Both Schumacher and Wilde have uniquely crafted their texts, portraying the overwhelming obsession that the respective eponymous protagonists, The Phantom of the Opera and Dorian Gray, face throughout the film and novel. Both texts delve deep into the wild and unruly minds of the protagonists through the use of camera angles, character interaction, imagery, symbolism, costuming, setting, soundtrack, and narrative structure. These stylistic features are important for both the film and novel, where they provide an insight into the minds...
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Looking up the word ‘queer’ in the English dictionary one will find multiple definitions and meanings for the word. The most common one is probably ‘queer(adjective) for something odd, strange, unusable or even slightly ill’. However, words and their meanings change over time and in the late nineteenth century ‘queer’ got a new definition. It was used as an epithet or slur for homosexual people (especially gay men). In the late 1980s the negative connotation shifted to a more euphemistic...
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Introduction to Narcissism in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' The Picture of Dorian Gray follows the protagonist, Dorian Gray, as he lives his life youthfully. Throughout the novel, Dorian leads an obsessive and reckless life in an effort to maintain his youth and beauty. As a result, a painting done by Basil Hallward takes on Dorian Gray’s aging. Dorian becomes obsessed with his eternal youth and displays a narcissistic personality. This aspect of Dorian’s personality is prominent throughout the novel....
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Oscar Wilde prefaces his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, with a reflection on art, the artist, and the utility of both. After careful scrutiny, he concludes: “All art is quite useless”. In this one sentence, Wilde encapsulates the complete principles of the Aesthetic Movement popular in Victorian England. That is to say, real art takes no part in molding the social or moral identities of society, nor should it. Art should be beautiful and pleasure its observer, but to...
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Aestheticism is rooted in the 18th century and spread in Western Europe and America during the late 19th century. It revolves around a devotion to art and it represents the significance of beauty compared with other values such as morality and material utility. As Robert Vincent Johnson notes, “aestheticism is not one single phenomenon, but a group of related phenomena, all reflecting a conviction that the enjoyment of beauty can by itself give value and meaning to life”. 'Aestheticism,' as...
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Superficial, existing or occurring at or on the surface. The superficial nature of society is the idea that society focuses on the appearances of others, rather than who they actually are as a person. The idea of a superficial society occurs in both, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In both novels, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Beautiful and Damned, the main characters seem to praise beauty...
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We as a society have come a long way from the discovery of the first light bulb to stepping on the moon. The world has developed, people are more educated, technology has made day-to-day life easier, but what has remained the same is the social stratification people had to and still have to deal with. This social stratification is not based on merit or education, it is merely a gift or burden you are born with. If you are lucky...
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While Wilde and Wells emphasize science as an underlying theme in their works, both authors use science to serve the bigger theme: gothic fiction, and to get the point across they use horror, suspense, and fear that is prevalent in the Victorian Age. In the Island of Dr.Moreau and in The Picture of Dorian Gray, both novels use different themes that are connected to the bigger theme of Gothic Horror. The term gothic novel typically refers to stories that combine...
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Introduction The Picture of Dorian Gray, a gothic novel written in 1890 by Oscar Wilde, follows Dorian Gray, an archetype of Victorian upper-class society, through his slow degradation. A portrait is painted by Basil of Dorian which possesses paranormal powers to capture the sins he commits. Under Lord Henry’s influence, Dorian becomes corrupted by his own beauty. He yearns that he will eternally stay young while the portrait ages for him. As his portrait bears his sins, he embraces pleasure...
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In both Doctor Faustus, first performed in 1562, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1890, there is an exploration of demonic powers, and the influence they have over the respective protagonists. Both texts utilise the religious chaos regarding Christianity in the time period of its conception and the sensuality of temptation to depict the extent of the influence the demonic figures have over both Dorian and Faustus. The 1500s-1600s saw the emergence of the Renaissance in England, a...
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Following its publication in ‘Lippincott’s Magazine’ in 1890, Oscar Wilde’s novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, was widely criticised for its focus on the sensual and passion driven behaviours of its main character. Wilde’s novel is classed as a gothic novel as it features common devices of the genre. We can also draw similarities and differences between ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and Bram Stoker’s gothic fiction ‘Dracula’. Stoker’s novel, written in the late nineteenth century, focuses on the horrifying...
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Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray displays an interesting perception about humanity, concerning the balance between the concepts such as beauty, and narcissism. It shows both the highest and the lowest of Victorian society. Oscar Wilde focuses more on the lowest and presents a pessimistic and critical view on the Victorian era, showing the worst parts on full display in his novel. It tackles the aspects of humanity that often leads to its downfall, taking vanity and their physical...
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Virtue and vice, is it natural born within one’s soul or it has to be developed by the influence of outside factors? The novel titled The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde portrays us how a pure soul of an Englishman deteriorates into a wicked evil character yet still hidden behind a beautiful innocent face. The Wilde’s piece of art shows the readers how the virtue, vice, and art are related to each other by bringing forward the philosophy...
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Good novels are a window into society and take readers to interesting places, but great novels take readers where they need to go. Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, written in 1890 takes audience on a journey to Victorian England and explores the hidden sides of humanity through romanticism and further enhances the views through the gothic aesthetic. The story follows a young man named Dorian Gray who trades his soul with a portrait of himself for everlasting...
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Introduction to Aesthetic Principles in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" Oscar Wilde was at grips with his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Republished twice, the Victorian novel emphasizes a society full of dandies of the end of the nineteenth century. The main character is Dorian Gray who is obsessed by a painting which captures his beauty fading because of his departure from morality/ art. Influences of John Ruskin and Walter Pater on Wilde's Aestheticism Oscar Wilde put in this...
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Beauty - a filter for reality. The subject under analysis is the vision of beauty in Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The fin-de-siècle aesthetic sees in art a spiritual dimension that opposes the banality of daily existence: in “The picture of Dorian Gray” (1891), Wilde gives full expression to his conception of art, according to which it is natural to imitate art and not vice versa, claiming the ability of art to shape the conventions and intellectual...
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Unequivocally, scientific conditioning cannot completely remove fundamental human nature. Although the conventional society presented in Brave New World increases socio-economic ‘stabillity’, it solely represses the potential for human growth. Through satirising the like of H.G. Wells and Aquinas’ theory of human nature, Huxley iterates the point that eugenic breeding and other spiritually impoverished solutions cannot cure the ills of civilisation. Alternatively, through the adoption of Thomas Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan’, The Picture of Dorian Gray advocates a more hedonistic and debauched perception...
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The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Gothic novel by Oscar Wilde, was first published in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine during a period characterized by an emphasis on high moral sensibility and religious and scientific values. Upon being met by poor critical reception, the story engendered extreme controversy for including homoeroticism; offended book reviewers condemned its immorality, and some even believed that the author merited prosecution for violation of the laws regarding public morality. However, some of...
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Introduction to Gothic Elements in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray The setting of the respective novel is essential for the overall development of the characters and the plot as it provides a foundation for the readers to visualize and understand the social as well as the psychological mindset and the typical behaviour during the era. It also sets the gothic mood and atmosphere for the readers as the setting provides an eerie-like ambiance since it was a time when black...
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Introduction and Background Information on the Era Background In what ways is Victorian ideology imposed upon in The Pictures’ of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde? As an era construed by the rule of Monarch, Victoria over England from the mid-1800s in the romantic ages to the early 1900s, the Victorian period was a interval of considerable progress. However, many societal echelons within the era caused countless problems for its people. Rigorous rules and guidelines were set on behalf of authoritative...
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Faustian tropes are intertwined within the bosom of Christopher Marlowe and Oscar Wilde’s contemporary societies, encapsulating the literary intellects to portray the parallels that lay within. Marlowe’s Renaissance play Doctor Faustus (1604), and Wilde’s Victorian novel The Picture of Dorian Gray are two pieces of literature that integrate very protuberant features of their societies- creating two texts that share various similarities, particularly in accordance with the plot; relationships amongst the main characters and the two title characters themselves. There is...
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The Elizabethan and Victorian eras marked a plethora of changes throughout England, both stabilizing the previously turbulent political field, and initiating periods of prosperity. That shift allowed for new artistic endeavors and cultural refinement and posed questions regarding the established values and conventions in society. Particularly, the Elizabethan era, or, as it has been dubbed, “England's Golden Age”, and the apogee of England’s Renaissance, provided a catalyst for English Theater, and the royal patronage of the arts allowed for the...
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A disruption in a child’s moral upbringing can be partially originated by how they are treated by their parents, whether this is being brought up surrounded by a negative environment or without filial love. In The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and The Phantom of the Opera (1910), both authors present their main characters engaging in criminal behavior due to disruptions in their moral upbringing. Wilde’s character, Dorian Gray, begins his moral demise through his jealousy of Basil Hallward’s portrait...
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Dorian Gray and Ted Bundy were both Serial Killers. But one is a Fictional Character and the other was a Real Person. Serial Killer, someone who commits a Series of Murders, most of the time with no single purpose and sometimes they do follow a predictable behavior pattern as one of their characteristics. “As explained by the FBI in a 2005 report on serial homicide, a serial killer selects victims based on availability, vulnerability and desirability.” In their mind, know...
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Wilde’s claim that ‘life imitates art more than art imitates life’ may well suggest that reading literature as a historically objective view of reality is fundamentally flawed. One may suggest that Wilde wishes to convey that art, rather than being a medium by which to convey realism or create true interpretations of the world, should be a medium for the exaggeration and romanisation of a dull or harsh reality. Indeed, within the first pages of Wilde’s ‘A Picture of Dorian...
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Oscar Wilde was born in late 19 th century in reign of Victorian era. He was an educated and intelligent man with knowledge of French and German. He was deeply interested in the philosophy of aestheticism when he studied at Oxford. In this well known and controversial novel, author expressed himself and his philosophy. His expressions can be seen in the first two chapters. When paying close attention we can see in the bottom of page 2 and at the...
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