Dorian Gray Morality

The Sensation of Morality Modern day culture is filled with clichés to “live in the moment” and “follow your dreams” as an attempt to be guided by the senses. To act only by the senses means to live without any burdens of society: obligations to be “good”, fear of regret, or rational reasoning. Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray embodies the concept of how living by the senses is pleasurable until the temptations are taken too far. Oscar writes that “There are moments, psychologists tell us, when the passion for sin, or what the world calls sin, so dominates a nature, that every fibre of the body, as every cell of the brain, seems to be instinct with fearful impulses” (Wilde 158). To seek sensation is to live out your passions, but behind every pleasure is the birth of sin. Sensations are uncontrollable, so without morality to act as guidance, every sinful temptation will be acted out.
Once Dorian sees the painting for the first time, he realizes how important, yet temporary, his beauty is. To Dorian, his beauty is his identity, and without it he is nothing. Because of this, Dorian envies the painting for its eternal beauty, and exclaims that he would “give [his] soul” to stay young while the picture “[grew] old” (Wilde 25). From this moment on, the painting of Dorian represents everything “old, horrible, and dreadful” that Dorian experiences (Wilde 25). However, Dorian does not realize that the painting will haunt him with the burden of regret and guilt. He is able to retain his shield that beauty, while everything that Dorian does is displayed in the