After reading Oscar Wilde’s portrait of Dorian Gray, it is
amazing how I want to simply empty my mind. I just want to be alone and be with
the good things in my life. Nature, children, dogs…he has spoilt the value of a
beautiful garden by polluting it with the association and importance gardens
have in Dorian Gray’s cruel and wicked life.
It is after all, in a beautiful and sweet scented garden
that Harry meets Dorian and begins his corrosive influence on that boy. It is
amazing how evil is so fascinating to a boy with such angelic looks.
In the satire, where the Irish writer goads the English
tendency to love the looks of things and how they seem, he has excelled himself
by creating the sadistic character of Dorian who is angelic only to look at.
The devil lurks underneath his beautiful looks that never fades away. It is his
portrait that suffers from the sins that eventually catch up with him. A
powerful book on how ones actions affect ones looks and life.
Reputation, society, looks, status – all are scorned by
Oscaar Wilde’s infamous book – the picture of Dorian Gray. An Irish in the land
of the English, how much ever he tried to emulate the mannerisms of the
English, his Irishness was pre dominant. He never fit in because of that and
ended up scorning the English society for the hypocrisy that it reeked of.
Birth, status, money – in that order were more revered than the man for who he
was. He proceeded to showcase the ultimate hypocrisy by creating a character in
his book who had all – wealth, status and looks. He only lacked good morals.
What he lacked, he scorned it on every one else. Morality and honour were heavy
baggage to carry and soon in his youth, he is fantastically able to trade these
for retaining his good looks and youth. The artist who creates and captures his
fantastic youth and angelic good looks on canvas secretly worships him and has
him for a muse till his cynical, world weary acquaintance captures the attention
of the young man. He takes him under his tutelage and is amazed to find a
willing student in Dorian Gray. The painter in the meanwhile despises
his snatching away not only the attention but also the innocence of his muse.
Dorian, in the meanwhile, wishes that he remain as chaste and youthful as his
portrait. By some chance of fate, he manages to get his wish true and goes down
the alley to seek hedonistic pleasures and have his senses over rule his
morality.
He can see the depth of his corruption, as his soul seems to
be captured in the portrait. He sees the degradation he has wrought on himself
as often he sees his portrait. But, on his face, nothing shows. His looks are
as angelic as his actions are filled with devilry. It is because of his good
looks, his wealth and status that Dorian manages to still exist in society. No
one openly cuts him except men who are morally far above him or women who have
been dishonoured by him. These women, have no status and are ostracised. Young
men try to emulate him and other men are simply jealous of his ‘achievements’.
No one tries to cut him and tell him off, except the painter. He is afraid to
believe the tales society whispers about his ex-muse. The old man, Basil, is
shocked at the atrocities his ex-muse has allegedly committed and goes on to
confront him about this. When he does, the evil in the young man overpowers him
and he blames the old man for all his misdeeds and kills him. His portrait duly
has a spot of blood in his hand but his hands are really blemish-less to look
at. This in turn frustrates and enamours the young looking man as, by now,
Dorian is almost 40. Though he looks just as he did when he was 19. He starts
looking at his youth as a curse and tries his best now to remove the stains he has created on his soul. But does not realise that it is a long and tedious process. After doing a single good deed, which actually is simply a whim, he checks on his portrait. when he sees, the hideous portrait remains unchanged. in his anger, he wants to destroy the mirror of his soul. That kills him instead.
In death, his body shows the
degeneration that has been wrought on it because of the evil mind that
possesses it. The picture becomes as beautiful as it originally was. Death
reaches out and takes his ignoble soul away. But no one recognises the
degenerate body that it has left behind and he is left unrecognized in death –
the worst that could have happened to him in life.
