道林格雷的画像人物分析英文版

道林格雷的画像人物分析英文版

Dorian Gray

At the opening of the novel, Dorian Gray exists as something of an

ideal: he is the archetype of male youth and beauty. As such, he

captures the imagination of Basil Hallward, a painter, and Lord Henry

Wotton, a nobleman who imagines fashioning the impressionable Dorian

into an unremitting pleasure-seeker. Dorian is exceptionally vain and

becomes convinced, in the course of a brief conversation with Lord Henry,

that his most salient characteristics

—

his youth and physical

attractiveness

—

are ever waning. The thought of waking one day

without these attributes sends Dorian into a tailspin: he curses his

fate and pledges his soul if only he could live without bearing the

physical burdens of aging and sinning. He longs to be as youthful and

lovely as the masterpiece that Basil has painted of him, and he wishes

that the portrait could age in his stead. His vulnerability and

insecurity in these moments make him excellent clay for Lord Henry’s

willing hands.

Dorian soon leaves Basil’s studio for Lord Henry’s parlor, where

he adopts the tenets of “the new Hedonism” and resolves to live his

life as a pleasure-seeker with no regard for conventional morality. His

relationship with Sibyl Vane tests his commitment to this philosophy:

his love of the young actress nearly leads him to dispense with Lord

Henry’s teachings, but his love proves to be as shallow as he is. When

he breaks Sibyl’s heart and drives her to suicide, Dorian notices the

first change in his portrait

—

evidence

that his portrait is showing the effects of age and experience while

his body remains ever youthful. Dorian experiences a moment of crisis,

as he weighs his guilt about his treatment of Sibyl against the freedom

from worry that Lord Henry’s philosophy has promised. When

Dorian

decides to view Sibyl’s death as the achievement of an artistic ideal

rather than a needless tragedy for which he is responsible, he starts

down the steep and slippery slope of his own demise.

As Dorian’s sins grow worse over the years, his likene

ss in

Basil’s portrait grows more hideous. Dorian

seems to lack a conscience, but the desire to repent that he

eventually feels illustrates that he is indeed human. Despite the

beautiful things with which he surrounds himself, he is unable to

distract himself from the dissipation of his soul. His murder of Basil

marks the beginning of his end: although in the past he has been able to

sweep infamies from his mind, he cannot shake the thought that he has

killed his friend. Dorian’s guilt tortures him relentl

essly until he is

forced to do away with his portrait. In the end, Dorian

seems punished by his ability to be influenced: if the new social

order celebrates individualism, as Lord Henry claims, Dorian falters

because he fails to establish and live by his own moral code. Lord Henry

Wotton