Oscar Wilde – The picture of Dorian Gray – “I would give my soul” – Analysis

The extract is from the second chapter of Wilde’s novel The picture of Dorian Gray. It is about the first meeting between the young man Dorian Gray and Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian is not conscious about his own beauty and Lord Wotton makes him notice it directing him to the Aestheticism way of thinking.

After reading the text a first time the intelligent reader can recognize three different sequences. A first dialogical one made up by the considerations expressed by Lord Wotton: it has the function to underline the opinion of the character as regards the beauty of the young Dorian and to express the central points of the Aesthetic movement. A second describing Dorian’s reactions in seeing the portrait for the first time. The second sequence has the function to express the novel’s protagonist’s idea of beauty that is again the Aesthetic one. The third one contains a dialogue between the two characters of the scene: Lord Wotton and Dorian Gray. This last one is due to put a conclusion to the scene and it is due to introduce the central element of the whole novel: Dorian willing to live forever.

The first sequence, the words of Lord Wotton, opens with reference to Dorian’s beauty. The two themes developed are the sense of beauty in the Aestheticism movement and the fear of death in the same time. The idea of beauty and its importance can be summarized using directly some expressions taken from the text.

“Beauty is a form of genius – is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of great facts of the world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shall we call the moon.”; “It has its divine right of sovereignty.”; “To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders.”.

Beauty is the expression of superiority; it is the expression of God’s will and it is bounded to nature: nature has a cyclical existence, so the beauty of the things is eternal. Living for the beauty, living for and in art is the better way of living. Being the beauty of the natural things eternal; how does it connect with death?

After underlining the importance of beauty and his role in the life according to Aestheticism, Lord Wotton compares the circular existence of nature to the linear life of man:

“In a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year after year the green night of its leaves will hold its purple stars. But we never get back our youth.” The most important moment in life is when we are young and we have to “be always searching for new sensations”

The firs sequence has the function to underline the two most important principles of the Aesthetic way of living: “art for art sake” and making life become art. These are the core points of the Aesthetic movement; them are in opposition towards the Victorian values establish (respectability, charity, severity, morality, work and family). Another function of the first sequence is to introduce the theme of fear of death, expansion of which is the function of the second one.

The second sequence opens again with reference to beauty: there is the reaction of Dorian in front of his own beauty. His reactions are underlined using his physical changings:

“His cheeks flushed for a moment with pleasure. A look of joy came into his eyes”; “He stood there motionless and in wonder.”.

The theme of death comes after the comprehension of his beauty and is expressed reporting through the repetition of what Lord Wotton previously said, highlighting Dorian’s agreement with him: “Yes, there would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen, his eyed dim and colourless, the grace of his figure broken and deformed. The scars would pass away from his lips and the gold steal from his hair.”.

Death is presented again as the finish of beauty and the scare of it is expressed in the same way that his reaction to his own beauty was presented: using his physical reactions, recalling the body of which beauty is made and on which Aestheticism in based. “He felt as a hand of ice had been laid upon his heart”.

The same theme of death’s fear is the central theme of the third sequence, of the dialogue that has the function to underline the last Aestheticism’s core point and to anticipate the core point of the entire novel.

The last point of Aestheticism highlighted in the extract is the immortality of art that is opposed to the finiteness of life. It emerges inside the expressions “I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young.” The fear of death that Dorian feels is so high that he decided to sell his soul to remain young. Here is the extremes of the aesthetic concept of living for art, beauty and youth; as well as the moment that begins the succession of events on which is based the novel: Dorian’s immortality, the portrait aging and the death of Dorian when he realizes how empty and vain his actions had been. In the latter part of the text contains what Aestheticism was according to Wilde: the youth interpretation of the principles leads to their extremes and their depletion; living for art does not mean living as ephemeral as will Dorian.

The ultimate goal of the extract is to expose the basic principles of Aestheticism in their correct interpretation, propose a childish and wrong interpretation making the reader understand their real meaning.