Analysis: Picture of Dorian G.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is the story of moral corruption by the means of aestheticism. In the novel, the well meaning artist Basil Hallward presets young Dorian Gray with a portrait of himself. After conversing with cynical Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian makes a wish which dreadfully affects his life forever. "If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that I …

…a novel including a moral dialogue between conscience and temptation that is powerfully conveyed. Though it is made to seem an advocate for aestheticism on the surface, the story ultimately undermines that entire philosophy. Wilde brings the question of "to what extent are we shaped by our actions" (26). He also demonstrates that "art cannot be a substitute for life" (Eriksen 104). It is a fantastic tale of hedonism with a moral to be learned and remembered.