Dorian Gray Character Analysis Focusong on the Theme of Homosexuality
‘Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.’ – Oscar Wilde in a letter[1]
It is a recognized fallacy to equate the experiences of an author with those of a fictional character, even if said character happens to be the protagonist of the author’s most influential work. Nevertheless, there are some cases when this line of thought may be justified: not in the way of mindlessly attributing every physical event of a book to the life of its author, but in the sense of parallels and the personal, social and ethical circumstances under which the literary work was created. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray can indeed be seen as such a case. Although most of the novel’s plot can hardly be construed as an autobiography, the situation in which it was composed all but predetermined its themes and overall message to have a significance above and beyond the realm of harmless fiction.
A basic overview of the book’s characters is necessary as our starting point. Dorian Gray is a symbol of self-absorbed youth, initially innocent, loved yet unloving and possessing a beauty entirely at odds with his personality which becomes progressively more corrupt. He is faced with the decision between following the hedonistic Lord Henry who, incidentally, triggers the decay of Dorian’s soul by passing the notion of eternal youth on to him, and the painter Basil Hallward who personifies unselfish love and devotion. Dorian, of course, picks the former and completes this choice by eventually murdering Basil, thus losing all remaining links to Basil’s principles before causing his own destruction by stabbing the hideously disfigured portait of his own true self. The apparent moral of the story is uncontested: it is the state of the soul that really matters, not the temporary beauty of a young man afraid of age. On the whole, there is no direct conflict with
It is a recognized fallacy to equate the experiences of an author with those of a fictional character, even if said character happens to be the protagonist of the author’s most influential work. Nevertheless, there are some cases when this line of thought may be justified: not in the way of mindlessly attributing every physical event of a book to the life of its author, but in the sense of parallels and the personal, social and ethical circumstances under which the literary work was created. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray can indeed be seen as such a case. Although most of the novel’s plot can hardly be construed as an autobiography, the situation in which it was composed all but predetermined its themes and overall message to have a significance above and beyond the realm of harmless fiction.
A basic overview of the book’s characters is necessary as our starting point. Dorian Gray is a symbol of self-absorbed youth, initially innocent, loved yet unloving and possessing a beauty entirely at odds with his personality which becomes progressively more corrupt. He is faced with the decision between following the hedonistic Lord Henry who, incidentally, triggers the decay of Dorian’s soul by passing the notion of eternal youth on to him, and the painter Basil Hallward who personifies unselfish love and devotion. Dorian, of course, picks the former and completes this choice by eventually murdering Basil, thus losing all remaining links to Basil’s principles before causing his own destruction by stabbing the hideously disfigured portait of his own true self. The apparent moral of the story is uncontested: it is the state of the soul that really matters, not the temporary beauty of a young man afraid of age. On the whole, there is no direct conflict with
Bibliography: McKenna, Neil. The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde. London: Arrow Books, 2004. Shakespeare, William. The Sonnets. Prague: Levné Knihy KMa, 2008. Summers, Claude J. ‘Wilde, Oscar (1854 – 1900).’ glbtq.com. 1995, 2002. New England Publishing Associates. 6 Jan. 2009 http://www.glbtq.com/literature/ wilde_o.html. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. Wilde, Oscar. The Portrait of Mr W. H. in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. Wilde, Oscar. The Sphinx in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. ----------------------- [1] Neil McKenna, The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde (London: Arrow Books, 2004) 172. [2] Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003) 155. [17] Oscar Wilde, The Sphinx in The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003) 876. [26] Claude J. Summers, ‘Wilde, Oscar (1854 – 1900),’ glbtq.com, 6 Jan. 2009 http://www.glbtq.com/literature/ wilde_o.html. [27] The pun goes ‘A man in hue all hues in his controlling,’ where ‘hues’ is pronounced the same way as ‘Hughes’. William Shakespeare, The Sonnets, (Prague: Levné Knihy KMa, 2008) 22.