Bloom's Literary Themes - ymerleksi - home

150
Oscar Wilde
Dorian is described in sensual and suggestive metaphors. Such metaphors
emphasize the taboo nature of Henry’s influence over Dorian.
The relationship Dorian develops between himself and his portrait
is a direct consequence of Henry’s seduction. Henry makes Dorian
conscious of his beauty and insists this narcissism is essential to his
understanding of the world. Thus Dorian begins to understand himself
in terms of the effect his beauty has on the senses of his spectators,
so much so that he is able to objectify himself when he gazes at his
portrait, becoming enamored with himself. Like the mythic Narcissus,
whose tragic fate is sealed when he gazes lovingly at his own reflection
for the first time, when Dorian studies the painting, “A look of joy came
into his eyes, as if he had recognized himself for the first time. . . . The
sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation” (Wilde 204).
Narcissus is driven mad by his dual role as lover and loved; similarly,
this moment destroys Dorian’s sense of wholeness. He is now able to
perceive himself as two distinct selves: one who possesses immutable
beauty and the other who has knowledge and soul and consequently
is subject to the ravages of time. 3 He has to live a double life. Unlike
Narcissus, who instinctively reached out and fell in love with his image,
Dorian hates his portrait; it fills him with regret and jealousy (“I shall
grow old, and horrid, and dreadful. But this picture will always remain
young”). Narcissus wishes to be joined with his image, while Dorian
wishes only for the eternal youth that his image seems to possess: “If it
was only the other way! If it was I who were to be always young, and
the picture that were to grow old!” (Wilde 205). This fracturing of the
self into a perfect physical form and a representation of this form that
reflects the corruption of Dorian’s subsequent life complicates and blurs
the boundary between life and art. 4
Following the dictates of Henry’s hedonism, Dorian experiences
every form of decadent pleasure and sensation imaginable. Through
his journey, the physical form Dorian projects onto the world is the
one Basil had been overwhelmed by—a façade of purity, youth, and
innocence—while the actual state of his soul and its incessant degeneration
is reflected on the painting itself. This allows Dorian the gift of
concealment; his experiences are not revealed by his body and thus he
is able to lead a life that seemingly denies his debauchery. The metaphor
of the painting in the novel, which merges art and life, allows
Dorian to violate taboos while avoiding moral consequences. Dorian
survives public censure because he remains physically perfect. He alone