Dorian Gray Draft

       When people disagree with the views and beliefs held by the majority of society, they often find themselves on the outside looking in.  In the story “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, some of the characters identify with this outcast perspective, and instead of living in accordance with the common principles that mold the majority, they choose to escape to a life more in line with their exclusive interests and passions.  To spend the days of one’s existence in the realm of imagination and fantasy is more appealing than to work with the viewed, inferior masses of society, for Dorian Gray and Lord Henry Wotton.  Given their respective wealth and rank amongst the population, it allows them both to not have the common worries that most people share in a society.  The disconnect from society the two characters have in common not only stems from their shared ideology,  but also from the influence of a specific book, and their aforementioned wealth and status.   

       The principles of hedonism which guided both Dorian, and Lord Henry were on the opposite end of the spectrum from the ideology of the masses of the time.  “Yes, there was to be, as Lord Henry had prophesied, a new hedonism that was to re-create life, and to save it from that harsh, uncomely puritanism that is having, in our own day, its curious revival.”(Wilde, 67)  A tenet of hedonism is to maximize sensual pleasure, and limit suffering.  This principle of limiting suffering guides Dorian to dismiss any painful experiences as unimportant, and he uses his own imagination as a tool to escape from these inconvenient memories.  One such example of this is illustrated when Basil comes to see Dorian after hearing the news of Sybil Vane’s death. Dorian says to Basil,”A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions.  I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”(Wilde, 53)  To invent a pleasure one must use the imagination, and Dorian does this to not feel the suffering caused by the death of his first romance. 

        The central cause that stirs the imagination of Lord Henry and Dorian Gray is a highly influential book they both read.  One is led to believe that Lord Henry read this book when he was a youth indicated in the text,”He was amazed at the sudden impression that his words had produced, and, remembering a book that had read when he was sixteen, which had revealed to him much that he had not known before.”(Wilde, 15)  Then Lord Henry passes this book on to Dorian as he reads it, and experiences a similar revelation, “Things that he had dimly dreamed of were suddenly made real to him.  Things of which he had never dreamed were suddenly revealed.”(Wilde, 64)  Dorian suddenly becomes obsessed with this novel, and goes to great lengths to acquire as many copies as he can. “He procured from Paris no less than five large-paper copies of the first edition, and had them bound in different colors, so that they might suit his various moods and the changing fancies of a nature over which he seemed, at times, to have almost entirely lost control.”(Wilde, 65)  The influence of this book can not be emphasized enough, as it acts as a key factor in the transformation of Dorian Gray, along with Lord Henry, and the painting of himself.  After constantly rereading this book Dorian begins to identify with the main character, “The hero, the wonderful young Parisian, in whom the romantic temperament and the scientific temperament were so strangely blended, became to him a kind of prefiguring type of himself.” (Wilde, 65)  As Dorian’s identification grows with the main character of the book, his actions and way of life begin to mirror the young Parisian.  Similarly, as the protagonist in the book escapes to an artistic realm of his imagination, so too does Dorian, and Lord Henry.  

       When one has the luxury of wealth and rank in society, the common stresses that act upon the working class are insignificant to those like Lord Henry, and Dorian Gray.  Their inherited assets are the means that allow them to live in a life of decadence and self indulgence.  Any desire or pleasure their imagination will create can be fulfilled with relative ease, and limited worry.  When a simple person must work for money in order to obtain food and pay bills, the financial elite can leisurely spend their days discussing art, and saunter to the opera for entertainment.  

       A life of excess, and material desire is the reality of Dorian, and Lord Henry who seek to separate themselves from the rest of society, because the sufferings and hardships of the average person are too much for them to bear. As Dorian subscribes to Lord Henry’s doctrine they both believe that, “Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.”(Wilde, 7).  This illusory world of leisure, material desire, and pleasure seeking principles is really a defense mechanism for their inability to deal with the world that confronts them.  They have utilized their extravagant imagination, combined with their abundance of wealth to sustain their self indulgent lifestyle, but despite all this focus on pleasure, Dorian particularly is guilt ridden and extremely paranoid.  Imagination is a powerful tool, but the story The Picture of Dorian Gray is a prime example of how a poisoned imagination can lead to a tragic ending.