Extended Essays 2021

latter half, when Gray observes the portrait with ‘…the evil and aging face on the canvas’ 17 and then ‘…the fair young face that laughed back at him from the polished glass’ 18 . As the

portrait is symbolic of the toll that Gray’s sins have taken on his soul, it becomes apparent

that Wilde has positioned the reader to understand the dissonance between Gray’s body and

soul, by showing the sharp contrast between the physical and spiritual incarnations of Dorian

Gray. This contrast has been achieved through the use of the mirror, which juxtaposes the

gorgeous reflection of ‘the fair young face’ with the decrepit ‘evil and aging face’ present in

the portrait.

Although Dorian Gray becomes entirely removed from the representation of the Hellenistic

Ideal, his process was a gradual fall from grace. Initially, Wilde has described Gray as a naïve boy with all of youth’s ‘candour’ 19 and ‘passionate purity’ 20 who had ‘…kept himself unspotted from the world’ 21 . Thus, aligning Dorian Gray with the Hellenistic Ideal, as he has

been portrayed as a boy of innocence and pure virtue. Hence, Gray is considered divinely

beautiful as both his external appearance and internal ‘goodness’ are in agreement. However,

as the plot progresses, Dorian Gray moves further from this ideal form, as a result of Lord

Henry Wotton’s ‘poisonous’ influence, enticed by his philosophy of ‘new Hedonism’, a

method of living in which the pursuit of pleasure is placed above all else. Lord Henry gifts

him a book titled, ‘A Rebours’ by J.K Huysman, in which a wealthy, Nineteenth -century

Frenchman, dedicates his life to the accumulation of as many aesthetic sensations as he can, unperturbed by the opinion of society 22 .

Additionally, Wilde has employed a developmental tone to support Dorian Gray’s gradual

separation from God- like ‘perfection’. Initially, the narrator provides a feeling of admiration

or swooning when describing Dorian Gray. For example, the narrator says, ‘Yes, he was

certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair’ 23 . This enamoured description, influences the reader to think of Gray in the

17 P.124, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 18 P.124, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 19 P.19, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 20 P.19, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 21 P.19, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 22 Britannica, T. E. o. E., 2015. Against the Grain. [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Against-the-Grain [Accessed 27 June 2021]. 23 P.19, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

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