Inner and outer beauty in Dorian Gray Essay - 1495 Words

The term ‘beauty’ may have very relative significance. Something can be beautiful for us, but ugly for other people. The external beauty of a person is often the first thing that we pay attention to. This is the result of the association of beauty with good and ugliness with evil. Through the outer appearance we make a general opinion about a given person. Such a way of thinking may be very misleading. In order to get to know the person we need to look to the inside – into the soul. This is the place where the real beauty and ugliness are hidden. The notion of inner and outer beauty is perfectly presented in the novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde. The story described in this book shows how the external attractiveness†¦show more content†¦Under the influence of Lord Henry, Dorian is more and more eager for seeking pleasure in life. This becomes his priority. Realizing his astonishing look, Dorian’s deeds become more and more cruel and his inside starts changing irreversibly. The first significant change in his inner beauty occurs after meeting an actress, Sybil Vane. At the beginning we may think that his affection to her is true, but soon after it is obvious that he fell in love only with her acting. Therefore, when Lord Henry criticizes Sybil’s acting Dorian finds no other reasons for being with her:’ I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid. My God! How mad I was to love you! What a fool I have been!’(Chapter 7). The cruel break up becomes the first step to Dorian’s downfall. The first change appears in the picture, reflecting the corruption of his soul. The face in the picture changes its expression. It is no longer beautiful and innocent but rather cruel and incalculable. It represents the same emotions, which accompanied Dorian while breaking up with Sybil. He realizes that the wish made in front of the painting became true. His outer beauty did not change at all, but his inner beauty began to fade away. For a short time remorse and fear occur inside Dorian, especially when he learns of Sybil’s suicide.Show MoreRelatedInner and Outer Beauty in Dorian Gray1512 Words   |  7 PagesThe term ‘beauty may have very relative significance. Something can be beautiful for us, but ugly for other people. The external beauty of a person is often the first thing that we pay attention to. This is the result of the association of beauty with good and ugliness with evil. Through the out er appearance we make a general opinion about a given person. Such a way of thinking may be very misleading. In order to get to know the person we need to look to the inside Ââ€" into the soul. This is the placeRead MoreKiller Instincts in Oscar Wildes Novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray778 Words   |  3 Pagesothers,† (Wilde 46). Dorian Gray deceives himself by not knowing he is in love, and ends by showing everyone his most horrible traits. In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde talks about Dorian Gray, an innocent, beautiful young man who does not understand the power of his own beauty. Basil Hallward, an artist, discovers Dorian and paints a magnificent portrait of him. When one of Basil’s friends Lord Henry advises Dorian of his divine beauty and youth, Dorian wishes for the portraitRead MoreThe Picture Of Dorian Gray Analysis1623 Words   |  7 Pages Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray shows us the triumph of a corrupting influence over a virtuous one. In the novel, Lord Henry’s influence over Dorian overpowers Basil’s and leads to Dorian’s eventual demise. 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Through the portrait, he gains an image of himself as an independent individual compared to his previousRead MoreOscar Wilde Character Analysis1093 Words   |  5 Pagescultured aristocrat, yet some scenes are in the east, where Dorian skulks, seeking out opium dens The golden west side contrasting with the shady east side mirrors the difference between Dorian’s clean outer appearance and his tainted soul Classroom in Dorian’s mansion is where the portrait is hidden, eventually transitioning into the same place where Dorian becomes a murderer The classroom that Dorian hides his portrait in reminds Dorian of his childhood, furthering his obsession with youth BookRead MoreThe Picture Of Dorian Gray1950 Words   |  8 PagesIn the â€Å"Picture of Dorian Gray†, Oscar Wilde prefaces his only novel by examining the value of art and the artist. After a short examination, Wilde concludes that â€Å"All art is quite useless† (Wilde, 2), contradicting the principles of the Aesthetic Movement, a contemporary to Wilde and Dorian Gray, that became popular during the fin-de-sià ¨cle English Victorian society. Aestheticism believes in imitating art and living life experiencing the pleasures of the world, adopting the hedonistic way of livingRead MoreAbstract Aestheticism in Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray2148 Words   |  9 Pagessuggested that art should hold no purpose in society and merely exist for its beauty. He argued, as any aesthete would, that by giving art a value greater than its beauty, society is in turn ruining it. He also added that art must be looked at as a whole, and only those who can see the complete pictu re can truly understand the meaning behind art, while also seeing into the artists soul. In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde portrays aestheticism in many ways, mainly through art and theRead MoreGender Trouble in Paris Essay628 Words   |  3 PagesIn Gender Trouble, Judith Butler discusses complications with constructions of inner and outer worlds of the body. She argues that â€Å"internalization of gender†, as common linguistics describes it, is a part of the heterosexual hegemonic binary of gender conformity which distinguishes inner and outer worlds. Gender, in the commonly accepted model, is innate and through a process of bringing out the inner gender is expressed. Butler proposes, instead, that â€Å"the gendered body is performative† and