At one point in the story, Dorian mentions to his once good friend Basil that there is Heaven and Hell in him and that is what made him the way he is. When Dorian says this, he is stating that there is good and bad in everyone but the bad, or evil, is more profound at this point in time. However it is not Dorian’s fault he is the way he is; it is Lord Henry’s. The cynical old man introduced Dorian to the new way of life and made Dorian into his own psychological experiment by altering his life and keeping a close eye on him. Lord Henry prolongs his sick experiment by convincing Dorian that marriage is no good for you and the hedonistic life is where it is. This is very contradicting because Henry himself is married.
Dorian is responsible for the deaths of his friends in a couple of ways. The love of his life, Sybil Vane, took her own life because she cared for Dorian more than anyone did. The second Dorian snapped and realized how much power he had over her, he made it known that she was a terrible actress the night of her last performance because she embarrassed him in front of Lord Henry and Basil. After being humiliated by her husband, Sybil poisons herself and died of a broken heart but Dorian just brushes it off as if it never happened. Another life Dorian is responsible for is Basil. Now Basil was madly in love with Dorian ever since he made the beautiful portrait of Dorian that he put all his feelings into. No matter what Dorian did to Basil he still cared and loved him, until it was time to show Basil what had happened to his marvelous portrait. Not long after Basil gave the portrait to his love, Dorian sold his soul to the Devil for eternal youth and the portrait was then a symbol of his fraudulent soul. Dorian finally shows Basil the portrait of what once was a beautiful, innocent man but now is of a horrid, old, self-centered man. Basil makes his negative comments on the picture and Dorian is not pleased by all means. While Basil is turned around, Dorian grabs a knife and stabs him to death and hires Alan Campbell to get rid of the evidence. Speaking of Alan Campbell, he is another life Dorian is responsible for. Alan meets Dorian only a few hours after Basils’ murder and he refuses to remove of the body. So with Dorian being in a state of mid where he knows he can control anyone, decides to use black mail to get his way. Campbell chemically disposes of Hallward’s body and days later kills himself because of the pressure Dorian put on him.
Lord Henry is completely responsible for the death Dorian Gray because he assassinated his innocence just for his own fun. Before Lord Henry was introduced to Dorian, he was a naïve aristocrat and an archetype young male. Lord Henry proposed drugs, alcohol, and women to Dorian and also a yellow book that Dorian became fascinated with. He becomes so obsessed with it that he buys multiple copies of it in different colors to suit his mood that day. Lord Henry has also taught Dorian to not feel emotion. This is shown during Sybil and Basils’ deaths and how he does not care that many of his friends do not want to associate with him. However Dorian dies by taking his own life by stabbing the portrait (his soul) and dies the true man he was; self-centered, selfish, and just plain ugly.
Dorian Gray is a man who was corrupted out of pure joy from another egotistical aristocrat. Yes some would say that Dorian is responsible for the deaths of his friends and yes some would say Lord Henry is the cause of it all. However Dorian speaks the truth when he said “Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him”. It came through to him and it tragically ended his life and him true self.
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