{"id":753,"date":"2018-10-28T17:46:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T21:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/?p=753"},"modified":"2018-10-28T17:46:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T21:46:25","slug":"ugliness-in-moreau-vs-grey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/2018\/10\/28\/ugliness-in-moreau-vs-grey\/","title":{"rendered":"Ugliness in Moreau vs. Grey"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Island of Dr Moreau<\/em> and The Picture of Dorian Grey<\/em> both contain characters who are ugly or impure. The core difference lies in where this ugliness is found; on the outside or the inside. The novels, when compared, seem to reveal that as long as a character\u2019s repulsiveness remains on the inside, they are free to be as sinful as they would like.<\/p>\n

For the Beastmen of Moreau\u2019s island, there is a constant focus from Prendick on their outward repugnance; \u201ctheir bodies were abnormally long\u2026 they were an amazingly ugly gang,\u201d (Wells 17), \u201cthe creature had exactly the mild but repulsive features of a sloth,\u201d (Wells 41), etc. These creatures designed by Moreau are under near-constant scrutiny Their outward monstrosity has deemed them unfit to be a part of the both the animalistic society they came from and the human society they were experimented on to become. There is almost a desire from the Beastmen to prove they can be just and civil like humans; \u201cNot to go on all fours\u2026 are we not men?\u201d (Wells 43). This is because their appearance prevents them from blending into any sort of society. They are prejudged not by their actions but by their looks.<\/p>\n

Contrastly is Dr Moreau, a Godlike figure who is hardly criticized despite his deplorable experiments. Moreau, seen as a beacon of good because he is firmly, attractively human, can get away with the work he is doing.<\/p>\n

Dorian Grey features the same concept. Our young and attractive aristocrat, at the end of chapter 8, resigns himself to living a life of beauty and sin so long as the painting is the thing that changes, and not himself. \u201c\u2026who, that knew anything about life, would surrender the chance of remaining always young\u2026\u201d (Wilde 120). Grey makes explicit that what the painting will reveal now is his soul, just as it had before revealed his looks. What\u2019s worse, Dorian believes \u201cthere [will] be real pleasure in watching it [change]\u201d (Wilde 120). Knowing that his sin will never touch his shell, but instead the canvas, is an excuse for Grey to do what he wants and not regret it.<\/p>\n

Lord Henry seems to agree that outward beauty is an excuse for sinful behavior. \u201cSome day, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly\u2026\u201d Lord Henry argues, Grey\u2019s life will not be as worth living. \u201cWhen your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you\u201d (Wilde 29-30). The message is clear; those who are lucky to have youth and beauty should take advantage, because it is rare and fleeting. What advantages one chooses to take are not specifically sinful, but that seems to be the direction Lord Henry is leading Dorian in; \u201cBe always searching for new sensations\u2026 be afraid of nothing\u2026 a new Hedonism\u201d (Wilde 30).<\/p>\n

The primary complication with outward looks determining one\u2019s behavior is its natural bias towards the attractive. If you are beautiful, you have the freedom to do whatever you please. This happens in society today; beauty is a focus and looks are rewarded; the \u201cbad boy\u201d trope is popular \u2013 the sinful but dangerous figure. Looks are used as an excuse to judge, and this superficial outlook allows a lot of sinful behavior by Grey and others to go unchecked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Island of Dr Moreau and The Picture of Dorian Grey both contain characters who are ugly or impure. The core difference lies in where this ugliness is found; on the outside or the inside. The novels, when compared, seem to reveal that as long as a character\u2019s repulsiveness remains on the inside, they are … Continue reading Ugliness in Moreau vs. Grey<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3626,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125359],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753","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\/3626"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}