The consequences of the exacerbated narcissism of Dorian Gray.
SILVA, Rhuan Felipe Scomaçao da
FAFIPAR
Resume: The following essay was written to make a view about the actions of the protagonist, Dorian Gray, on his environment, the society where he was living. The principal reason that I choose this theme to talk about, is the great view, which Oscar Wild puts on this novel, the great criticism involved. This essay will make a comparison and an analysis of the reaction of the society done before the actions of Dorian, and will try to show how great is the criticism on this novel, how it influenced the community. This accusations that Oscar Wild suffers are very showed on this novel, and the essay which I am going to introduce you, tries to exemplify moments on the book where reveals this situations.
Key-words: Dorian Gray, Oscar Wild, British literature, Victorian Age.
" About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
Quotation of Ernest Hemingway
Quotation of Ernest Hemingway
Introduction.
The picture of Dorian gray, one of the great novels of an author called Oscar Wild, was published at first on the magazine Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on June 20Th,1890, on this first published the novel was very criticized by the society of the age, after some time Oscar Wild reviewed, modified and expanded the original paper.
The history talks about a young beautiful guy, who is influenced by the ideas of a man called Lord Henry, The great power of manipulation of Lord Henry induces Dorian to do every possible kind of experience and pleasure, they are harmful or not for the boy, which he couldn’t done on the past.
The novel shows to the reader all the consequences and all the possible things that a contorted mind, better is to say manipulated, can do if he gets a power to be immortal, the novel also reveal to us, if the free will really exists, or the consequences of our acts made us to follow the only road of the life.
This essay isn’t here to represent this free will view, but is trying to represent how these actions are assimilated by the society, and how this will provide to the protagonist a feeling of disgusting lost.
Historical Context: Victorian Age
The Victorian age was a period very prosperous for the United Kingdom,reined by the queen Victoria during 1837 until 1901, the period was known as “Pax Britannica” because of the seas which surround the country, the nations could live an age very profitable, not just about war, but economical, industrial and colonial too.
The rate of immigrants was increased very powerful during this time, from 16.8 million of people to 30.5 million on the death of the queen, the most part coming from Ireland.
The novel, just after been published, received hard critics about some parts of the book which, they say, there is hinting of homosexuals content and narcissism, juts after Oscar Wild published the following editions he says that the novel must be seen as art in itself and not with consideration out of the novel, as morals.
It is also possible to say that, the Victorian Age was a very profitable field for the authors, the man was been seen as instruments for the machines, with the advent of the industrialism, and there was a feeling of inability the part of men, so, the art was view different, the people without time to make themselves happy, and without funny time to rest and play, are madding the themselves miserable and this helped the criticism of the age.
Society against Dorian? Or a disturbed view of a naïve guy.
Oscar wild on his great novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” induce us in the life of a young man called Dorian Gray and the society where he acts in the plot.
Dorian Gray is wonderful Handsome guy who is back to the house where he lived when was younger, the same house where his uncle slaps him in the past. Early in the beginning Dorian is been painted by an artist called Basil Hallward, a great man who helps Dorian a lot of times in the novel even in the moments when the boy treats him disdain. Basil have a friend called Lord Henry Wotton, an aristocratic of that city that will take Dorian for the pleasures of a life watered by great eloquences, experiences and disgusting things that leaves Dorian where he will find in the end of the book.
As any man who gets a great heritage, Dorian becomes willing for the perspective of being what he really wants. He truly likes his beauty, on his conception the nature of the human is contrasted with his appearance. When the artist finished his paint, Dorian sees the wonderful picture and became sad, he saw and say that the youth will pass with the time, but that picture will remain in that for the eternity, nothing could change that and on his disturbed vision of the life says that if could be possible he was going to swat his own immortal soul to stay young forever, here is the excerpt:
"How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June. . . . If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that--for that--I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!"
This was the first moment that Oscar Wild shows to us the egocentrism of Dorian Gray, just think about this suppose to be a unbelievable sin for the eyes of that age, but we know that this will really happens, and is this that will provide to us show the consequences of this eloquence for himself.
From this first moment the situation that Dorian will provide will be always worst and worst, and the limit will be his own death just to don’t show In what he really became from inside.
Lord Henry must be notice at the greatest motivator of actions of Dorian during the novel, he was the one who takes the boy for the “news”, prostitution, drugs, alcohol, life in the extreme was just ones of the things that Henry show to him, better yet, conduce him to do.
Every moment what we see is a young boy being controlled by an experienced man, who is having fun with the situation, it’s the life which he would like, and now he is destroying the life of a boy that is just the begging of his journey on the life. The hedonism on the life of Dorian Gray is each time more howling, all the rules of the society is been broken for his own wish, for he doesn’t matter what the society is saying about him, what really matter is the pleasure of the experience could give to him.
But all this excesses wasn’t seen by a very good way by the society and this replays on Dorian, let’s see one circumstance that provides us this:
“And yet I see you very seldom, and you never come down to the studio now, and when I am away from you, and I hear all these hideous things that people are whispering about you, I don't know what to say. Why is it, Dorian, that a man like the Duke of Berwick leaves the room of a club when you enter it? Why is it that so many gentlemen in London will neither go to your house or invite you to theirs?”
This was a stretch where Basil is talking with Dorian about everything that is happening to him, and how it is reflected on him, Basil is trying to open the eyes of Dorian, to Dorian could, at least, came back for what he was when come to London, but the narcissism is more powerful than what Dorian can stant.
It is notorious the apparition of the woman whose Dorian will fall in love, an actress who makes the heart of Dorian beat faster, in this moment is possible to see the narcissism in reverse, Dorian forget himself to talk just about this amazing woman who he fall in love. At first is possible to see that Dorian reproduce his view of beauty on the woman, and this is remarkable if we make a comparison between he when come London, a shame guy, and a man with great experiences and apologies after the death of this woman.
It is possible to this woman as the passage of Dorian from a shame guy to this man who he will became. From the beginning we see a love young man who became perplex with the beauty of that woman, and this is bad for the expectative of Lord Henry, maybe, if Dorian could became with the girl, he shouldn’t acquire this view of himself as a god view of beauty, it is pertinent to say that this love is happening after he made the deal which change his soul for the eternity youth, however, this love could help him to stop the live that he will get.
An interesting stretch where we can see all this veneration for the girl, is when Dorian is talking with his friends and describes her, here is the stretch:
“I love her, and I must make her love me. You, who know all the secrets of life, tell me how to charm Sibyl Vane to love me! I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain. My God, Harry, how I worship her!"
The amazing is that, even when isn’t with him, Dorian practices the act of make the beauty, a term more important than the own life, he invokes deities, heroes and even the death to say how he love her beauty, and even this kind of narcissism is seeing with bad eyes from the society, the aristocratic don’t see her as one with them, to them she is just a poor actress, without enough talent to entertain them, and this is reflect on the attitudes of them to Dorian, they didn’t really likes his marriage with the girl, to than this is just a joke that Dorian is making on us. The influence on the view and life of Dorian by Lord Henry is very profitable in this moment, he provides to Dorian eccentric corporal experiences that makes Dorian overcoming his conscious and prove the taste of this experiences.
After some events, that provide a struggle between he and Sibyl Vane, the separate for a while and some days before Dorian receive the notice that she killed herself. This situation explodes on the fallen of Dorian for the cult of the beauty, and even more the society reprove his actions, that are so extremes that even Lord Henry couldn’t do better.
The view of the decadent picture makes Dorian suffer a lot, that image of himself deteriorating makes his own cult fells enraged, he hides the picture to nobody and not even he sees that macabre thing, his feeling about the sins that he is omitting are destroying him from inside, he is noticing that his friends isn’t inviting him anymore, and some people don’t like even his presence on the enclosure.
Seen that the situation isn’t good as he wants, seen that even his amazing beauty is doing the contrary that he wants, fells the most perfect human, or can I say god, of beauty on the world, his presence is scary the people, is making some people get away from him, he decides to make a no time back travel, where he could think on every possible situation that he ever lived, and trying, maybe, to be appreciated again.
After his long travel, Dorian backs to London and for the surprise of everybody, his face and body was the same as when they know him years ago, the people sees him as some kind of immortal beauty monster, and the feature of the public was very different as he wants, they were really scare and didn’t believe in that, again Lord Henry helps him, as a friend that had his friend back.
Important for mention, was a trick situation that he crawled when was walking on the street, the brother of Sibyl meets him, and his face was angry and sad at the same time, he says that Dorian killed his sister, and now Dorian should pay for that, here a stretch that represent this:
“You wrecked the life of Sibyl Vane," was the answer, "and Sibyl Vane was my sister. She killed herself. I know it. Her death is at your door. I swore I would kill you in return. For years I have sought you. I had no clue, no trace. The two people who could have described you were dead. I knew nothing of you but the pet name she used to call you. I heard it to-night by chance. Make your peace with God, for to-night you are going to die."
For the lucky of Dorian had passed some year, and he used this argument to prove that the man couldn’t be him there, he used his own image out of reality to safe himself of that dead situation. But what is important for this analysis is the deadly situation that his own beauty provides to himself, the crazy man who confuse him with the man who proportionally made his sister kill herself was really the man, we can consider that, even in extreme situations Dorian uses his appearance to commit sins, the idea of regret, which I will talk soon, is invalid to him, just after the man realize that he was really the same Dorian and goes to kill him again, but now with sure.
Dorian backs from the travel with idea to regret, and be a new man, he wants to forget all his sins and transform in a man respect by the society, but what he can’t do is accept his sins and pay for than, he killed a man and this will provide a prison for all his life, or worst, or better depending on the point of view, the death.
And knowing that he won’t have courage to take on his sins to the society and pay the price for his crimes, he begins to become paranoid, his narcissism doesn’t matter anymore and everything is going down.
In his finals moments he wishes that everything could be different, it should be better if all his sins decayed on his on the immediate moment that he cone that sin, he thinks this, and the society, even not talking, think the same way, Dorian Doesn’t want his beauty anymore, the only thing that she wants is do the right thing, the society right way to live, even with all the falsehoods and lies, but suffer as any man.
“Ah! in what a monstrous moment of pride and passion he had prayed that the portrait should bear the burden of his days, and he keep the unsullied splendour of eternal youth! All his failure had been due to that. Better for him that each sin of his life had brought its sure swift penalty along with it. There was purification in punishment. Not "Forgive us our sins" but "Smite us for our iniquities" should be the prayer of man to a most just God”
Over all this events Dorian arises for his own conscious, the world doesn’t matter anymore, all his dreams are destroyed and the situation that he put himself doesn’t have back, in a final moment o ecstasy, Dorian destroy the thing which he thinks that destroyed his life, with the same knife that he killed Basil, Dorian trespasses the picture putting an end on his egocentric life.
For the society what rest was a remember of a young man who tries to be more beauty than the gods, and suffer the punishment that he deserves.
Final Considerations.
One of the masterpieces of Oscar Wild is studied a long time, for a lot of people, and a question that all of us always do to ourselves is, how great was the mind of this author when he done this novel. The fight that he provokes with the society and the criticism of the age was so great, that we need to consider him one of the great authors have ever exists. The Essay that I presented here is just a bit view about the criticism and the naivety of the critics, they couldn’t see how great, and how big was the influence that this novel caused over the years, and until now, June 2010, it is studied hard for us, and that ones who appreciate a great masterpiece.
Bibliographical References.
- Notes on the Picture of Dorian gray, available in www.turksheadreview.com/library/notes-doriangray.html, accessed in June 22, 2010.
- Oscar Wild official site, available in http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/, accessed in June 25, 2010
- O retrato de Dorian Gray, o famoso livro de Oscar Wild, available in http://www.sitedeliteratura.com/Litestrang/gray.htm, accessed in June 25, 2010.
- Ernest Hemingway quote, available in http://www.icelebz.com/quotes/ernest_hemingway/, accessed in June 25, 2010.
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