The Picture of Dorian Gray Youth and Beauty

The Picture of Dorian Gray Youth and Beauty Anna Dukhovnikova

Importance of youth and beauty In chapter two of TPODG, Lord Henry who emphasises the importance of youth and beauty: • ‘To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders’ • ‘There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth’ • ‘Because you have the most marvellous you, and youth is the one thing worth having’ Lord Henry’s views influence Dorian, which then causes him to react the way he does when he sees his portrait and acknowledges his beauty for the first time. This also contradicts Lord Henry’s negative views on influence as he says ‘to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul’.

Importance of youth and beauty Aestheticism and decadence are themes in TPODG which reflect Victorian society’s views towards youth and beauty • Aestheticism – the pursuit of, or devotion to, what is beautiful or attractive to the senses • Decadence – the process of falling away or declining from a prior state of excellence, vitality, prosperity etc. Aestheticism was perfected between 1885 -1895, a movement Oscar Wilde was part of and the time he wrote TPODG. Dorian’s beauty represents the aesthetically motivated people, whilst his decadent behaviour shows the façade that was put on by the upper classes to portray themselves as very moral people, whilst doing what was considered to be immoral. ‘Dorian becomes aestheticism’s first martyr’ (Richard Ellman, Oscar)

The price of youth and beauty • In chapter two, Dorian recognises and acknowledges his own youth and beauty when Basil reveals his finished portrait • Dorian says ‘how sad it is’ that ‘this picture will remain always young’ • He then wishes ‘if it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old!’ • Dorian then concludes that for this ‘there is nothing in the whole world I would not give’ and that ‘I would give my soul for that!’ • As a result, Dorian trades his soul for eternal youth and beauty

The price of youth and beauty • The end of the novel appears to suggest that youth and beauty cannot live on, but, art can. This can be concluded from the portrait returning to its original form whilst Dorian is left ‘ withered, wrinkled and loathsome of visage’. • Dorian had paid the ultimate price for immortality, yet could not succeed • As the portrait aged in place of Dorian, it would also change in order to reflect Dorian’s soul. This caused it to have ‘altered’, causing Dorian to feel ‘sickened horror’. His initial response was to use it to ‘guide him through life’. However, after hearing about Sibyl Vane’s death, Dorian wishes to use the portrait to ‘follow its mind into its secret places’ as it had ‘revealed to him his own body, so it would reveal to him his own soul’. This leaves Dorian fixated on using his youth and beauty for pleasure in his hedonistic beliefs, knowing that the portrait will deteriorate as his soul does.