Picture Of Dorian Gray Essay Example For Students

Picture Of Dorian Gray Essay I believe a great deal of thought went into the writing of this book. It is verydetailed and in addition, it is very hard to sustain an allegory throughout. ThePicture of Dorian Gray has many thought provoking phrases and paragraphs. Thereare many different literary techniques used such as foreshadowing in the firsttwo chapters in very subtle undertones. Also used was a great amount of detail,which sets the mood for certain scenes, such as when, during the painting ofDorian Grays portrait, Dorian and Lord Henry Wotton go into BasilHallwards garden and converse. The author wrote the book as an attack on theBritish Aristocracy. It shows how the upper-crust citizen cared about whatshowed on the outside and that they wanted to stay ignorant to their souls. There are many, many hints as to this meaning in the book, for example: LordHenrys line in paragraph 15 of page 206, I admit that I think it isbetter to be beautiful than to be good. It explains how vain he was. Ibelieve his character was made so utterly absurd to represent the entire upperclass of contemporary London. Even the personal meaning of the corruption ofDorian Gray comes down to this one point. Since the masterpiece took all of thewrinkles, lines, and decay from Dorian Gray, he kept his youthfulness. This iswhat every upper-classed person would have loved eternal outer beauty. Thisactually saved his life, in reference to James Vane and his revenge. Then, whenhe realized how horrible he had become, he ended his own life. The whole reasonJames Vane went after Dorian Gray was because of his sister, Sibyl. I felthorribly disgusted over Dorians outburst at Sibyl Vane on her last night. Hewas in love with her acting, not her, and since she couldnt play a fakelover, because she k new what real love felt like, he became ashamed even to knowher and he did the only thing that he thought of. Another aspect of the book isCarpe- Diem: to seize the day. After the portrait began to change, Dorian Grayonly wanted to have fun no matter what the consequences. I have to be honest,I had a very hard time with this book in the beginning, which is stressed in myjournal. Later on, certain things came into focus and I caught on. In otherwords, I saw the light. I was trying too hard in the beginning, and I looked atin the wrong light both the book and the portrait. At first, I wasconfused, I didnt know what the author was trying to say and it frustratedme. I was trying to find the meaning of the portraits changing, and how itfit in with a story about a man named Dorian Gray. On one level, I realized theportrait was of his other side, his soul, just as his persona represented theouter trappings of the British high society and, in another light, the portraitrepresented the inner realism and decay of their culture. His death meant agreat deal to the story, because he finally realized his sins. He saw thehorrible things that were happening to people who were around him, and heunderstood that all their problems/deaths could be ascribed to him. He got atrue sense of his conscience, and he knew what he had to do. That relates to theending of the Victorian Era because British society as a whole broke off some ofits false veneer. Book Reports