Extended Essays 2021

same way; as worthy of worship and devotion. However, as the story continues, Wilde has

increasingly imbued the narrator’s voice with a tone of judg ement, therefore representing

Dorian Gray as a man of immorality and paranoia. For instance, the narrator says, ‘He was poisoned in thought. Memory, like a horrible malady, was eating his soul away’ 24 . Wilde has

utilised a worshipful and positive tone present in the example of ‘crisp gold hair’, to

exemplify Gray’s previous honourable nature. Whereas, a disgusted and negative tone is used

in the example of ‘memory, like a horrible malady, was eating his soul away’, when

describing the future sinful version of Gray. The stark difference in diction and tone aids in

demonstrating his demise and disconnect from true beauty, as well as positions the reader

against him and his actions.

Transubstantiation

Transubstantiation is a prominent concept that first occurred in Roman Catholicism in the 12 th century, in which the substance of the bread and wine in the Eucharist becomes Christ’s real presence; body and blood 25 . This conversion of the Eucharist into the literal embodiment

of Christ, occurs without any outward change to its physical elements. The Eucharistic

service is undertaken by churches with the objective of commemorating the words and

actions of Jesus Christ, as well as enhancing the connection between disciples as a spiritual

community and also with Christ.

The conversion of the Eucharist into the body and blood of Christ bears no visible changes,

therefore correlating with the novel through the character of Dorian Gray. This is best

demonstrated when Gray ponders the rationale behind the progressive alteration of his

portrait. He says, ‘Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secret, wild joys and

wilder sins, - he was to have all these things. The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame: tha t was all’ 26 . God, through Transubstantiation, is externalised in these components

and represented as being both immortal and ‘perfect’, whereas Gray's externalisation in the

form of the portrait, shows the erosion of his soul through the ‘burden of his shame’ in a

literal incarnation. Through this parallel, Dorian Gray’s soul and body are contrasted, as his

24 P.179, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 25 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019. Transubstantiation. [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/transubstantiation [Accessed 27 June 2021]. 26 P.102, Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

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