Lord Henry To Dorian example essay topic

The "Picture of Dorian Gray" is the only novel of Oscar Wilde, English author of Irish descendancy. At the time it was first published (1890), the novel provoked a hostile reaction in the British press and reading public. The main reason the book provoked this kind of reaction was it's perceived lack of morality and moral messages. Luckily, the worldviews about morality and freedom of expression have changed in the past century and so "The picture of Dorian Gray" is known today as one of the best books ever written.

The novel is set in London, at the end of the 19th century, except chapter 17, which is set at Dorian Gray's country estate, Selby Royal. Dorian Gray is a cultured, wealthy and impossibly beautiful young man. Basil Hall ward, an average portraitist, is completely taken away by Dorian's beauty and purity. He paints his portrait and the painting ends up being his masterpiece. The novel opens in Basil's studio, where Basil and Lord Henry Watt on are discussing the recent painting of Basil, the portrait of Dorian Gray.

The painter is not totally satisfied with his work, since he thinks that it reveals too much of his feeling for his subject. Impressed by the portrait's beauty, Lord Henry expresses his wish to meet Dorian, but Basil doesn't want to introduce Lord Henry to Dorian because he doesn't want Lord Henry to corrupt the young man. Nevertheless, Dorian meets Lord Henry at the painter's studio and, as Basil feared, starts it's damaging influence on Dorian's life. Influenced by lord Henry hedonistic ideas and upset by his speech about the transient nature of beauty and youth, Dorian pledges his soul if only the painting could bear the burden of age and infamy, allowing him to stay forever young and beautiful. His wish is heard.

The portrait grows old and shows all the signs of corruption while he continues to appear fresh and innocent. As the time passes, Dorian sinks deeper into a life of sin and corruption, devoting his existence to gaining new experiences and sensations with no regard whatsoever for morality or the consequence of his actions. The first change in the painting appears after he breaks his engagement to Sibyl Vane. The portrait has a cruel and scornful look. After seeing the portrait, Dorian feels remorse and starts writing her a letter, begging for forgiveness. Lord Henry comes to visit him and tells him that Sibyl Vane committed suicide the previous evening.

Dorian is horrified at first and then decides that her suicide is a perfectly artful response to what happened. He loves the art of it and promptly gets over his heartache. The portrait continues to change and Dorian decides to hide it so that nobody beside him can see it, but does not change the way of living his life. Eighteen years later Basil visits Dorian, and sees what the once perfect portrait of a beautiful young man became. He is horrified by the image of Dorian's soul and begs him to repent. In feta of rage Dorian kills Basil and disposes of the body with the help of a former friend, doctor Alan Campbell, whom he blackmails in order to obtain his cooperation.

All this time, James Vane, Sibyl Vane's brother is trying to avenge her death. After meeting Dorian first time, he would not believe that this is the person he is looking for, since Dorian looks too young and innocent too young to have been his sister's lover. He releases Dorian. A prostitute (another person whom he has presumably ruined) tells James he should have killed Dorian because Dorian made a pact with the devil years ago to retain his youth.

The next weekend, Dorian has a party at his country house. The men are outside hunting but Dorian is staying inside because he thinks he saw James Vane peeking through the window. Finally, he decides his fears are unfounded and goes out to join the hunting party. He is speaking to a young man when the young man shoots at a rabbit. Instead, it is a man in the bushes who is shot.

The men think the man is a peasant who got in the way and find it nothing more than an inconvenience. That evening, Dorian's groundskeeper tells him the man was a stranger, not one of the tenants on Dorian's land. Dorian rushes out to see the body and is relieved to find that it is James Vane who was killed. Back in London, Lord Henry comes to visit Dorian Gray. Dorian tells him he has decided to reform. He no longer wants to hear Lord Henry's corrupt sayings.

To argument the fact that he started to change he tells lord Henry that he has fallen in love with a country girl and, instead of ruining her life, he left her alone. Lord Henry tells Dorian he did this only for a new sensation of pleasure, the unaccustomed pleasure of doing good. When Lord Henry leaves, Dorian becomes upset over the idea that he will never be able to reform. He goes to see the painting again, but instead showing a good change, the painting now reveals hypocrisy. In an attempt to destroy the painting, which has by now become horribly ugly he picks up the knife he used to stab Basil and stabs the painting. His servants hear his cry out in pain.

They break into the locked room and find an old, ugly man in Dorian Gray's clothes lying on the floor dead of a stab wound and a portrait of a beautiful young Dorian Gray hanging intact on the wall.