Kathryn McGovern
Mr. George
AP Literature
30 March 2015
Research Paper Outline
Prompt: Relate The Picture of Dorian Gray to Oscar Wilde’s life based off of his famous line: “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks of me: Dorian what I would like to be -- in other ages, perhaps.”
Thesis: Oscar Wilde saw many similar characteristics in himself and Basil, some similarities between his public self and Henry though he was not entirely like Henry in his private life, and he wanted to be like Dorian because Dorian ignored society’s expectations and followed his passions, which Wilde longed to do but could not.
Basil Hallward
Basil Hallward is renowned for the artwork he produces, which are paintings and portraits, and initially fears that his works will reveal too much about himself.
“A portrait like this would set you far above all the young men in England, and make the old men quite jealous, if old are ever capable of any emotion” (Wilde 4).
Basil believes that, by using Dorian as a muse, he can create a new way of art: “His personality has suggested to me an entirely new manner in art, an entirely new mode of style. I see things differently, I think of them differently. I can now recreate life in a way that was hidden from me before” (Wilde 12).
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the colored canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul” (Wilde 7).
Basil Hallward is the most consistently moral protagonist in The Picture of Dorian Gray, but his “morals” are not always truly moral.
After years of living sinfully, Basil confronts Dorian about the dreadful rumors he heard about the young man and says, “I do want to preach to you. I want you to lead such a life as will make the world respect you. I want you to have a clean name and a fair record. I want you to get rid of the dreadful people you associate with. [...] You have a wonderful influence. Let it be for good, not for evil” (Wilde 156).
When Dorian shows the portrait to the painter, Basil begins talking about prayer and the bible: “‘Pray, Dorian, pray,’ he murmured. ‘What is it that one was taught to say in one’s boyhood? “Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our sins. Wash away our iniquities.” Let us say that together. The prayer of your pride has been answered. The prayer of your repentance will be answered also. [...] Isn’t there a verse somewhere, “Though your sins be as scarlet, yet I will make them white as snow”?’” (Wilde 162).
At times, Basil’s sentiments echo those of Henry, which shows that even though Basil is the most moral, he is not as moral as he often appears to be. For example, early in the novel Basil says that “There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one’s fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world” (Wilde 5), which sounds like it could be a quote from Henry and reveals that Basil values the beautiful and smart more than anyone else.
Throughout the novel, there are homoerotic undertones, most of which originate from Basil’s fascination with Dorian.
“I turned half-way round, and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious sensation of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself. [...] I had a strange feeling that Fate had in store for me exquisite joys and exquisite sorrows” (Wilde 8).
After the unfortunate death of Sibyl, Basil visits Dorian to check on the boy. Seeing him surprisingly okay with her death, Basil asks about the portrait. Dorian refuses to show it to the painter, so Basil explains his interest in Dorian. In return, Dorian says, “What have you told me? Simply that you felt that you admired me too much. That is not even a compliment.” Basil responds by saying, “It was not intended as a compliment. It was a confession. Now that I have made it, something seems to have gone out of me. Perhaps one should never put one’s worship into words” (119).
When Basil sees the portrait and what has become of Dorian’s soul, he is repulsed, disgusted, and shocked that what he once loved could become so terrible: “Christ! what a thing I must have worshipped! It has the eyes of the devil” (Wilde 161).
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was also renowned for his artwork, though his work was plays and poetry instead of portraits, and fears revealing himself too much as well.
“The year 1891 was, indeed, a turning-point in Wilde’s career in more ways than one. It was no longer possible, as it had been in the eighties, to dismiss him as a mere figure of fun. People were no longer witty at his expense. At that game he could beat them every time. He had established himself as a writer of consequence; he was a social lion. His extraordinary powers of conversation, his almost irresistible personal charm, carried him into circles which were prejudiced against him” (Laver 18).
Wilde is often credited as being one of the major transformers of nineteenth century drama: “When Wilde turned to the writing of social comedy,he made deliberate use of the theatrical conventions of his day but introduced a quality of epigrammatic wit, paradox, and irony that had not been seen in such brilliant profusion on the London stage since the late eighteenth-century comedies of Richard Sheridan” (Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography).
The original publication of The Picture of Dorian Gray in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine was met with claims of “perversity and immorality” (Authors and Artists for Young Adults). When Wilde published the story in a novel format, he revised it and added the preface with defensive lines, such as “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all” and “Diversity of opinion about a work of art show that the work is new, complex, and vital” (Wilde 1-2).
Oscar Wilde often tried to act as though his morals were questionable, though that is not who he actually was.
“As Oscar and Bosie started to work their way through the best and the worst of London’s rent boys, as well as having sex with a variety of other young men who crossed their paths, they were living Oscar’s gospel of sexual self-realisation to the full. According to Bosie, Oscar preached that it was the duty of every man to ‘live his life to the utmost’, to ‘be always seeking new sensations’, and to have what he called ‘the courage’ to commit ‘what are called sins’. They certainly did not lack courage or daring. Thoughts of prosecution, of punishment, and disgrace were far away. They were invulnerable and invincible, fearless warriors fighting for a Cause they believed sacred. Sex, they convinced themselves, was not so much a pleasure, as a duty, almost a sacrament” (McKenna 302).
Between his trials, many of Wilde’s friends and associates encouraged him to flee the country, and there was even a yacht waiting in the Thames to take him to France, but Wilde stayed in England due to his own desire to defend himself and face any consequences and due to his mother urging him not to flee from the English, which she thought would be disrespectful to all other Irishmen (Sullivan 44-45). Although he did some immoral things, Wilde did have some morals since he had self-respect and integrity and he respected his mother’s wishes.
“In the last few years he was also more preoccupied with the subject of Christ, whom he thought a supreme poet, and in De Profundis he says that one of the two subjects on which and through which he desired to express himself in the future was ‘Christ as the precursor of the Romantic movement in life.’ Nothing came of this either. The preoccupation does, however, find expression in The Ballad of Reading Gaol where the presence of Christ Symbolizes the theme of regeneration: ‘Ah! happy they whose hearts can break / And peace of pardon win! / How else may man make straight his plan / And cleanse his soul from sin? / How else but through a broken heart / May Lord Christ enter in?’” (Sullivan 46). In addition to embracing Christianity in his later years, Wilde was received into the Catholic Church shortly before his death.
Oscar Wilde was actually homosexual himself, and much of Basil and Dorian’s relationship stems from Wilde’s relationship with his lover John Gray, a handsome, young poet.
The relationship between Wilde and Gray is very similar to that of Basil and Dorian. Like Basil, the relationship started as a one-sided attraction from Wilde towards the younger man. However, unlike Basil and Dorian, Wilde and Gray’s relationship did develop into a sexual one. As Basil immortalises Dorian in the portrait, Wilde does so for Gray in the novel.
Obviously, Wilde uses the last name of his lover for the name of his character. The first name Dorian comes from the ancient Greek tribe of the Dorians who “were famous for their custom of institutionalised paiderastia, by which an older man became the lover and the teacher of a [male] youth. The Dorians were generally held responsible for the spread of paiderastia throughout ancient Greece” (McKenna 164). The practice of paiderastia was something Wilde spoke of often and is what Wilde references in his speech about “the love that dare not speak its name.” In addition, Gray would sign his name as Dorian in the letters he wrote to Wilde, and Wilde referred to Gray as Dorian.
Wilde also had numerous other male lovers, such as Robert Ross, Lord Alfred Douglas, various young men, and several prostitutes (McKenna XVI).
Lord Henry Wotton
Many of Henry’s quotes are reminiscent of Wilde’s own quotes or those of other characters created by Wilde.
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it" (Wilde 21).
Henry preaches about living a Hedonistic lifestyle, which revolves fully around the idea of pursuing pleasure, especially sensual pleasure.
Henry uses sexual innuendo when speaking to or about Dorian, which emphasizes his feelings about pleasure: “To project one’s soul into some gracious form, and let it tarry there for a moment; to hear one’s own intellectual views echoed back to one with all the added music of passion and youth; to convey one’s temperament into another, as though it were a subtle fluid or a strange perfume: there was a real joy in that -- perhaps the most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar ar our own” (Wilde 38).
"Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul" (23). Henry is obsessed with the idea of the senses and the soul being two separate entities that cannot both be satisfied, so he chooses to ignore his soul and focus on the senses.
The day after Dorian’s fiancee Sibyl commits suicide, Henry encourages Dorian to forget about since she was never truly alive in a sense because she spent her whole life acting: “The moment she touched actual life, she marred it, and it marred her, and so she passed away. Mourn for Ophelia, if you like. Put ashes on your head because Cordelia was strangled. Cry out against heaven because the daughter of Brabantio died. But don’t waste your tears over Sibyl Vane. She was less real than they are” (Wilde 107).
Henry begins the novel by being witty, acting insincere about serious matters, and preaching a Hedonistic way of life, and he continues to do so until the end of the novel with no change in behavior.
Henry’s first line is one featuring his typical, paradoxical remarks that true on some level but not entirely true, and it shows a whimsical lifestyle since he is talking about viewing art in his spare time: “The Academy is too large and too vulgar. Whenever I have gone there, there have been either so many people that I have not been able to see the pictures, which was dreadful, or so many pictures that I have been unable to see the people, which was worse” (Wilde 4).
Henry’s last lines come after he and Dorian have a conversation about Dorian wanting to redeem himself and complaining about the yellow book Henry gave him. Henry tells him that it is impossible for Dorian to and that art cannot be blamed for this: “You are much too delightful to do that. Besides, it is no use. You and I are what we are, and will be what we will be. As for being poisoned by a book, there is no such thing as that. Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame. That is all” (Wilde 224).
Oscar Wilde
Many of Oscar Wilde's own quotes and the quotes from his characters in other works are similar to those of Henry.
"I can resist everything except temptation" (Walsh 81).
Oscar Wilde often lived Hedonistically, such as Henry preached, because he often sought out sexual pleasure with little regard to the effects such a life would have on himself.
“Lord Henry wants to ejaculate the very essence of his soul into Dorian’s gracious form like ‘a subtle fluid’ [(Wilde 38)], just, perhaps, as Oscar wanted to inseminate John Gray with his own combination of subtle intellect and seminal fluid” (McKenna 170).
“As Oscar and Bosie started to work their way through the best and the worst of London’s rent boys, as well as having sex with a variety of other young men who crossed their paths, they were living Oscar’s gospel of sexual self-realisation to the full. According to Bosie, Oscar preached that it was the duty of every man to ‘live his life to the utmost’, to ‘be always seeking new sensations’, and to have what he called ‘the courage’ to commit ‘what are called sins’. They certainly did not lack courage or daring. Thoughts of prosecution, of punishment, and disgrace were far away. They were invulnerable and invincible, fearless warriors fighting for a Cause they believed sacred. Sex, they convinced themselves, was not so much a pleasure, as a duty, almost a sacrament” (McKenna 302).
“If there had been no other bad effect of their relationship, Wilde was sure to be in financial difficulties sooner or later, for Bosie [Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas] was arrogant, selfish, and exigent. He never paid for anything himself, yet he expected to be entertained at the most lavish restaurants, supplied with the most expensive cigarette and helped with money whenever he chose to ask for it. But the most serious charge against him is not so much that he wasted Wilde’s money as that he wasted his time. Completely, or almost completely, idle himself, he expected his friend to be idle too, although he must have known that the only way in which Wilde could find the means to live en price was by literary labour” (Laver 19).
Although Wilde publicly portrayed himself as a person like Henry, he was not always like that in his private life, especially in his final years when he developed a more sincere and serious attitude in his writings.
Most of Wilde’s earlier works focus of wit, beauty, and pleasure, similarly to how Henry speaks about the world, thought they did sometimes involve depressing themes, such as in The Happy Prince, and Other Tales and Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories. However, Wilde still created a happy and upbeat tone: “But the result of reading Wilde’s stories is anything but depressing. His naturally sunny disposition, his happy sense of humour, the sheer beauty of his craftsmanship redeem the cruelty or sadness of the theme. Wilde’s short stories may still be read with delight” (Laver 14).
Most of Wilde’s earlier work revolves around beauty and pleasure, but his later works focus on more serious and grave issues, such as loss and death. One example is Wilde’s poem “Requiescat,” which deals with the death of his wife Constance Lloyd Wilde. The last two quatrains read “Coffin-board, heavy stone, / Lie on her breast, / I vex my heart alone, / She is at rest. / Peace, peace, she cannot hear / Lyre or sonnet, / All my life’s buried here, / Heap earth upon it” (Wilde 410). Unlike earlier works, this poem has a notably more saddened and mournful tone, showing that he was not always the Hedon that people saw him as.
“The Ballad of Reading Gaol” is another poem from later on in Wilde’s life. Like “Requiescat,” this poem also deals with death. Wilde based the poem off of his time in Reading Gaol, where he met one prisoner who was executed for murdering his wife, inspiring Wilde to write about prison and execution. One significant section from this poem is “The man had killed the thing he loved, / And so he had to die. / And all men kill the thing they love” (Wilde 428). It is a pessimistic outlook on life. In addition, the line is somewhat reminiscent of a line from The Picture of Dorian Gray: “I cannot understand how any one can wish to shame the thing he loves” (Wilde 82). In the quote from the novel, Wilde’s character expresses confusion about who would do such a thing, while in the poem, the speaker confirms that every man does this, showing a major change in Wilde’s personality.
Dorian Gray is a beautiful boy, which was something that Wilde admired in others, and he followed his passions without much regard for society, which Wilde longed to do for himself.
One of the most distinguishing characteristics of Dorian Gray is that he is incredibly handsome, and his beauty is a major subject throughout the novel.
“Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candor of youth was there, as well as all youth’s passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward worshiped him” (Wilde 18).
“How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June…. If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that -- for that -- I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” (Wilde 28).
“When they entered they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that the recognized who it was” (Wilde 229).
Due to the magical qualities of the portrait, Dorian Gray can do whatever he wants without the effects appearing on himself, so he chooses to follow his passions.
“Dorian’s whims are laws to everybody, except himself” (Wilde 19).
Chapter eleven of The Picture of Dorian Gray gives a synopsis of a twenty year span in Dorian’s life. During that time, Dorian pursues many interests, such as perfumes, music, jewels, embroideries, and other such things, the collecting of which were “his light heart, his wonderful joyfulness, his passionate absorption in mere existence” (Wilde 144).
At the end of the novel, Dorian sees his portrait and decides that it is the only thing keeping him from living a happy life of passion and pleasure: "It had brought melancholy across his passions. Its mere memory has marred many moments of joy. It had been like conscience to him. Yes, it had been conscience. He would destroy it" (Wilde 228).
Oscar Wilde
One of the most important things to Wilde was beautiful things, as he often wrote about beautiful people in beautiful settings.
"In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing" (Walsh 19).
"One should either be a work of Art, or wear a work of Art" (90).
"Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope" (Wilde 1).
Wilde also wanted to live a life where he could follow his passions, which often related to his homosexuality, but due to the strictness of Victorian society, he was unable to do so and longed for a time period where such actions were more acceptable in society, such as in Ancient Greece and Rome.
“I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream -- I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of mediævalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal -- to something, finer, richer, than the Hellenic ideal, it may be” (Wilde 20). The Hellenic ideal refers to the classical period in Greece and implies a respect for many of the ideals of the time, such as love between men.
When on trial for “gross indecency,” Wilde was questioned about a poem written by his lover Lord Alfred Douglas called “Two Loves.” The poem ends with the line “The love that dare not speak its name.” The prosecutor asked Wilde if this referred to “unnatural love,” and Wilde responded with a speech: “The ‘Love that dare not speak its name’ in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as the ‘Love that dare not speak its name,’ and on account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope, and glamour of life before him. That it should be so the world does not understand. The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it” (McKenna 527).
Sources
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