Is Dorian Gray based on Faust?
Oscar Wilde himself comments that this novel is based on the Faustian themes which would have been very well known to all of the educated men of his time, and it is very easy to see parallels between the legend and this story.
What is the Faustian bargain in Dorian Gray?
A Faustian pact is where a person trades their soul with the devil for something they truly believe they cannot live without. In Oscar Wildes the Picture of Dorian Grey Dorian Grey makes a Faustian pact by saying that he would trade his soul with the portrait so he could stay forever young.
What is the main message of Dorian Gray?
The main theme of The Picture of Dorian Gray is the relationship between beauty and morality. Oscar Wilde plays on the Renaissance idea of the correspondence between the physical and spiritual realms: beautiful people are moral people; ugly people are immoral people.
What is the Faustian theory?
A Faustian bargain is made with a power that the bargainer recognizes as evil or amoral. Faustian bargains are by their nature tragic or self-defeating for the person who makes them, because what is surrendered is ultimately far more valuable than what is obtained, whether or not the bargainer appreciates that fact.
What was the story of Dorian Gray about?
A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all. In 1886, in Victorian London, the corrupt Lord Henry Wotton (George Sanders) meets the pure Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) posing for talented painter Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore).
What does Lord Henry symbolize?
As a result, one cannot help but think of him as a villainous character. However, Lord Henry is never presented in a negative manner. He is clever, charming, and eloquent. One can argue that he represents the devil, drawing a parallel to Faust by his beguiling manner.
Why does basil want to destroy the painting?
Basil accuses Lord Henry of causing all this turmoil, but Lord Henry says that he has merely brought forth the true Dorian. Basil decides to destroy the portrait rather than have it upset the lives of the three men, but Dorian stops him. “It would be murder,” Dorian says.
What does The Picture of Dorian Gray teach?
“And the moral is this: All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment. The painter, Basil Hallward, worshipping physical beauty far too much, as most painters do, dies by the hand of one in whose soul he has created a monstrous and absurd vanity.
Why is The Picture of Dorian Gray significant?
Publication of the novel scandalized Victorian England, and The Picture of Dorian Gray was used as evidence against Wilde when he was tried and convicted in 1895 on charges related to homosexuality.
Who killed Dorian Gray?
As he takes a short cut through a den archway, someone suddenly grabs him from behind and shoves him against a wall, his hand choking Dorian, who hears the click of a revolver. The man who chokes Dorian is James Vane, brother of Sibyl Vane, the actress who killed herself eighteen years before.
Does Dorian regret his wish?
In addition, there is the question of whether Dorian even wants to change his life. He states that he does not know whether he regrets the wish that evidently made the contract.
Why does Dorian destroy the painting at the end of the novel?
The portrait reflects this hypocrisy and drives him to his final, desperate act. He decides it is better to destroy the last evidence of his sin—the painting of his soul—than face up to his own depravity. The depravity he seeks to destroy is, in essence, himself; therefore, by killing it, he kills himself.
How does the Faust legend apply to Dorian’s character?
As Dorian’s character evolves throughout the novel, the reader should keep in mind the Faust legend and how Oscar Wilde applies it to Dorian’s character. In light of the Faust legend, the reader might ask at this point what Lord Henry’s role is.
What is the theme of the picture of Dorian Gray?
The Picture of Dorian Gray Themes. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Picture of Dorian Gray, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The Mortality of Beauty and Youth. The trouble starts when Henry warns Dorian that his extraordinary beauty and youth will fade, and tells him to make the most of it.
What are the principles of aestheticism in the picture of Dorian Gray?
The first principle of aestheticism, the philosophy of art by which Oscar Wilde lived, is that art serves no other purpose than to offer beauty. Throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray, beauty reigns. It is a means to revitalize the wearied senses, as indicated by the effect that Basil’s painting has on the cynical Lord Henry.
Is Dorian Grey ostracized by society?
Indeed, even though, as Basil warns, society’s elite question his name and reputation, Dorian is never ostracized. On the contrary, despite his “mode of life,” he remains at the heart of the London social scene because of the “innocence” and “purity of his face.”