The Picture of Dorian Gray's Themes and Gripping Plot
The Picture of Dorian Gray’s Themes and Gripping Plot
About a month ago, I finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, an 1890 novel by Irish author Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray is about the strikingly beautiful title character Dorian Gray, who through Henry Wotton, becomes obsessed with beauty and hedonism.
Although there is nothing especially unconventional about the style or structure of the novel, the plot and themes of the book make the book an extremely entertaining one to read. The plot is dramatic and full of unexpected events that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The themes are what truly make this book a worthwhile read. One of the most interesting things I found while reading through the novel was how the three main characters relate to each other. Basil Hallward, the painter who first paints Dorian Gray and is great friends with him, acts like the angel on Dorian’s shoulder. Lord Henry Wotton, an “intellectual” who Dorian begins associating with because of his hedonistic philosophy acts like the devil on Dorian’s shoulder. Henry Wotton’s questionable philosophy pushes Dorian to throw all morality throughout the door and simply do what pleases him. The greatest thing about Wilde’s depiction of the two characters though, is that both of them raise points, yet Dorian Gray feels like he has to choose one. One can choose a fun, pleasurable life in which they pursue their desires, but still do it in a way in which it is moral and does not harm those around them.
Another way in which Wilde connects these three central characters is by pointing out how similar they are: all three of the characters seek beauty in their lives in one way or another. In fact, Basil Hallward, the least hedonistic of the three, arguably values beauty the most out of all three of them. At the beginning of the novel he has some sort of infatuation with the beauty of Dorian Gray, which has led to much speculation that Basil Hallward is in fact, homosexual. Lord Henry, and eventually Dorian Gray, view beauty as something that one should strive to experience during their lifetimes, and view beauty as something truly enjoyable.
I would suggest The Picture of Dorian Gray to anyone. The book is a relatively short one, and is filled with a terrific, dramatic plot. But most importantly, I would suggest the Picture of Dorian Gray because of how great the book’s philosophical questions are. I believe one of the reasons this book has held up to this day, is because the act of balancing the pursuit of pleasure, and doing the morally correct thing is still an important question that has held up to this day, and The Picture of Dorian Gray may be the book that will help you achieve that balance.
I think your blog post was great because it was incredibly analytical. I like how you show a way to think about the various characters and I also liked how you thought about Dorian's close-minded decisions. And, I liked how you connect the story with real life, saying that the book has many philosophical questions that related to our current situations. Overall, there is a lot of good ideas in this blog post. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting blog post to read. I'd never heard of this book before but now I'm very interested in trying to check it out. I like how you went in depth into the characters and offered your own insights into them along with explaining the story. Your focus on the philosophical aspects were intriguing and make me even more interested to check this out. Also that cover looks really great. Overall, very good work.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you elaborated on how the characters in this novel relate to each other in their individual plot stories. I think it really helped to solidify our understanding on what to expect if we so choose to read this book. I really will have to check it out now because it sounds like the type of book I would be interested in. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting and well written blog post. I really appreciated the amount of detail that you went into to explain the characters. I have a good understanding of the book without too many spoilers. I will be interested in reading this book the next time I can pick it up. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteGood job on this post. I liked how you talked about the philosophies and pointed out different things you found interesting about the book rather than just summarizing the story. I found the idea of all these characters that Dorian thinks are completely conflicting are really very similar, and how we should have a healthy balance in life between our happiness and others. I think something that you could do next time is add quotes to back up what you are saying. But in general, great job on this post.
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