian’s contempt. This character will keep a grudge to Dorian to have forced his sister to commit suicide indirect way, so he had become a cold and impatient person who just wanted to meet the man who wounded his beloved older sister.
In regard to contextual analysis, the novel is set in nineteenth century Europe, with an atmosphere of perceived decadence throughout the whole work, along with the presence of contemporary bourgeoisie associated all turn to the time Victorian. Notably turn historical contextual relevance of the Industrial Revolution through the fields of knowledge of science and technology as well as the sought recognition of the rights of women.
For analysis of style, it prioritizes passion, theatrical and dramatic force with the gradual decline of the English school of the Victorian era. Oscar Wilde indirectly criticizes the moral of the contemporary bourgeoisie, which sought to control and supervision by the writings of the time, and turn the control theatre and other arts into teaching mere instruments of control, in order to preserve their own interests at the expense of anybody. It will also highlight more French vocabulary in some technicalities by the British, who used such words from France to denote a high cultural and social level. At the same time, the work shows a linear time for most of the course of the story, the protagonist with specific memories of past events. Also, from a more global perspective, the work is itself a drama with multiple parallels, as the infatuation Dorian (English aristocrat class, very sceptical) with Sibyl (working class , with little recognition or social prestige, near economic) poverty.
In relation to the analysis of form, the predominant narrator over the course of story is clearly omniscient and knows everything that the characters think about who turns the plot, even knowing past events or their moods, even though the characters try to pretend a different state of mind when they actually have it. It’s notably the same way in relation to the narrator, the use of the third person during each of their interventions. The language used during the account belongs to a high social rank in Victorian society exposed by Oscar Wilde in his work, and the characters themselves belong to a high social class, making it the dominant language in worship dialogues, and its use is an example of persuasive social status and only available to the most elite areas.
Also, we are able to see several literary figures such as the case of: Epicureanism, which is defined as «philosophical system that defends the search for a good and happy life through intelligent management of pleasures and pains.» Also defended the opposition body-soul and sought above all tranquillity in life to get sole purpose in life, achieving a prosperous, happy and pleasant life that the fears of future are relegated to the background. Also noteworthy is aestheticism, which was an English movement of the late nineteenth century, based on the belief that art exists to exalt and make a defence of all that and it was thought the movement should be even higher beauty itself above the moral and social issues, concerned only the happiness of human beings in the society, and the initial reactions of most direct way against materialism that was beginning to emerge in the UK end of that nineteenth century through the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Also, Realism was a literary movement emerged in France that will eventually spread to Europe and America, especially in novels and plays. It Highlighted because of its accurate reflection of society and contemporary reality with full objectivism, without naming if you want a personal or extra testing. Its basic and most common characteristics are: the problems of existence because of the great difference between rich people and poor people, but those who were in power had not any intention to solve hunger and discomfort of their own people, who are victim because of the system imposed by them; when describing in depth, he seeks to address the issues in a very precisely way at any character’s turn to speak; direct opposition between literary realism and fantasy literature and the complaint by the author of these evils of society, offering the reader even ways to mitigate the evils in situations criticized in the works. Notably realism is clearly opposed against romanticism, which by writers who believed that drafting new literary works should occur only in moments of inspiration and occasional brilliance, considering a work written in this way as something unique and. Later will come out a break of realism with romanticism through the revolutionary failures of 1848, agreeing a social subject and focusing on everyday life as a central axis around which it would turn all works. They also employ a more critical and severe expression with what the writer did not like and more colloquial, in order to achieve greater dissemination among the ordinary people language, not only the high places which would not change anything because they were not interested in least. Therefore emphasize strong criticism against the evils and sufferings of contemporary society of that time, in which the author was siding with the needy through his writings to try to convince and educate the wealthy to contribute a little help against so many needed. Furthermore, it would be used the same way the epithet, based on the use of first names or nicknames, as in the example of «Mother, you loved my father so much like me to Prince Charming» (Sybil Vane) .
Therefore, we can see from a more global perspective, the interest in contemporary society for beauty, youth, being considered one of the most prestigious gifts of life, being emphasized to the point of making the cockiness arise and even young narcissism. As we will see throughout the story, the author of the work will seek to convey precisely the word «narcissism» to show us the simile emerged between myth and the character of his own work, Narcissus. The tale of Narcissus is about a young man of great beauty who rejects the nymph Echo by despising her and later he will end up cursed by the goddess Nemesis, symbolizing hatred and revenge. Later in the story, Narcissus has to drink from a fountain, and when seeing his own reflection on water surface, he ends up in love with his own reflection, jumping into the water in order to reach it, but dying eventually drowned. All this would show us the correlation between the contempt of Narcissus and Dorian with the fateful death in the fountain and in the painting, based on an exaggerated obsession and superficial appearances, reaching harm to their circles more close to end in deep crisis and despair. No doubt Oscar Wilde wanted to do a review. Similarly it made a strong nod to the beauty and art when outside in the chapter in which Dorian Sibyl goes to visit the theatre, just rejecting it, because as Lord Henry later will point out, Dorian was in love with art and beautiful surface of the artist, not with the artist herself. This proved that the alleged relationship between the protagonist and Sibyl was purely an illusion, which broke down when Dorian became angry with the woman in a brutal way having purposely wrongly interpreted his performance, with the ultimate goal of being next to Dorian to have been her bachelor’s theatre company where he worked. For sorry fate, Sibyl will opt for suicide because she had been really in love with a man who only cared about appearances, illusions, ideals of beauty and his own interest in the satisfaction without the least regard what others think. This is just another example in which Oscar Wilde showing us the strong criticism of London society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, showing even the very corruption of the ethical values of a person through his protagonist principal, Dorian Gray. Similarly, we could consider the character of Lord Henry as the devil himself, a devil incarnate in contemporary real life all the luxuries and concerns of the citizens of that period in social status and reputation in their private social circles, looking only his own distraction, like Dorian and transcending if anything, to our contemporary society of XXI century.
Similarly, in the context of the author were booming remarkable innovative changes such as rail, improved mail service and even the telegraph. Such technological inventions improved communication counties of Britain, emerging optimistic mindset change and wellbeing among contemporary. These reasons among others may have encouraged Oscar Wilde to launch a review of appearances based on the huge difference in purchasing power between rich and poor in a time when communications were beginning to bloom and information dissemination was to agenda.
Finally we can see how the values of the wonder and beauty seek to focus all our attention on dealing with someone in a layer of superficiality, whose main objective is to pretend to be what we are not and finally we achieve grow our ego to hide our weaknesses and defects against others. All this contemporary society, whose main objective is to transform ourselves because of a behaviour rule introduced into our subconscious through TV and other media today, gradually leads to a complete loss of identity and own values just to deceive others and ourselves. These so utterly hypocritical behaviours cause ultimately selfish and egocentric feelings sufferers, eventually taking over the generalized values of society itself and serving the wrong model to new generations. We are facing off a snake biting its tail end.
With interest in the appearance and beauty, also affects us our ethical values, provoking the absolute rejection and lack of interest for other problems, simply because we are not interested and do not seek to complicate our lives to try to change something for the better. Current manipulators, TV and other media that give us the fashions, accessories to dress for every season, and new trends consumables, cause we’re done worrying about promotional offers, rather than in the more disadvantaged by poverty and famine. By renouncing the interest of focusing on what happens abroad, superficiality and unnecessary fully seize our goals and values, making the inability to think for ourselves. All this caused by the shallowness of people, in turn enhanced by the powers in the economic, political and media shadow. As I said, to limit ourselves to the shallowness of the exterior, also limit ourselves to the superficiality of interior, letting others think for us for their own benefit, not for ours. As a result, we face a generalized values of individual competition a huge losing our own values, creating a totally self-centred and envious of what the other company has. We therefore an illusion that promised happiness when we deceive ourselves and with which we interact socially, but instead, we trapped in the spiral of consumerism, materialism and superficiality.
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