Moral Ambiguity in Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray, a handsome young man, is slowly tortured by a sliver of his conscience and fear of fate in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. When Dorian believes, thanks to the devilish Henry Wotton, that physical beauty and pleasures are the key to true happiness, he begins on his horrid journey. The flawed logic keeps Henry content and happy and seems to do the same for Dorian. Although, as Dorian does evil with credit to his newfound logic, his evil deeds paired with everlasting youth and a morphing self-portrait keep his conscience alive and his morals in turmoil. Dorian Gray, after he is supposedly gifted with forever youth, is able to perform evil without his physical immaculacy being polluted. However, selfishness becomes the motivation for all his actions, rendering him unable to remain content as Lord Henry. Dorian ignores his moral turmoil for a period of time, but as the sins’ severity increases, so does the tension between his new philosophy and the remainder of his conscience. In order to ignore this tension within him, he distracts himself with pleasure and drugs, only increasing his inner turmoil. As time continues and he physically is unchanged, his portrait becomes darker and more evil, weighing on Dorian as evidence that there are and will be consequences for his actions. With time to process his situation, the horrifying truth that his fate will be everlasting pain and suffering terrifies Dorian, keeping the turmoil his moral ambiguity causes alive. With great assistance from fear of fate, Dorian’s inner goodness keeps him aware of his impure actions and looming consequences. As he continues with vices wearing him thin, he becomes more unstable and commits graver sins, including the murder of Basil and the accidental killing of James Vane. Remaining addicted to his pleasures, he slips into depression and deeper into drug use. He even attempts to rid his suffering through just deeds. However, his conscience and