The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Essays (high school) of English

Download The Portrait of Dorian Gray and more Essays (high school) English in PDF only on Docsity! Blaylock 1 Jenna Blaylock Mr. Frye AP Literature 2 February 2023 The Hideousness of Beauty Humans place significant artificial value on both the material and divine aspects of life they believe deliver them happiness within time, disregarding the detrimental consequences that arise as an outgrowth from the potential failures of these values. In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, aestheticism acts as a central theme throughout as it drives the key values of the individuals within it, placing the devotion of beauty, appearance, and art above all else. Dorian Gray presents a pivotal point of the aesthetic lifestyle many pursue within the novel in which several characters give away their worth for the sake of pursuing beauty. Ultimately, the quest for beauty and admiration derives from the approval of other innately flawed humans, consequently leading to a lack of authenticity shown between characters that reveals a multitude of faults in society. Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray portrays aestheticism as a source of internal and external tension between characters, displaying its eventual impact on the devaluation of individuals, revealing the superficiality within relationships, and exposes the shortcomings of upper class society. Aestheticism discounts the merit of several individuals throughout the novel. Dorian displays the greatest cheapening of worth as he abandons all moral principles for the sake of beauty. His desertion of virtue took away from his values because once his physical appearance faded, his value plummeted: “Lying on the floor was a dead man, in his evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, winkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not until they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was” (165). Dorian’s identification upon dying Blaylock 2 ultimately reduces to material items on his body, proposing that his chase for an aesthetic lifestyle led to self-inflicted objectification. While some objects offer benefits to the world, Dorian’s artificial societal worth decays with age, leaving him with none in his demise. Sibyl Vane represents a differing example in which reducing the standards of themselves for the sake of beauty causes the devaluing of a character. After Sibyl’s intentionally dissatisfactory performance for the sake of love, Dorian goes on to think “She was absolutely self-contained. It was simply bad art. She was a complete failure” (61). The short period of time in which Sibyl and Dorian know of each other, it seems rather infeasible for her to possess true love towards Dorian, suggesting that she potentially mistakes her love for attraction towards his beauty. She exemplifies how individuals willingly give away their own talents and uniqueness for the sake of possessing anything they consider pretty, failing to realize the provisional aspect of those desires. Lastly, Basil Hallward reveals how devotion to an aesthetically pleasing object, whether human or not, potentially leads to a fatal end: “Hallward stirred in his chair as if he was going to ride. He rushed at him, and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind the ear, crushing the man’s head down on the table, and stabbing again and again” (116). The demise of Basil displays that incessant devotion to aesthetic derails the value of a person because whether in a literal or metaphorical sense, it shows that a part of a person must leave in order to fully abide by the standard of aestheticism, displaying the importance of boundaries with humans. A lack of intimacy amongst character relationships persists through the novel as aestheticism ultimately allows for an insistent shallowness to manifest. Marriage within this society presents itself as more of an expectation rather than a choice as “Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious: both are disappointed” (34), suggesting that marriage only exists for the purpose of human aesthetic, specifically to appease society. Within high-class Blaylock 5 husbands beliefs and constantly receive criticism for merely existing. Thus, aestheticism ultimately defends and excuses the customary sexism in upper class society, because it teaches both men and women that a powerful and strong female holds no attraction. The unique usage of aestheticism within Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray allows for a variety of corrupt practices and normalities to occur. Individualism, intimacy, and human decency and respect within society ultimately lose value as their efforts go towards aestheticism. Thus, aestheticism serves as a reminder of the dire consequences of valuing beauty and art above all else. Blaylock 6 Works Cited Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dover Publications, 1993.