The Picture of Dorian Gray,
published in 1891, was a response to aestheticism. This movement supported the
‘art for art’s sake’ doctrine – that art needs to serve no moral, religious or
political purpose and it aimed to free art from responsibility. This book is by
far one of my favourites.
Firstly, the preface. It is a list of
aphorisms dealing with art; Wilde states the ‘all art is quite useless’ and
warns against reading too much into art (as we all know some of us quite often
do) that ‘those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril’.
This is exactly what Dorian Gray does; he
treats life as if it were a work of art and places too much importance on
maintaining this belief. For example, when Sibyl Vane ceases to be interested
in art (when she acts badly), Dorian ceases to be interested in her.
There are two important works of art in the
novel, Basil’s painting and the Yellow Book. Despite the belief that art should
not serve a purpose – Dorian finds a purpose in both. The painting acts as a
mirror to his conscience, Dorian constantly finds himself compelled to keep
looking at it. This echoes Wilde’s statement in the preface in that ‘it is the
spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors’. Dorian sees himself in this
art he finds so beautiful and it is his vanity that one could argue to be the
cause of his downfall.
The role of influence plays a huge part in
this book. Both Basil and Lord Henry have a large influence over Dorian, and
both contribute to his ruin. Dorian is first introduced to us as child-like;
the narrator describes him as a lad ‘swinging round on the music-stool in a
wilful, petulant manner’ – presenting as a child like this suggests that Dorian
is more susceptible to manipulation than others may be. Basil completely
idolises Dorian Gray, he puts him on a pedestal and in his eyes Dorian can do
no wrong. By admiring his youth and beauty, Basil teaches Dorian that this is
all that will be important throughout his life.
Lord Henry has the most
influence over Dorian; he damns conventional morality and is constantly
bombarding him with all his theories, not to mention it is he who introduces
Dorian to the yellow book. Lord Henry is a really strong, influential character
but is ultimately quite static and boring, he doesn't actually do anything. Throughout the novel Lord
Henry is always lounging about, relaxing and playing with inanimate objects
whilst he is talking. Talking is all the Lord Henry does, and by the end of the
novel he becomes quite shallow; both Basil and Dorian undergo changes but Lord
Henry is just the same at the beginning of the book as he is at the end.
Because of this one can probably blame Dorian for allowing himself to be
influenced so much by this personality.
People’s reactions to Dorian in the novel
constantly highlight the superficiality of Victorian society. Because Dorian
always looks innocent, most of the people he is in contact with assume that he
is a good, kind man. We know this is simply not true. Dorian literally gets
away with murder because people are more willing to believe their eyes than
anything else, to look upon Dorian as a piece of art, instead of looking
beneath the surface.
