The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray's Faustian Pact " All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. " During the Renaissance, Christopher Marlowe examined the human soul in his morality play, "Doctor Faustus." Over 200 years later, the high-class British world of the 19th century held youth and beauty above much more important qualities, as exhibited in Oscar Wilde's novel, The …

…primarily responsible for the ruin of Dorian Gray's life, just like the way Mephistopheles recruited Faustus as a follower of Satan. In order to complete the Faustian contract, Basil Hallward's painting contains so much vigor that Dorian insists upon eternal youth, thus selling his soul to the portrait. By reading beneath the surface, Dorian realizes that his portrait was a doppelganger, and unwittingly kills his soulless body and his bodiless soul at the same time.