FREE ESSAY ON THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

I believe a great deal of thought went into the writing of this book. It is very detailed
and in addition, it is very hard to sustain an allegory throughout. The Picture of Dorian
Gray has many thought provoking phrases and paragraphs. There are many different literary
techniques used such as foreshadowing in the first two chapters in very subtle
undertones. Also used was a great amount of detail, which sets the mood for certain
scenes, such as when, during the painting of Dorian Gray's portrait, Dorian and Lord
Henry Wotton go into Basil Hallward's garden and converse. 
The author wrote the book as an attack on the British Aristocracy. It shows how the
upper-crust citizen cared about what showed on the outside and that they wanted to stay
ignorant to their souls. There are many, many hints as to this meaning in the book, for
example: Lord Henry's line in paragraph 15 of page 206, " I admit that I think it is
better to be beautiful than to be good." It explains how vain he was. I believe his
character was made so utterly absurd to represent the entire upper class of contemporary
London. Even the personal meaning of the corruption of Dorian Gray comes down to this one
point. 
Since the masterpiece took all of the wrinkles, lines, and decay from Dorian Gray, he
kept his youthfulness. This is what every upper-classed person would have loved...
eternal outer beauty. This actually saved his life, in reference to James Vane and his
revenge. Then, when he realized how horrible he had become, he ended his own life. The
whole reason James Vane went after Dorian Gray was because of his sister, Sibyl. 
I felt horribly disgusted over Dorian's outburst at Sibyl Vane on her last night. He was
in love with her acting, not her, and since she couldn't play a fake lover, because she
knew what real love felt like, he became ashamed even to know her and he did the only
thing that he thought of. 
Another aspect of the book is Carpe- Diem: to seize the day. After the portrait began to
change, Dorian Gray only wanted to have fun... no matter what the consequences.
I have to be honest, I had a very hard time with this book in the beginning, which is
stressed in my journal. Later on, certain things came into focus and I caught on. In
other words, I saw the light. I was trying too hard in the beginning, and I looked at in
the wrong "light"... both the book and the portrait. At first, I was confused, I didn't
know what the author was trying to say and it frustrated me. I was trying to find the
meaning of the portrait's changing, and how it fit in with a story about a man named
Dorian Gray. On one level, I realized the portrait was of his other side, his soul, just
as his persona represented the outer trappings of the British high society and, in
another light, the portrait represented the inner realism and decay of their culture.
His death meant a great deal to the story, because he finally realized his sins. He saw
the horrible things that were happening to people who were around him, and he understood
that all their problems/deaths could be ascribed to him. He got a true sense of his
conscience, and he knew what he had to do. That relates to the ending of the Victorian
Era because British society as a whole broke off some of its false veneer.