Write a comment on the extract from the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

Make
sure that you mention:
● A short introduction by explaining what has happened before;
● Dorian's feelings, his personality and the reason for his dissatisfaction
● The symbolic meaning of mirror, portrait, knife

CRITICAL ANALYSIS: DORIAN KILLS THE PORTRAIT AND HIMSELF

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)

Thi extract is taken from the one of the most important works written by Oscard Wild: “The Picture of Dorian
Grey”, the intention of the novel is to be provocative, to make readers react, to think about the paradoxes and
contradictions expressed by Wilde, and ideas about art and culture.

This is the final chapter of the novel, when Dorian, after months of absence in his country, decides to return to
London.
He wants to adopt a completely new and different lifestyle, to be a better man, and with this purpose he hopes to
find the painting painted by Basil as beautiful as it once was.
But when Dorian looks at his portrait, he sees that there is no change, except that “in the eyes there was a look
of cunning, and in his mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite”.
He realizes that his attempt to be good was just hypocrisy, and that he was trying to minimize the seriousness of
his crimes.
When he was alone in the secret room, in a moment of anger, he grabs a knife (the same weapon with which he
killed Basil) and pushes it into the portrait in an attempt to destroy it.
From below, Dorian's servants hear a cry and a metallic noise. Upon entering the room, they see the portrait,
showing Dorian Gray as beautiful. On the floor there was the body of an old man, wrinkled, with a knife stuck
in his heart. Only when the servants examined the rings on the old man's hands did they identify him as their
master.

Dorian is so dissatisfied with his life because the young and the beauty that he had prayed for, had ruined his
life, so now he had learned that is a corrupted man and these two things are only an illusion, in fact the writer
says “His beauty had been to him but a mask, his youth but a mockery”. As regards this, the young man doubts
he will be able to do good, thinking that even these things derive from his vanity.
He becomes more and more distressed, seeing that red spots such as blood ( “the scarlet dew that spotted the
hand seemed brighter and more like blood newly split”), the typical symbol of corruption, have grown on the
painting.
Regard it, in fact, the corruption is underlined with colors like dark (the scene in set in the night) and red
(blood), while the idea of innocence is connected with light colours, for example, the author says: “his
rosewithe boyhood”, “withe limbed Cupids”,“A green an unripe time”, to emphasize the state of innocence that
Dorian had lost.

Dorian hoped that his portrait would be improved, for his desire to change his life and be a better man, but the
image on the portrait now is so bad, it shows a horrible state of his soul and then, Dorian despairs because he
doesn't know how to return to what he was before the “pact with the devil': to obtain eternal beauty in exchange
for his soul. In fact, being a “normal man” he cannot recover his youth and innocence.
This seems to refer to the myth of Faust, a medieval legend written by Gothe, that told the story about this
magician who was very extraordinary to be able to do spells. Because of his great skill, people (at the time very
ignorant) thought that he had made a pact with the devil: his soul in exchange for to know everything.
While Dorian, at the beginning he would give his soul to be forever young and beautiful, but“by magic” the
portrait gets old and ugly instead of him.
In both, therefore, there is the concept that having control of the world (either with beauty or knowledge) leads
to having a corrupt soul that is based on the belief that you can have and do everything.
Also, is it possible to say that the novel has an allegorical meaning, because it represents the myth of eternal
beauty and youth, the desire of man to break the natural laws.
In addition, Dorian reflects the dichotomy, typical of the middle class, between appearance and reality,
everybody considers him a respectable man and he is afraid of losing his respectability.

When he locked up the portrait and murdered his best friend Basil, because his art had ruined Dorian’s life, this
underlines the hypocrisy of Dorian for finding excuses and don’t accepting his past: “It was better not to think
of the past. Nothing could alter that. It was himself, and of his own future, that he had to think”. Clearly this
quote refers to the superficiality that Dorian uses to explain his crimes, for him, Basil has decided to be killed
for having made the portrait and seen it in the secret room, Campbell shot himself and Sybil also did it at his
will, so Dorian is not guilty.
He rejects the thought of punishment and feels no remorse also because he has been waiting very long to hide
the evidence of his crimes and no one will believe him: “Confess?To give himself up, and put to death. He
laughed. He felt that idea was monstrous.”

As for the symbolic meanings, the three objects present in the scene also matter: the mirror represents Dorian's
dual personality, his corruption, his dark soul and the evidence of his sins, because when he sees himself on the
mirror he knows that his youthfull is just a mask that hides the corruption of his soul. The portrait represents the
absence of morality, the “pact with the devil” and the illusion of eternal beauty and youth. Finally, the knife also
has symbolic meaning, because it represents death, destruction and crimes.
In fact, these three objects are so important because thanks to these, Dorian finds the solution to ending his
corrupt life: the only thing to solve the situation is to destroy the picture.

The writer in the extract in fact say at the beginning: “Perhaps if his life became pure, he could be able to expel
every sign of evil passion from the face”, so Dorian is so focused only to keep his beauty and the beauty of the
portrait, but when he realized that it was not possible, instead of accepting his past, recognizing his mistakes and
finding a remedy, he believes that only by destroying the picture (himself) can he finally remain at peace
(“Nothing that he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin”.)
But in reality Dorian instead wants to destroy his sins and for this he blames the portrait for his weakness and
inability to act, so he stabs his own soul (the painting) by killing himself.
The portrait is also the only evidence of the crimes left against him, so Dorian decides to destroy it, because it
has tormented him during the years. Destroying the portrait, means to kill his devil inside his soul and his
monstrous past-life, and so it means that he would be finally free.

As regards the style and the message, this story is told by an obtrusive, third-person narrator with an internal
point of view, that of Dorian. The character, in fact, is revealed thanks to what the others say about him: Dorian
is the protagonist, the typical “dandy”, respectable and fascinating man.
The concept of beauty, harmony and charm, is a recurring theme throughout history, in fact the writer uses very
detailed descriptions, with refined and 'decorative' words, precisely because Wilde gave great importance to the
cult of beauty, in search of pleasure. In fact, this work is considered the manifesto of the aesthetic movement
and also because the author believes that life is art and a piece of art is superior to any other values. So, the
message is that art is more important than the single individual, and it wins over evil and man, since Dorian
Gray dies, the painting recovers all its past perfection.
In addition, in this extract, morality remains that in any case every excess must be punished, this is another
message that Oscard Wilde wants to convey to the readers.

Explain if Dorian's obsession with beauty and youth is still a relevant issue in modern society : support
your statements with examples. ( min. 300- max 500 words.)

Dorian's obsession with the research of eternal beauty and youth is a problem that is still relevant today.
Many people are fascinated by models that are presented in advertisements, magazines, TV commercials or
images of cosmetic products.
In fact, social media, TV help create beauty models that people want at all costs to imitate.
First of all, many stars or even ordinary people go to the surgeon to make plastics in order to look younger and
more beautiful. Others follow slimming and very restrictive diets to keep fit and have a “dry physique” like
models sometimes even hurting their physiques.
Many people, on the other hand, prefer to spend a lot of money to always have perfect hair, glowing skin or
cured nails, buying cosmetics that are advertised as miraculous against old age.
All of us want to look beautiful and always perfect, since we are afraid of the judgment of others and try to
conform to what society accepts, so we tend to imitate the models of perfection that are proposed to us, often
without thinking what is really important.
No one would really show themselves to the public with their messy hair,fat shape, with dirty or cheaper
clothes, so in order not to be outcasted, prefers to follow the will of others

In my opinion, in today's society, there is an exaggerated emphasis on beauty, considered the most important
thing of all and that even exceeds moral values, since there are also many beauty contests that give fundamental
importance to a person's only aesthetic figure and this leads people to believe that the physical aspect is the only
important thing.

This, however, has the consequence that people will lose their time and money in trying to appear and copy
ideal models of beauty, hiding their personality.
This is a bit of what characterized Dorian, who at the time was fascinated by his image, like a young Narcissus,
ready to give up his soul, initially innocent, and then become a corrupt person, but in exchange for eternal
beauty and charm.

I think people prefer to give up their individuality for fear of being judged by others and not feeling conform in
the society in which they live, but I believe that this creates a world made up only of people who are all the
same, with the same ideas and values. It is much more appreciable that everyone has their own creativity, style
and concept of beauty, without being afraid to show it, because everyone is beautiful as it is!