The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay Outline

The Picture of Dorian Gray Essay Outline 

Prompt: The line between doing an action and being a certain type of person is almost always obscure When does one cease doing bad things and simply become a bas person? By focusing on Dorian, make an argument as to whether he is a man who does bad things, or whether he becomes  truly bad person.

Thesis: Dorian Gray is initially a person who does bad things, but he becomes a truly bad person when he murders Basil Hallward, although he does return to simply being a person who does bad things later in the novel. 

• Sibyl: “I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid. My God! how mad I was to love you! What a fool I been! You are nothing to me now” (91). Dorian’s harsh words and actions towards Sibyl are the first instance of him doing a bad thing because of their effect on Sibyl, who kills herself. However, when Dorian returned to his home, he felt guilty about his treatment of her and plans to apologize to her the next day, showing that he still has a conscious and wants to right the things he wrongs. 

• Acquaintances: “Why is your friendship so fatal to young men? There was that boy in the Guards who committed suicide. You were his great friend. There was Sir Henry Ashton, who had to leave England, with a tarnished name. You and he were inseparable. What about Adrian Singleton and his dreadful end? What about Lord Kent’s only son, and his career? I met his father yesterday in St. James Street. He seemed broken with shame and sorrow. What about the young Duke of Perth? What sort of life has he got now? What gentleman would associate with him” (154). Over the years, Dorian has had a negative impact on those around him, who always end up entering disgrace after a friendship with Dorian. However, Dorian is not consciously forcing them into their bad actions, but instead merely unconsciously influencing them, which shows that he can do bad things without being fully aware of it, but he is not a bad person because he is not intentionally hurting them. 

• Basil: “Dorian Gray glanced at the picture, and suddenly an uncontrollable feeling of hatred for Basil Hallward came over him, as though it had been suggested to him by the image on the canvas, whispered into his ear by those grinning lips. The mad passions of a hunted animal stirred within him, and he loathed the man who was seated at the table more than in his whole life he had ever loathed anything” (162). The murder of Basil is the most evil and brutal action Dorian commits. Although it was impulsive, unlike the blackmailing of Alan, it was beastly, which is seen with the use of animal-related words. 

• Alan: “‘I am sorry for you, Alan,’ he murmured, ‘but you leave me no alternative. I have a letter written already. Here it is. You see the address. If you don’t help me, I must send it. If you don’t help me, I will send it. You know what the result will be. But you are going to help me. It is impossible for you to refuse me now. I tried to spare you” (175). Dorian is at his most evil here, since he is knowingly blackmailing Alan and threatening him with downfall and disgrace. However, Dorian knows what he is doing is wrong, and this action haunts him for the rest of the novel because this action is what he feels most guilty about throughout his life. 

• Adrian: “You will write to me if you want anything, won’t you?” (193). Dorian has done terrible things to Adrian, specifically getting him addicted to opium, which leads to him losing much of his own money. However, upon seeing Adrian himself, Dorian feels guilty about what he has done and seems to want to make amends by offering Adrian some help. 

• Hetty: “A new life! That was what he wanted. That was what he was waiting for. Surely he had begun it already. He had spared one innocent thing, at any rate. He would never again tempt innocence. He would be good” (227). Dorian has tired of his typical behavior and wants to become a better person by sparing Hetty of the fate that befalls his associates. While the portrait reveals to Dorian that his actions were in fact actually hypocritical since he broke her heart, Dorian does seem to genuinely want to become a better person but is simply unaware of how to do so.