SHORT ISU ESSAY

In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the protagonist, Dorian Gray desires eternal youth and receives it. Those around him admire his beauty which never fades; or that which everyone believes to be his beauty. With Gray’s wish fulfilled and his image staying the same, what was inside of him grew ugly. Dorian Gray was envied for his youth and admired for his “perfect” life, but in reality, if one knew Gray’s true face, they would no longer be envious.

Because of the choices Dorian makes, deaths occur around him, one after another. Some of people he knew well—and all were of those connected to him. Knowing that all of these deaths related in one way or another to him, Dorian constantly has the guilt and remorse in the back of his mind, and showing on his painting.

“I have no doubt it was not an accident, Dorian, though it must be put in that way to the public. …[Sybil] said she had forgotten something upstairs. They waited for her, but she did not come down again. The ultimately found her lying dead on the floor of her dressing room.” (Wilde, 101)

Dorian breaks Sybil Vane’s heart when he tells her he doesn’t love her anymore, and chooses not to marry her. He does it in such a harsh way that Sybil is severely heartbroken and kills herself rather than suffer the pain. Dorian realizes he was cruel, and while he had planned to make it up to her, she died before he got the chance. This guilt followed him, along with other deaths, including a warrant for his own.

The next casualty was by Dorian himself of his friend, Basil Hallward, who sparks anger when he realizes how horrid Gray’s life has become. He attempts to get Dorian to repent, however Dorian refuses to believe it is possible. In his anger, he murders Hallward instead.

“He rushed at [Basil] and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind the ear crushing the man’s head down on the table, and stabbing again and again.” (Wilde, 165)

After his death, Dorian carries the worries of being accused of murder, and required a way to make all the evidence disappear. This was on his mind all the time until he could resolve the issue. Even after, the though of his death plagued him.

“The whole thing is hideous and cruel. Is the man…?”

He could not finish the sentence.

“I’m afraid so.” Rejoined Lord Henry. “He got the whole charge of the shot in his chest. He must have died almost instantly.” (Wilde, 212)

All along James Vane had disliked Dorian, and vowed to kill him if any harm came to his sister, Sybil. The man in the above quote is found afterwards to be James Vane.

“A cry of joy broke from [Dorian’s] lips. The man who had been shot in the thicket was James Vane. He stood there for some minutes looking at the dead body.” (Wilde, 218)

Though this was the only death the comforted Dorian, the events leading up to James’ death made Dorian fearful for his own life. As well, until the identity of the man was discovered, Gray felt badly about the death, more so than most of the other men.

Dorian Gray was miserable. He receives the eternal youth which he had so desired, yet it made him unhappy. He had been expecting that his life would be simple, as the picture carried all of his sins, and that he could get away with anything. However, his actions still shaped what his life was to be like, and it was not at all what had been imagined.

“Dorian Gray was lying on a sofa…Life had suddenly become to hideous a burden for him to bear.” (Wilde, 216) Less and less did Dorian enjoy his youth, as life for him becomes heavy.

“‘Each of us has a Heaven and Hell in him, Basil!’…

‘My God, if it’s true,’ he exclaimed, ‘and this is what you’ve done with your life, why, you must be worse even than those who talk against you fancy you to be!’” (Wilde, 164)

There are people who disliked Gray, and as his life falls apart, more people begin to dislike him. Close friends refuse to believe such a beautiful person could be so horrid, until Basil sees Dorian’s true face and recognizes that indeed the young man could not ever be happy.

“‘I wish it were fin du globe,’ said Dorian with a sigh. ‘Life is a great disappointment.” (Wilde, 188)

Instead of enjoying his life, Dorian Gray constantly was reminded of all his wrongdoings and crimes. As Dorian chooses thoughtless actions for himself, over the better for others, there was the subconscious realization that he was not making himself feel any better. Further and further into the novel, his past begins to haunt him.

“He was imprisoned in thought. Memory, like a horrible malady, was eating his soul away. From time to time he seemed to see the eyes of Basil Hallward looking at him. Yet he felt he could not stay. The presence of Adrian Singleton troubled him. He wanted to be where no one would know who he was. He wanted to escape from himself.” (Wilde, 197)

Dorian is still followed, even years after the incidence, by the guilt of Basil’s murder. And although his painting received the wear of evildoings and sins, these still got to his soul.

“What sort of life would his be, if day and night, shadows of his crime were to peer at him from silent corners, to mock him from secret places, to whisper in his ear as he sat at the feast, to wake him with icy fingers as he lay asleep! As the thought crept through his brain, he grew pale with terror, and the air seemed to him to have become colder.” (Wilde, 210)

Panic attacks seize Dorian Gray many times when his wrongdoings come to mind. They constantly follow him everywhere and they never release him.

“There is no one with whom I would not change places, Harry. Don’t laugh like that. I am telling you the truth. The wretched peasant who has just died is better off than I am.” (Wilde, 213)

In the end, everyone who wished they could be like Dorian Gray came to dislike him. All the roles were reversed. He longed to be normal; like everyone else.

Dorian's life was miserable and was spent less in pleasure and more in suffering. Every misconduct he had committed stayed with him and was not discarded into the painting. From the people surrounding him he could hide his sins; not from himself, however. For one to know that they were the cause of the deaths of so many people would be troubling. For Dorian Gray, this was a large factor in his disconcertment. So for most people, the life of Dorian Gray would not fit the definition of the ideal life.

Bibliography:
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Tor Publishing, New York: 1999.