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HEDONISM

  • school of thought that argues that pleasure is the primary or most important intrinsic good
  • hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure

Ideologies

DECADENT MOVEMENT

Why did Lord Henry never practice the immoral things he said?

  • late 19th- century
  • extreme aestheticism and fashionable despair
  • praised pretense over nature and sophistication over simplicity
  • center of the movement was the “The Yellow Book”

LITERARY THEORY

Psychoanalytic

  • Hedonism
  • Aestheticism
  • Decadent Movement

THESIS

  • Sigmund Freud
  • Id- pleasure principle (Lord Henry)
  • Ego- reality principle
  • Superego- moral center (Basil)

AESTHETICISM

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian's need for aesthetic perfection depicted by the portrait results in a corrupted mind, which leads to his downfall, as he pursues Hedonism.

  • late 19th-century
  • arts movement which centered on the doctrine that art exists for the sake of its beauty alone, and that it need serve no political or other purpose

Argument #1

Historical

Lord Henry, a Hedonist, projects the idea of self-indulgence onto Dorian Gray which directs him towards his demise.

Argument #2

  • Set in late 19th century, London
  • Literary period: Aestheticism
  • inspired by themes of Faust

The painting, unexpectedly, has an immense influence over Dorian’s mind, and in turn his actions

Argument #3

Although Dorian is conscious of the negative effects of the book, he does not have the mental strength to withdraw himself from the Hedonistic movement and situates himself to be forever confined within these ideologies.

Dorian Gray

Symbol

  • Basil paints a portrait of Dorian Gray
  • Lord Henry persuades Dorian Gray into adapting his hedonistic views on life
  • Dorian fears that his youth and beauty will fade and wishes that the portrait withers and ages instead of him. He would do anything even sacrifice his soul.
  • Dorian adapts to Henry’s views, in which he abandons ethical limitations and sees life in terms of pleasure and sensuality, and the corruption of his soul is depicted through his portrait.
  • After years of immoral acts, in an attempt to change, Dorian refuses to corrupt a young girl. However the portrait had a change of a hypocritical smirk.
  • Dorian stabs the portrait. The servants hear a shriek and go upstairs where they see an old man dead on the floor.

The Yellow Book

Author's Biography

Name: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde

Birth Date: 16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland

  • Irish writer and poet
  • Through lectures and early poetry, established himself as a supporter of the aesthetic movement
  • 1891- published his first and only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray

Death Date: November 30, 1900 at the age of 46 (meningitis)

Basil Hallward

• Old-fashioned representative of aesthetic movement (willing to give up art for morals)

• Moral center of novel

• Dorian abides by it

• Represents the overpowering influence that art can have over an individual

Lord Henry

• Radical aesthete (essential)

• Tells immoral things, but never follows them

  • Introduced as an ideal male figure: young and handsome
  • Easily influenced by Lord Henry leading him to believe ever-lasting youth is to long for
  • Vulnerable and insecure (easily influenced)
  • Near the end, believes sin is ugliness and so sin is unacceptable… not because sin is immoral

Oscar Wilde

Summary

Why would Dorian Gray be considered a tragic hero?

Personal Connection

  • Easily influenced by those who are our superior or rather those who we choose to keep our superior
  • Give importance to what others think of me and act accordingly

Do you think Dorian Gray was the sole reason for his downfall?

The Picture of Dorian Gray

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