︵‿₊୧The Picture of
Dorian Gray ୧₊‿︵
What if I tell you that you can stay innocent and beautiful regardless of all the sins you commit ? What if you can conceal all your ugliness in a place where no one can reach but you? What if your face can reflect all the horrible things you’ve done? So many ifs in this masterpiece, and here is another book that reminds me why I love classics..
I don't even know where to start..this book is one of my favorites from now on. The painting still haunts my thoughts, and Dorian is one of those book characters who never let you live your life without having them in your mind. The novel opens in the place where most of the events will take place— the studio. What better word than this could describe an ekphrasis narrative? What I love most about the first word is not only that it sets the reader’s mind to what the novel is about, but it foreshadows the consequences of Basil’s artwork. Also, the first page is full of references to what our hero’s character looks like.. Oscar uses flowers and the scent of the lilac to highlight the delicate nature of Dorian himself. One would assume that the novel will be about a young woman who admires flowers and art; however, this is not what Wilde would write about. Dorian is a young&naive person who is easily influenced by others, aka, Henry. Our story begins with Basil painting a portrait of a wealthy, young man. The portrait ages while Dorian keeps his beauty. Frankly, it’s not about being young, it’s more about how the portrait represents his soul. For me, each one of us is a soul. You can lose your beauty, youth, legs, eyes, hands and so on and forth.. but, you can’t lose your soul unless you die. The Dorian portrait is the real Dorian—his soul. I can’t sum up all my thoughts, nor can I highlight most of the themes; however, I will focus on three main ideas in this novel: how this work reflects our life nowadays; how art plays a key role in this work; the struggle between who you are& how others see you.
When an individual is immersed in a society that worships wealth and physical perfection, the importance of personal morals completely declines. You cannot separate yourself from your surroundings.. Your environment has a sort of influence upon your life and your behaviors . Dorian is a young person who has everything society desires, and, on top of that, takes everything for granted. He is not afraid of losing his youth, nor is he afraid of getting old.. when one has a beautiful appearance, how much does it matter how one behaves behind closed doors? I think this is why humans age; just imagine the amount of pride that will consume us if we stay young forever! Just imagine how many horrible people will hide behind the curtain of beauty and innocence..Dorian gray comes as a timeless warning to never believe what you see, highlighting the truth of appearances . The shallowness of any society lies in its obsession with appearances, and this is what Wilde wants to criticize in his novel—how shallow society can be. No one could believe how Dorian is corrupted unless one sees his soul—the portrait. This is the crisis of our age..strange how a work written in the nineteenth century is the best to describe our life nowadays. People don’t care if their portrait(soul) reflects who they are, rather than how they look in society. We are like Dorian, trying to hide our portrait to keep people’s respect. Dorian’s portrait allows him to separate his body from his soul just like how we try to present our bodies without souls on social media. We post images from happy moments, yet cannot express how sad we were in the moment of posting them, and how we sometimes lose the meaning of life while we still smile..
When we talk about Dorian Grey, we should not forget to mention how this literary work portrays art&artists and their effects on others.
