Book Review
Dec. 18th, 2009 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
I was surprised at how very disturbing this book is, despite how familiar the story has become and how embedded in certain segments of pop culture it has become. First of all, Wilde is engaging in some very harsh and pointed criticism of the moral stances taken up by late Victorian upperclass society. One of the underlying themes of the book is that despite espousing strict and even repressive moral codes, this society was all too happy to hypocritically look the other way for the sake of an attractive, witty, charming, and wealthy surface. There is also the suggestion that despite the espousing of a strict moral code, this society may have even preferred the charming surface to the virtuous substance. The other disturbing aspect is that Dorian remains strangely apart from his sins. I always got the feeling that he never achieved any level of commitment or conviction regarding immorality or evil. He seemed to be engaging in acts of debauchery and corruption that hurt himself and those around him more to see what it would be like to live that way than anything else. There is only one moment in the novel where Dorian seems to truly embrace his dark side, and that is the moment at which he is most compelling and charismatic. Except for that one moment, Dorian's immorality has an emptiness that is unsettling. It's not that he sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty and thus becomes evil, it's that he becomes truly soul-less.
by Oscar Wilde
I was surprised at how very disturbing this book is, despite how familiar the story has become and how embedded in certain segments of pop culture it has become. First of all, Wilde is engaging in some very harsh and pointed criticism of the moral stances taken up by late Victorian upperclass society. One of the underlying themes of the book is that despite espousing strict and even repressive moral codes, this society was all too happy to hypocritically look the other way for the sake of an attractive, witty, charming, and wealthy surface. There is also the suggestion that despite the espousing of a strict moral code, this society may have even preferred the charming surface to the virtuous substance. The other disturbing aspect is that Dorian remains strangely apart from his sins. I always got the feeling that he never achieved any level of commitment or conviction regarding immorality or evil. He seemed to be engaging in acts of debauchery and corruption that hurt himself and those around him more to see what it would be like to live that way than anything else. There is only one moment in the novel where Dorian seems to truly embrace his dark side, and that is the moment at which he is most compelling and charismatic. Except for that one moment, Dorian's immorality has an emptiness that is unsettling. It's not that he sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty and thus becomes evil, it's that he becomes truly soul-less.
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Date: 2009-12-19 11:55 am (UTC)