The Picture Of Dorian Gray Essay

"Wilde's presentation of women and marriage in the novel is wholly critical"
How far and in what ways do you agree with this view?
In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde presents the image of women and the idea of marriage in many different ways, sometimes heavily negative, through dysfunctional relationships as well as saintly imagery. This presentation can be said to be influenced by several aspects such as contextually, Wilde himself lived in a patriarchal society, whose stereotyped women in a degrading manner, which is established in this novel. This degrading of women and the views of marriage can be seen immensely through the opening chapters; leading up to the death of Sibyl Vane.
Oscar Wilde wrote and set this novel in late Victorian London, which manifested the
Furthermore, these closely wound relationships juxtapose the affiliations shared with women; the marriage of Lord Henry and Victoria is shown to be highly dysfunctional "I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing" depicting the tradition, that marriage is for money not for love "this young man might be rich, if so, marriage should be thought about". Additionally, Wilde also fashions women possessing short life spans with no meaningful progression of character, as one critic states "these women are portrayed like pretty pictures; they are lovely but discardable... in the same way a flower is- lovely in bloom, but always on the brink of a withering death".(J.S.W.- paradoxical femininity in the picture of Dorian