\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Oscar Wilde\u2019s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, fits perfectly into the themes of the Fin de si\u00e8cle. The themes of darkness and decay are ever present in the golden boy Dorian\u2019s descent into madness and murder. Through his actions and the narration, it can be determined that Dorian\u2019s murderous tendencies can be attributed to Dorian\u2019s own disconnection to himself and his own will.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 One scene that made it obvious that Dorian is detached from his own self is in the moments leading up to Basil\u2019s murder. It was described as Dorian watching Basil \u201cwith that strange expression that one seen on the faces of those who are absorbed in a play when some great artist is acting\u2026there was simply the passion of the spectator\u201d (pg 173). The comparison of Dorian to an absorbed spectator in an amazing play is interesting because it seems as though he\u2019s in a distant world \u2013 one opposite to the room that he and Basil are in. This comparison also draws on the idea of art as it entices and entrances those who witness it, in this instance Dorian is the one filled with \u201cthe passion of the spectator.\u201d I also read this as Wilde hinting at the idea of supernatural influence on Dorian\u2019s attachment to his body and will because this is one of multiple moments where Dorian is pulled into the unseen. For example, the scene of Dorian\u2019s death because he had transformed from \u201cexquisite youth and beauty\u201d to laying lifeless \u201cwithered, wrinkled and loathsome\u201d and unrecognizable. The sudden disappearance of youthful beauty as soon as he died further suggests the idea of the evil supernatural at work as that would be the only reason for such a rapid change in looks. Dorian\u2019s death can be read as confirmation that the same distant force that \u201cabsorbed\u201d him in the play of life had also orchestrated his death as the finale to the art piece. <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Oscar Wilde\u2019s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, fits perfectly into the themes of the Fin de si\u00e8cle. The themes of darkness and decay are ever present in the golden boy Dorian\u2019s descent into madness and murder. Through his actions and the narration, it can be determined that Dorian\u2019s murderous tendencies … Continue reading Everything is not what it seems – The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1307","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\/1307","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\/5321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}