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! Sabrina Situ!

Professor Amanda Harrison!

QS 115!

11 November 2014!

Morals Vs. Aestheticism!

! During the late 1800’s to early 1900’s the Aesthetic Movement was popular in Victorian

England. Aesthetes view art to be pleasing to the eye and the observer, it should be beautiful

and nothing more than beauty. In the novel “ The Picture of Dorian Gray” Oscar Wilde says “ All

art is useless” (Wilde 4). In other words the ideal life reflects art, but only beautiful art,

everything else serves no purpose. Basil, Sybil, Lord Henry Wotton, and Dorian Gray all play

important roles as an aesthete in the novel. All the characters rely heavily upon beauty, some

more than others. Lord Henry and Dorian Gray both sacrifice the interest of the people around

them. Basil and Sybil both end up hurting themselves. Although Oscar Wilde is an advocate for

aestheticism, his tale about morality projects the message that too much focus on an aesthetic

lifestyle will lead to immorality and eventually lead to self destruction.!

! Basil Hallward plays the role of an aesthetic artist in the novel, he uses beautiful art as a

compass to navigate him to the perfection of his own soul. He wants to become one with his art.

As an aesthete he paints beautiful paintings and constantly looks for beautiful things to inspire

himself. The discovery of Dorian led to an obsession. Basil’s purpose of life is to fully devote

himself to his art and Dorian is “all his art to him now” (Wilde 13). Since Dorian has become his

new goal in life Basil does all that he can to support and care for him, but it is only because of

Dorian’s beauty. As Dorian’s life grows gloomy and rumors slowly seep into Basil’s ears he pays

a visit to Dorian’s home before he takes a leave for Paris. That night Basil once again shows his

obsession when he visits Dorian. After confronting Dorian for his scandals Basil learns about his

secret. Dorian then kills Basil out of rage. Basil’s obsession for beauty and art is the very

reason that led him to his death. In Basil’s eyes Dorian is the most perfect piece of art, a symbol

of beauty and that is why he cares about Dorian. But it is his obsession for beauty and art that

led him to his downfall.!

! Sybil Vane is an aesthete in the novel because she falls in love with Dorian for his

charm. She liked Dorian for his looks just as much as Dorian appreciated her for her acting

skills. Dorian is her “prince charming” (Wilde 63). She let herself fall for Dorian and his looks.

When Dorian refuses her love for him she couldn’t bear the pain and so she kills herself.

Although Sybil is the most innocent out of all the characters she dies from self destruction. If she

had not liked Dorian so much because of his beauty she would not step into the trap. The only

immoral thing Sybil is responsible for would probably be giving up her family, Mrs.Vane and

James Vane. She left her family behind when she decided to suicide for her prince charming.

She also weighed beauty heavily, making her a victim of aestheticism.!

! Lord Henry Wotton displays aesthetic philosophy with his witty brain and smart mouth by

dictating Dorian in the aspects of hedonism. Right from the beginning of the book Lord Henry

was drawn toward Dorian because of his youth and beauty. Lord Henry wanted to own Dorian,

he wanted Dorian to be his art, so he manipulates him and leads Dorian to believe in “ Youth!

Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!” (Wilde 26). As a result Dorian swore

to “give his soul for that”(Wilde 28). Lord Henry does not consider Dorian’s feelings or the

impact it has towards Dorian when telling him his youth is the only thing that matters. Lord

Henry believes that, “it is better to be beautiful than to be good” (Wilde 215). He just thinks that

it will increase his happiness if he successfully persuades Dorian to have the same ideals as

him and to gain control of Dorian. This supports Wilde’s philosophy that art cannot be either

moral or immoral, it is to simply elevate or lower happiness. On top of that he satisfies his

hedonistic beliefs. Lord Henry takes immoral action by influencing Dorian. Therefore he is

somewhat responsible for Dorian’s death. Dorian who was the focus of Lord henry is taken

away, eventually Lord Henry’s wife leaves him as well. Lord Henry spends so much time trying

to paint Dorian’s life with his aesthetic values that he doesn’t realize aestheticism not only

dictates his thoughts, but it also took the people around him away. Lord Henry ends up with

nothing left, as a representation of his doom.!

! Dorian Gray takes aestheticism to the extreme with his actions of immorality. The portrait

of Dorian Gray is a representation of Dorian’s soul. Throughout the novel the picture reflects

Dorian’s actions. Dorian in the beginning of the story is a innocent young man, so his picture is

beautiful at the time. He falls in love with Sybil’s character on stage and mistakes it for true love

so he proposes to her. Dorian was infatuated by her ability to transform herself as an actress, to

him it was beauty. Dorian finds out that Sybil quits acting, and being the selfish brat that he is, of

course it upsets him. He then decides to take back his proposal for Sybil’s hand in marriage.

Sybil is devastated so she kills herself. Because Dorian is so focused on her beauty and only

values her for that, he ignores everything else. In my opinion, he is partially responsible for

Sybil’s death. Though he feels bad, Lord Henry tells Dorian “ you must not get yourself mixed up

in it” (Wilde 99). In fact Dorian viewed it “simply like a wonderful ending to a wonderful play. It

has all the terrible beauty of a Greek tragedy, a tragedy in which I took a great part, but by which

I have not been wounded” (Wilde 114). Seeing how the incident has not yet affect him, Dorian’s

narcissistic attitude becomes more apparent. Dorian Gray reveals the immorality of being selfish

as his picture begins to turn uglier every time he does something bad. His selfishness is a

consequence to being an advocate of aestheticism. His tragic death is a consequence of his

selfishness.!

! As Dorian becomes a narcissist in the novel, his new aesthetic philosophy showcases

the danger between aestheticism and morality. Dorian evolves into an aesthetic monster when

he interacts with Lord Henry more often. Lord Henry influenced him deeply with a yellow book

that is the representation of evil. Dorian was convinced that the book is his guide to life, he

views it as not evil but beauty. He wanted to pursue all the things the book mentions. So he

begins to experiment with men and women, leading a scandalous life. Dorian notices that the

portrait is becoming uglier as a reflection of his sins. But he is amused at such miracle. Instead

of taking it as a warning to stop immorality he takes advantage that the portrait bears his scars

for him. Since the portrait is degenerated every time Dorian does something immoral, it is his

punishment because his beauty slowly flows away. At one point Dorian learns that he is doing

wrong and he tries to turn the other way by doing good. He confronts Lord Henry “ He expects

the portrait to look more pleasant. But it doesn’t go that way because he has gone too far into

his sins to salvage the monster in him. Eventually Dorian destroys the portrait because he had

grown tired of how it looks. Since the painting was a reflection of him, or essentially him he

actually ended up killing himself. Dorian obsessed about the aesthetic life too much, he

ultimately led himself to destruction.!

! Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is an allegory about morals and virtues. The

main four characters in the story all had an obsession with beauty and let their obsession get

out of hand. Basil wrecked himself by sticking around Dorian when he knew that Dorian was up

to no good, all because he was beautiful. Sybil could have escaped the claws of the devil if she

didn’t fall for Dorian’s charm. Although Lord Henry didn’t die from letting aestheticism dictate his

thoughts, he was left alone with no purpose left. Dorian’s fate was the most catastrophic out of

all of them, he died looking old and ugly and as a reflection of his true soul. He wanted to

remain young beautiful forever, but at last he ended up with horrific looks. Since the portrait is a

true reflection of Dorian if he had done good deeds instead of immoral deeds his portrait would

have grown to be better looking or at the very least remained flawless. The picture of Dorian

Gray has two major themes, aestheticism and immorality, Oscar Wilde depicts the

consequences of both themes in his novel. Although Oscar Wilde is an aesthete himself, he

recognizes the danger of being too attentive to aestheticism. Even though most of the book is

spent on aesthetic life and the events of immorality his message is to tell his readers that

aesthetics should not be the purpose in life. Ultimately an aesthetic lifestyle will eventually lead

to immoral acts. !

! Word count: 1585!

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Works Cited!

! ! Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories. New York: Signet Classic,

2007. 4. Print.!

! Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories. New York: Signet Classic, !

2007.13 . Print.!