{"id":1238,"date":"2023-10-31T15:20:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T19:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2023-10-31T15:20:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T19:20:30","slug":"the-picture-of-dorian-gray-the-angel-and-the-devil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2023\/10\/31\/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-the-angel-and-the-devil\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Picture of Dorian Gray”, The Angel, and The Devil"},"content":{"rendered":"

The passage where Dorian is looking between his portrait and his real self in the mirror brings up the comparison of sin and aging for the second time in the novel. I found it interesting how the novel portrays aging and sin as comparable, both explicitly and in physical descriptions. The comparison becomes especially clear because as Dorian develops a growing fascination with his own beauty, he becomes more concerned about the ugliness of physical aging than his growing physical evil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the portrait physically changes throughout the novel, Dorian identifies the physical alterations of the portrait as signs of aging, but characterized in a negative light. Dorian describes the painting as growing old, depicted by developing cheeks \u201chollow or flaccid\u201d, \u201cYellow crow\u2019s feet\u201d, a mouth that would \u201cgape or droop\u201d, a \u201cwrinkled throat\u201d, and \u201cthe cold, blue-veined hands\u2026that he remembered in [his] grandfather\u201d (121). The physical descriptions of Dorian\u2019s aging body in the portrait carry a tone of disgust and ugliness that is then contrasted with an eerie tone of Dorian\u2019s admiration for his own beauty and fascination with the corruption of his soul. The language used to describe how Dorian looks at the portrait and himself in the mirror, examining the \u201chideous wrinkled forehead\u201d, \u201cheavy sensual mouth\u201d, and \u201ccoarse bloated hands\u201d carry a tone of horror and at times sexualization, that is symbolic of the perverted adoration Dorian begins to feel for his corruption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorian also says this explicitly when describing how he stares at himself in the mirror and in the portrait, describing how \u201cthe very sharpness of the contrast used to quicken his sense of pleasure\u201d (127). He feels a sense of excitement at the contrasted sight of himself changing for the worse. Additionally, the way he places his hands against the picture and smiles is a chilling image that encapsulates the deterioration of his soul but also shows Dorian facing the internal dilemma of whether to blame his newfound ugliness on the portrait of the aging body or the corruption of his soul. As he looks between the ugly, aging portrait and his youthful, evil face, the creepy scenes of Dorian admiring the evil qualities of his portrait insinuate his decision that the signs of age were far more horrible to him than the signs of sin (127).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought this passage could be saying something about age and innocence in the novel. Taking into account the relationships Dorian shares with Basil and with Lord Henry, the influences of both these older men on Dorian are worthy of note in his transformation. Basil and Dorian have their artist and muse relationship, but it also can be interpreted as a father and son dynamic. Basil takes great admiration and care for Dorian, and in general carries a gentle and nurturing tone. Lord Henry is more negative and selfish, constantly complaining about women, and talking about how marriage is a prison. In this way, Basil and Lord Henry can be seen as \u201cthe angel and the devil\u201d on Dorian\u2019s shoulders, influencing the way he views himself and the world around him. This comes to a head later in the novel when Dorian kills \u201cthe angel\u201d, Basil, solidifying the almost \u201caging\u201d of his soul into a descent of corruption when he succumbs to the influence of \u201cthe devil\u201d and loses his innocence both the sins of sin and the sins of aging.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The passage where Dorian is looking between his portrait and his real self in the mirror brings up the comparison of sin and aging for the second time in the novel. I found it interesting how the novel portrays aging and sin as comparable, both explicitly and in physical descriptions. The comparison becomes especially clear … Continue reading “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, The Angel, and The Devil<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4878,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}