The Path to Corruption: the Picture of Dorian Grey
The path to corruption “Nothing looks so like innocence as an indiscretion.” – Oscar Wilde
Behind every corrupted person lies someone who at one point in time was extremely innocent. An innocent person is easily influenced by their surroundings. From the moment of birth to the moment of death the actions that one chooses are in one way or another influenced by the surrounding factors whether it is in a positive or negative way. In the case of Dorian Gray, a young man who is the new source of inspiration for a talented artist named Basil Hallward meets Basil’s friend named Lord Henry. From the moment they meet Dorian is influenced by him, and because of him Dorian then battles with his inner self. Dorian struggles with the concepts of good vs. evil. He is faced with challenges and battles with the concepts of morality and ethics. As these battles within him continue he grows fouler and nastier within, yet maintains the essence of a young man on the outside. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde uses the influence of Lord Henry Wotton as well as the portrait of Dorian Gray to represent how Dorian Gray is led to corruption and its consequences. At first when I picked up this book I thought this was just going to be another boring book, but from the moment I read the first word, I could not put the book down. I could easily say that this is one of my new beloved books. The novel awakened senses and thoughts that I thought were not possible and touched on subjects that I have never read about before. When I began reading the first to characters to come up were Basil Hallward and his companion Lord Henry. Basil said the first line that jumped at me and it was “The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world…” (4). It surprised me how much the subject of appearance was so important in this novel. Basil is an artist and has found his inspiration with Dorian and therefore paints him repeatedly. Lord Henry is very curious about him and desires to meet
Behind every corrupted person lies someone who at one point in time was extremely innocent. An innocent person is easily influenced by their surroundings. From the moment of birth to the moment of death the actions that one chooses are in one way or another influenced by the surrounding factors whether it is in a positive or negative way. In the case of Dorian Gray, a young man who is the new source of inspiration for a talented artist named Basil Hallward meets Basil’s friend named Lord Henry. From the moment they meet Dorian is influenced by him, and because of him Dorian then battles with his inner self. Dorian struggles with the concepts of good vs. evil. He is faced with challenges and battles with the concepts of morality and ethics. As these battles within him continue he grows fouler and nastier within, yet maintains the essence of a young man on the outside. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde uses the influence of Lord Henry Wotton as well as the portrait of Dorian Gray to represent how Dorian Gray is led to corruption and its consequences. At first when I picked up this book I thought this was just going to be another boring book, but from the moment I read the first word, I could not put the book down. I could easily say that this is one of my new beloved books. The novel awakened senses and thoughts that I thought were not possible and touched on subjects that I have never read about before. When I began reading the first to characters to come up were Basil Hallward and his companion Lord Henry. Basil said the first line that jumped at me and it was “The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world…” (4). It surprised me how much the subject of appearance was so important in this novel. Basil is an artist and has found his inspiration with Dorian and therefore paints him repeatedly. Lord Henry is very curious about him and desires to meet