One of the main concepts from the novel have to do with the discussion and obsession with Youth, both on the part of the protagonist and with the supporting characters, for instance:
Early on in the novel, Lord Henry Wotton discusses the appeal of regaining one's youth with the Duchess of Harley. She asks him, "Lord Henry, I wish you would tell me how to become young again" and he thoughtfully replies "Can you remember any great error that you committed in your early days, Duchess? [...] Then commit them over again". It is Lord Henry's understanding that "To get back one's youth, one has merely to repeat one's follies" (Wilde 37). So it seems here that Lord Henry- who we know is an aesthete- associates youth with the mistakes one makes and the freedom perhaps or ready ability to make errors and to live in reckless abandon. Where as "nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes" (Wilde 38). Interestingly, at the end of the novel Lord Henry states that "The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young" (Wilde 182). This quote can be found to mean that in our advanced years, others will see us as old, whereas in our minds and hearts we see ourselves as young but with experience from a life longer lived. So that instead of viewing oneself as useless, decrepit and worthless ( as young people might view old people), one understands ones self to be merely chronologically gifted, challenged and wonderful.
Through the character of Lord Henry, Wilde seems to be acknowledging that one specific folly of youth is allowing yourself to be lead astray by those around you- as we see in regards to Dorian's life after he begins following all of the "advice" that Henry gives him. Dorian takes on a life of secrecy, passionate reckless abandon and the gaining of pleasure based on Lord Henry's theory about the senses: "Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul"(Wilde 21 ,155). Dorian adopts these words as a sort of mantra for his ridiculous behaviours but in the end, they end up being the cause of the black spot on his once pure soul and for the scarred and misshapen form that takes over his portrait.
Once Dorian realizes the impact of his prayer that fateful day in Basil Hallward's studio, it is too late because the portrait has begun to change and show the inner workings of his decrepit soul and he is terrified. Therein, it is no surprise to the reader to see that when Dorian and Henry begin to discuss pleasure and the importance of individualism and the pangs of being rich, Dorian contrives to fight against and ultimately publicly shut down Henry's theories; "I am changed, and the mere touch of Sibyl Vane's hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories" (Wilde 67). Here, Dorian Gray is beginning to fight for what his [only yet slightly skewed] conscience assures him is correct. He begins to gain some maturity in not allowing himself to be completely controlled by what Henry describes of the world and decrees as "proper comportment" . For example, on pages 67-68, Dorian has just described his love for and secret engagement to Sibyl Vane (a poor actress who's art fascinates Dorian into what he assumes to be "love") and his desire to be in harmony with another and to be "good", but Lord Henry simply laughs it off stating (in true Lord Henry fashion) "One's own life- that is the important thing" (Wilde 68). It is this selfish sentiment that intrigues Dorian and propels him towards distrusting his own judgement and embracing the sensuous and terribly decadent lifestyle that Henry hangs in front of him.
Furthering the destruction of his soul is Lord Henry's views on women and marriage, which influence Dorian to being disappointed with Sibyl Vane when she shows him that she is real rather than showing him her "art". On learning that Sibyl has committed suicide, Lord Henry reminds Dorian that "you said to me that Sibyl Vane represented to you all the heroines of romance [...]/ She has played her last part and you must think of her lonely death in the tawdry dressing-room simply as a strange lurid fragment from some Jacobean tragedy, as a wonderful scene [...]/ The girl never really lived and so she has never really died./Mourn for Ophelia...Cordelia..but don't waste your tears for Sibyl Vane. She was less real than they are"(Wilde 88-89). It is at this integral moment in the novel, where Dorian decides to make the attaining of pleasure his life's sole purpose.
One has to consider the wonderful curiosity that lies within this novel and its principal characters, and how exquisite life back in pre-19th century London must have been! But, as we can read in the introduction written by Joseph Bristow found at the beginning of the book, Oscar Wilde met with a lot of discord and negativity with regards to the moral value of his novel. Wilde himself was forced to defend his work in a letter written to the St. James Gazette to explain how the novel imparts a moral of some kind, and claiming that "if his novel contained a moral it was this: All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment" (intro xxii). Bristow tells us in the introduction that, in order to prove his point, Wilde made the following observations about the three main characters:
- "The painter, Basil Hallward, worshipping physical beauty far too much, as most painters do, dies by the hand of one in whose soul he has created a monstrous and absurd vanity. Dorian Gray, having led a life of mere sensation and pleasure, tries to kill conscience. Lord Henry Wotton seeks to be merely the spectator of life. he finds that those who reject the battle are more deeply wounded than those who take part in it. Yes; there is a terribly moral in DORIAN GRAY- a moral which the prurient will not be able to find in it, but which will be revealed to all whose minds are healthy. Is this an artistic error? I fear it is. It is the only error in the book."
Wilde's words suggest that only those readers who banish from their minds that works should be judged either moral or immoral will grasp the terrible truth that The Picture of Dorian Gray represents. His letter also encourages us to think that, in each case, Basil Hallward, Dorian Gray, and Lord Henry remain incomplete because none of them strikes a balance between indulgence and restraint. (Intro xxiii).
AS you can see -if you've actually read this far- I've got an obsession with this text, maybe it's because like Lord Henry, I find myself very curious about "sins that I could not imagine experiencing" or maybe I find myself strangely attracted to the beauty of Dorian Gray in his vanity or Lord Henry in his fascinating cynicism... OR maybe I'm just into the Gothic and the creepy and the sensual that is found in 18th century British literature. I hope I didn't spoil the ending for anyone, though I tried my best not to spell it out in anyway, and I hope that my two posts on this novel will propel some of you to go out and find it at your local library or bookstore or borrow it off your friend! If you know me personally and you can't live without reading this book right now, feel free to contact me and i might consider lending it out.. maybe. None the less, I hope you do try to read it and not just look up the various cinematic versions that exist now. Although I am rather intrigued to see the black and white version from the 50's with Angela Lansbury as Sibyl Vane...
Thanks for coming along with me on this journey and I hope you continue on and find out what novel I will be reading next! Hope I didn't bore you with my rantings, but even if I did- please don't hesitate to comment or e-mail, I'd love to know what you think!
In the mean time, I'm going to cross off Wilde's amazing novel from my list and pick another novel off my shelf :)
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