The importance of symbols in the picture of Dorian Gray

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The importance of symbols in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Everyone seems to experience life in a different way based on influences that are set upon them. All actions that one partakes in each day, allows one to gather information and assess how it influences them. Not everyone assesses how all things affect them, and that is when there become a common sight for predominant patterns to take affect in one’s life. The great array of symbols in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, can quite easily allow one to believe that anything is possible of influencing your judgement whether you want it or not. Just like Dorian exhibits beauty, Max Beerbohm mentions that Oscar Wilde himself who was the first one to truly present his beauty to others in such a unique way, as mentioned in Oscar Wilde’s London. It is believed that influences are not always things that are positive, Dorian struggles to deal with the influence of the Lord Henry for conquering his issues, James Vane for feeling as if his life is in danger and his self portrait’s mastering changes throughout his life. This leads one to believe that many things influence Dorian throughout his life. Even though many influences are not chosen, Dorian did make his rightful decision of where to escape when things just do not seem right.
The large portion of outside influences are done whether the victim wants it or not, for Dorian this is exactly how he came to know Lord Henry. Dorian had most of what people work for in life handed to him on a platter free of charge. With his great looks and wealth, Dorian has nothing to worry about in terms of trying to impress anyone as everything is already as good as it will possibly get. It is the fact that Dorian can resist gratification, but he cannot resist the temptation to do it. This is clearly evident when Lord Henry speaks to Dorian about what exactly his influence is on others;
“The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollections of a pleasure, or the luxury of a regret. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also” (Wilde 21).
The fact that even when Basil warns Dorian about the negative influence that Lord Henry has on others, Dorian is rather more curious about what Lord Henry is all about, rather than staying safe and keeping himself away from Lord Henry. He truly did not live a fulfilling childhood as it is evident with his curiosity still like that of a child. It is really hard for Dorian to not grasp onto everything that Lord Henry is saying as he is so interested and anything regardless of how false it could be, would easily be believed by Dorian. Now that Lord Henry’s thoughts on life in general set in on how Dorian reacts to seeing Basil’s portrait of him. He is the first one to think of exactly how “the finest finest portrait of modern times”(Wilde 28) will be a photo that he can watch stay young as he grows old. Sadly he is terribly mistaken, and Dorian’s try at taking advantage of others was not so easily missed by everyone.
Dorian’s judgement is easily mistaken for what Lord Henry has in store for him. Whenever the time comes to make a decision, Lord Henry seems to be waiting on the door step ready to coach Dorian along the way or he is in fact making the decision himself. This is unfortunate for Dorian as with Lord Henry’s terrible sense of the power of good vs. evil, Dorian’s judgement subsequently becomes cloudy in making his own judgements when the time comes. This is clearly evident when this dialogue breaks out between Dorian, Lord Henry and Harry
“To be good is to be in harmony with one’s self,” he replied, touching the thin stem of his glass with his pale, fine-pointed fingers. “Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One’s own life—that is the important thing. As for the lives of one’s neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one’s moral views about them, but they are not one’s concern. Besides, Individualism has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one’s age. I consider that for any man of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality” (Wilde 88).
Lord Henry continually shows Dorian how he can grasp his strongholds and use them to his advantage in order for him to gain as much power as he can. Lord Henry’s influence is far too powerful on Dorian, and it ultimately changes Dorian into a undercover evil mastermind waiting to pounce at any moment. Lord Henry was not the only person who was influencing Dorian’s decisions, once Sibyl dies Dorian can no longer continue to think consciously as the thought of death is too much for him to handle.
The threatening aspect of James is too much for Dorian to handle and altogether changes the way he can continue to carry on with his life. Dorian’s relationship with Sibyl seems so innocent at first, but with the increasing influences on his life, James’ harsh statement to Dorian seems rather fit even without him knowing of much of what Dorian is capable of. The fact that James says such a harsh warning to Sibyl before he plans to leave on his own journey, truly shows his love for his sister. “I wish I had, for as sure as there is a God in heaven, if he ever does you any wrong I shall kill him”(Wilde 78). His pure judgement of Dorian is relatively accurate as with all things that presently go to influence his decision when James plans to leave town, Dorian is still just powering up to what he is truly capable of handling. James’ frightening aspect does not set upon Dorian until Sibyl is dead. Once Sibyl dies, James is sure that Dorian has done it or at least has the information needed to figure out who was the one to kill her. Every time Dorian turns the corner, he struggles to not worry about if James will be there waiting to attack him. This is clearly evident as Dorian takes man precautionary methods just like leaving his home to not allow James to find him so easily.“At five o'clock he rang his bell for his servant and gave him orders to pack his things for the night-express to town, and to have the brougham at the door by eight-thirty. He was determined not to sleep another night at Selby Royal. It was an ill-omened place. Death walked there in the sunlight. The grass of the forest had been spotted with blood”(Wilde 235). This is one of the few times when Dorian acts with rational thinking like a civilized human being should. One of the other times where he shows that he is not entirely evil is when he and his companions are walking outside on his estate property and they see movement in the bushes to which they presume is some sort of animal. “When the farm-servant had done so, he stepped forward. A cry of joy broke from his lips. The man who had been shot in the thicket was James Vane.He stood there for some minutes looking at the dead body. As he rode home, his eyes were full of tears, for he knew he was safe” (Wilde 237). This is the point in the novel when Dorian realises that no one else will be able to come in his way of doing whatever he wants with his life. Without James’ lasting presence hanging over his shoulder, Dorian is free to continue on with his interesting endeavors. The power of James’ passion to avenge his sister’s death was nothing quite like the power Dorian’s portrait had on his mentality.

The fact that the portrait appeared to have supernatural powers, did not truly allow Dorian to accept what it was capable of doing. Dorian is the perfect representation of the power of the colour white. At first he is just an innocent young man starting his journey of adulthood, but soon later he is doing anything in his power to avoid the colour in his day to day activities. The portrait of Dorian is too much for Dorian to handle. He truly is unaware of what it in tales, and that is why he is never able to feel supremacy over it. . Wilde's idea was that art should not imitate life, but provide a model that is superior to the phenomena that is life (Small, xxiii). The way in which the colour white also pans out in the rest of the story when he tries to avoid it from when he orders flowers with as little white ones and when he sees James Vane’s face in the window slowly change the underlining theme of what the colour white portrays just as he himself never changes, just his painting. The meaning of the colour white quickly changes to death after James is found to be dead. It is not only the colour white that affects his portrait and himself, but also his beauty.
Just as Oscar Wilde says,
“It was his beauty that had ruined him, his beauty and the youth that he had prayed for. But for those two things, his life might have been free from stain. His beauty had been to him but a mask, his youth but a mockery. What was youth at best? A green, an unripe time, a time of shallow moods, and sickly thoughts. Why had he worn its livery? Youth had spoiled him” (Wilde 250).
This is exactly what his beauty gave him; too much power and innocence for anyone to truly second guess him. Normally when you refer to beautiful people, its women that are being talked about, but for this case it is Dorian. His beauty captivates the room when he enters and with some coaching his beautiful portrait and his own beautiful appearance win the minds of others into never once thinking he is capable of anything close to murder. It is just this that ultimately lead Dorian to believe he is unstoppable. One of the major actions that does not take place is the fact that no one questions Dorian as to why he has no signs of aging along the course of his life. It is not until James goes out looking for him, does he learn from the lady working at the Opium den, that Dorian has not aged a day since he started attending that Opium den, some eighteen years prior. When the lady says to James: “Why, man, it’s nigh on eighteen years since Prince Charming made me what I am ”(Wilde 218), James now knows that he was easily fooled by Dorian’s easy story cover-up as it is quite believable. Dorian’s portrait along with the influence of James Vane and Lord Henry ultimately lead him not to live the life he wished he could have lived.
Anything in life can affect someone whether they want it to or not. But it is the power of Lord Henry’s puzzling facts, Jame Vane’s scaring tactics and the portrait itself that leads one to believe that many thing truly influenced Dorian throughout his life. It is without question that his challenges were to much for him to overcome and as a result was doomed to fail from the start.

Works Cited
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