Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Picture of Dorian Gray
As I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray, I noticed that the last few chapters had a lot of short phrases of dialogue between characters. The structure built up a sort of tension, a urgency that kept the reader on their toes, as Dorian was becoming more and more troubled. There was a certain understanding that the story had to end in death as it became a more central topic and the short phrases ensued. Harry's acceptance of the terrible world ended up contrasting with Dorian who could no longer accept the world in which he was living and the person he had become. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book very much even though it had far too many witty phrases to remember. The obsession with youth and beauty was carried out well throughout the book, and the last scene brought a beautiful end when Dorian was now old in appearance because his soul was gone, which had been what had been sold to the devil and keeping him young looking. It was interesting to note that it was said that Dorian stabbed the picture with the knife, but ended up dying himself, meaning that he had become the picture in his mind or switched places with the picture.
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I was also fascinated by the ending of the Picture of Dorian Gray. That Dorian Gray would be the instrument of his own demise is truly fitting. He was immortal, in a sense, so only he could choose to die. However, he did not really choose to die. At least, I don't think that was his intention when he stabbed the painting. But he did want the life he was living to end. The only way that was possible, it seems, was through death. I agree that the painting was his soul but that he did not possess it anymore. Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI was also very interested in Dorian's death. Like Nora, I felt that he didn't actually want to die that way, but that he had no other option. It would be interesting to look at it as if he actually knew he was going to die when he stabbed the knife into the painting.
ReplyDeleteSo I was surprised that both Nora and Hannah thought Dorian had no option but to kill himself. I remembered something I had read once when I looked up suicide:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metanoia.org/suicide/
“Suicide is not chosen; it happens
when pain exceeds
resources for coping with pain.”
Although I do agree that being immortal like he was is no good since you have no urgency and cannot escape the consequences of your actions in any foreseeable way, I disagree with Nora and Hannah.
It seems to me that Dorian did in fact have other options, the most valuable being to increase his resources. Yes, he had taken a bad road for himself, but I think that he could still dig himself out of his hole if he really wanted to and got some supportive friends around him. Maybe seeing a counselor, moving towns?, and doing something where he served others in meaningful way for himself would have been helpful for him to turn his life around.
I thought it was really interesting when you talked about the acceptance or disagreement with the way the world works. The relationship between Harry and Dorian is definitely a complicated one, perhaps it was bittersweet because I felt like Dorian committed suicide not because he disagreed entirely with Harry but because he couldn't help agreeing. I feel like his relationship with his grandfather, Lord Kelso, is the main reason for Dorian's actions, but I agree, there are too many witty comments to follow to have a definitive opinion.
ReplyDeletei felt the end of dorian gray despite the supernatural elements was actually very telling of humanity. from the book though we do tend to side with dorian we cannot help but be disgusted at the level of corruption and descent into debauchery that he reaches. in a sense the world is "righted" when he dies and finally looks like his old and corrupted soul that was trapped in the painting. i found it personally very satisfying to have such an ending. It was reassuring to know that such evil has to be killed eventually.
ReplyDelete