Romeo and Juliet

Art: A Pool of Reflection Art, to each person represents something different. For some, art expresses their innermost desires and their ideals and some see their own reflection in art. Through the use of art as a reflection of the spectator’s personality, Oscar Wilde conveys to the readers his own opinion about art. In the book, The Picture of Dorian Gray, art reflects he characters themselves, their morals and their ideals. Just like its characters, art constantly transforms and takes the shape of the ones around it. Art in this novel has also been used as a reflection of one’s innermost desires. The reality of characters like Dorian and Basil are no more than a manifestation of their own values, and correspondingly, art reflects that. Irrefutably, the most important work of art in this book features Dorian Gray’s magnificent superficial beauty. In the beginning, Oscar Wilde shows the readers that Dorian’s portrait, just like him expresses, “a wonderful work of art, and a wonderful likeness as well” (Wilde 26). Through the relationship between the portrait and Dorian Gray himself, Oscar Wilde conveys to the readers that art stands as a reflection of a person. He shows the readers that in the beginning, the portrait mirrors Dorian Gray’s innocence, superficial beauty, inner beauty and his youth. Just like Dorian, the portrait is young, alive and full of youth. Then, Wilde shows the readers that just like a human grows and changes, the art around the person grows and takes the shape of the person. For example later on in the book, Dorian starts to become corrupt and evil and the portrait starts to mirror his inner personality or his soul. Oscar Wilde shows the readers that just like Dorian transforms into a heartless and corrupt person, his portrait also develops, “ a look of cunning, and … the curved wrinkle of a hypocrite” (Wilde 208). Through this melancholy and grim description of the portrait, Oscar Wilde shows the readers that Dorian’s actions caused the portrait to change and reflect his evil and corrupt personality. Next, Wilde also shows that the portrait not only reflects Dorian’s inner personality but also reflects the evil murders that he committed. For example, Wilde shows the change in the portrait after the murder of Basil when he says, “the scarlet dew that spotted the hand seemed brighter, and more like blood newly spilt” (Wilde 208). Through this addition of the blood stains on the portrait, Wilde conveys to the readers that this new change in the portrait is caused because of Dorian committing a murder. This shows that the portrait reflects not only Dorian’s inner personality, but also reflects the acts that he commits Through this relationship between Dorian and his ever-growing portrait, Oscar Wilde conveys to the readers that art is nothing but the reflection of oneself. Just like the portrait was a reflection of Dorian and his actions, it was initially also a reflection of Basil’s desires. Through Basil’s reluctance of putting the portrait for display, Oscar Wilde shows that, the portrait of Dorian conveys a lot about Basil himself. Basil Hallward clearly mentions that he is infatuated with Dorian’s superficial beauty when he tells Dorian that his, “personality had the most extraordinary influence over him” (Wilde 109). This statement from Basil shows the readers that his painting of Dorian was highly influenced by his love over Dorian superficial beauty. Through this connection between Basil and the portrait, Oscar Wilde shows that the portrait’s initial beauty reflected Basil’s importance of superficial beauty over inner beauty. Not only does the portrait reveal Basil’s emphasis on superficial beauty, but also reflects Basil’s infatuation with Dorian himself. For example, the first time Basil sees Dorian, his “personality was so fascinating that… it would absorb [Basil’s] whole nature, [his] soul [and his] very art itself” (Wilde 10). This statement made by Basil regarding Dorian, clearly shows that Basil is infatuated with Dorian. It is this infatuation that the portrait reflects and causes Basil to never publicize it. Art is not just depicted through a painting or a portrait, but can also be depicted through many other mediums. Literature is the aforementioned form, which refers to the yellow book in this novel. The yellow book is often given the pleasure of influencing Dorian. However, it is not the yellow book who is the influencer; rather it is a reflection of Dorian’s character. For example, the yellow book only seemed “poisonous… or seductive” (Wilde 149) to Dorian because he viewed the world around him as corrupt. Meaning, the yellow book is a piece of art which reflects Dorian’s corrupt thoughts and ideals. To any other ordinary person, the yellow book would have seemed as nothing but a harmless way of expressing one’s thoughts but, to Dorian it seems corrupt. This means, Dorian isn’t influenced by the book, he rather finds himself in the book. Just like Wilde mentions in the preface, no book is corrupt, but it is the human itself who is corrupt. There are a lot of interpretations that can be derived form Oscar Wilde’s chef-d'oeuvre, The Picture of Dorian Gray. However, to truly understand Oscar Wilde’s perspective of the world, art and the book itself, one must step into his shoes and learn the true meaning of art. Art of course being a reflection of the spectator. Wilde’s message throughout this book is nothing more than his own opinion of art and how it has a deep connection with humanity. His purpose of writing this book is to simply voice his own opinion. According to Wilde, art is just a reflection of a person’s morals and the person itself. To Wilde, art is nothing but “ars gratia artis” (art for the sake of art).