How Is Dorian Gray Morally Evil
Cheyenne Moore
World Literature
Ms. Demmer-Freeman
17 February 2014
Dorian Gray: A Zombie of Fine Sensibilities To describe the walking dead all of the following apply: soulless, insatiable hunger, actions based purely on instinct; these qualities combined, with or without the rotting flesh, make a zombie but also can be readily applied to the main character of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The novel analyzes the value of beauty and pleasure and poses a very interesting contradiction between the traditional views of morality and quality of life. Dorian, an aesthetic young man, is tempted into vice, thus selling his soul for eternal beauty. In the late 19th century, Saul Kripke: a philosopher, proposed the idea of philosophical …show more content…
Dorian Gray is the prior. Upon meeting Dorian, Lord Henry immediately observes “All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth 's passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him” (Wilde 17), the most important word being purity. Dorian does not have a sense of right or wrong at the beginning of the novel because he simply looks onto the world. It is not reflected on him in anyway because Dorian is, in short, in capable of perceiving on his own, lacking the sentience to do so. He simply does, drifting from (presumably) male figure to male figure seeking some sort of attention and guidance; he does not act, he only responds to the world around him. Basil Hallward, a painter, admires Dorian for his beauty – but it is neither the scarlet lips nor the golden hair that attracts him but rather the blankness of his soul, and that is the first hint that our protagonist is, in fact, as zombie. Basil tells Lord Henry, “Dorian Gray is to me simply a motive in art. You might see nothing in him. I see everything in him. He is never more present in my work than when no image of him is there” (Wilde 13). Henry will see nothing because nothing is present. He is a walking piece of art, thoughtless, though responding as human might and that is what attracts both Basil Hallward and Lord Henry to Dorian like moths to light. His personality is something that cannot be comprehended by either man, because it lacks the components of personality to begin with. However, as all great novels require a plot, Henry seeks to color the boy’s snow white mind with qualia of the darkest
World Literature
Ms. Demmer-Freeman
17 February 2014
Dorian Gray: A Zombie of Fine Sensibilities To describe the walking dead all of the following apply: soulless, insatiable hunger, actions based purely on instinct; these qualities combined, with or without the rotting flesh, make a zombie but also can be readily applied to the main character of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The novel analyzes the value of beauty and pleasure and poses a very interesting contradiction between the traditional views of morality and quality of life. Dorian, an aesthetic young man, is tempted into vice, thus selling his soul for eternal beauty. In the late 19th century, Saul Kripke: a philosopher, proposed the idea of philosophical …show more content…
Dorian Gray is the prior. Upon meeting Dorian, Lord Henry immediately observes “All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth 's passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him” (Wilde 17), the most important word being purity. Dorian does not have a sense of right or wrong at the beginning of the novel because he simply looks onto the world. It is not reflected on him in anyway because Dorian is, in short, in capable of perceiving on his own, lacking the sentience to do so. He simply does, drifting from (presumably) male figure to male figure seeking some sort of attention and guidance; he does not act, he only responds to the world around him. Basil Hallward, a painter, admires Dorian for his beauty – but it is neither the scarlet lips nor the golden hair that attracts him but rather the blankness of his soul, and that is the first hint that our protagonist is, in fact, as zombie. Basil tells Lord Henry, “Dorian Gray is to me simply a motive in art. You might see nothing in him. I see everything in him. He is never more present in my work than when no image of him is there” (Wilde 13). Henry will see nothing because nothing is present. He is a walking piece of art, thoughtless, though responding as human might and that is what attracts both Basil Hallward and Lord Henry to Dorian like moths to light. His personality is something that cannot be comprehended by either man, because it lacks the components of personality to begin with. However, as all great novels require a plot, Henry seeks to color the boy’s snow white mind with qualia of the darkest