Literature

Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray is about a man who, after cursing that he would give up his soul, has maintained his youth and great beauty for years while his portrait grows old and becomes ugly. The story explores how Dorian Gray lived a life of vanity and selfishness. One of the major themes of the story is about the significance of youth and beauty and how these two traits had dictated the course of the story by being the utmost temptations of Gray to live a life of sin.

    The ugliness of too much devotion and addiction to youth and beauty was introduced to Gray through the characters of Sir Henry Wotton and the artist of the portrait, Basil Hallward. The former deliberately influenced Gray to degradation while the latter unconsciously awakened Grays vanity. Wotton was the main influencer who exposed Gray to the reality that he is someone blessed to  have the most marvelous youth, and youth is one thing worth having , but it is a trait that could not own forever (Gray 38). Wotton was able to persuade Gray to believe that youth is the most valuable thing in the world and  when your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs that the memory of your past will make more bitter than defeats  (Gray 39). Wotton successfully polluted Grays moral and ethical beliefs and this marked his transformation.

    The story continued with a transformed Gray who became absorbed with senseless aesthetic value and shallow devotion to youth. As the story comes to an end, the significance of youth and beauty was still highlighted by the author. Gray lived a life full of heinous evilness. He realized that it was the addiction to youth and beauty that ruined and deluded him to live evilly. When Gray tried to stab his portrait, after he felt that he was being consumed with remorse and guilt, the consequence of his sinful life backfired on him as the painting became beautiful again and Gray turned into his aged and ugly reality.