The Consequence of Vanity in The Picture of Dorian Gray and other Victorian Poems - Term Paper Example

?Client’s The Consequence of Vanity in The Picture of Dorian Gray and other Victorian Poems The artist is the creatorof beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. The Highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography ~ Oscar Wilde (Wilde and Ellmann 3) Introduction Vanity is a sin, an indulgence of the spirit in which importance is put on the exterior instead of through character and values. In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the theme of vanity is taken to its extreme, a supernatural connection allowing the protagonist to exist in unending youth and beauty without the consequences of his immorality reflected in his face or body. Dorian Gray is given exceptional beauty at birth, but it is through the connection to the portrait that he avoids the consequences of his vanity. Dorian Gray squanders the gift of immortality through abusing the power that his beauty gives him and allowing himself to descend into the trap of having his values all placed upon the virtue of what he is allowed to get away with during his life. The consequence of vanity is explored with Dorian Gray and other works of the same period as they relate to the myth that beauty means goodness to the superficiality that can be the result of this belief. Poems by Browning, Rosetti, Tennyson, and Arnold from the same general period all have aspects of exploration through which to understand more about the nature of the themes with Wilde’s work. Vanity can be seen in the desire to maintain youth that the right to immortal beauty can be used as a way in which to deny the events of maturity, even in the way in which it is lamented by Tennyson. Rosetti discusses the nature of holding onto a moment in time, while Browning takes that concept to the next step by using murder to create a captured moment. Arnold discusses the need to control the event of his death; his social circles denied access and his focus held by the world through which he feels he will find peace. The nature of vanity and its consequences, however, are named by these elements of hubris through which the idea of power, control, and living in the past all are a part of the vanities of the mythologies of youth. The work by Wilde explores these vanities, ascribing the pain of the consequences as seen in the development of the painting and can be discussed in terms of understanding Victorian literature through examining various poems of the period. Dorian Gray The preface to a book of Wilde’s work suggests that “The Picture of Dorian Gray…is Wilde’s version of the Faust legend, the bartering of a soul for eternal youth and gratification…The book is his parable of the impossibility of leading a life on aesthetic terms” (Wilde and Ellmann ix). The fallacy of the belief that Dorian convinces himself of believing is that because he does not bear the consequences of immorality, he is free of conscience and duty in relationship to his deeds. Dorian has made a deal through which he can live a life that is based upon the beauty that he holds, his values and morals unendingly compromised but his youth not touched by those things that he would do merely for the indulgences that they represent. The character of Dorian Gray, however, is never as evil as he could be as he can in one minute kill a human being, but in the next be reluctant to kill a rabbit (Wilde and Ellmann x). Even as the concept of evil without consequences is explored, it betrays that theme as it is clear that Dorian does have some feelings about the acts that he commits. He is seduced by his power to do as he pleases his vices and crimes manifestations of his guilt as much as his desire to commit them. The reader is seduced by Dorian as much as the world around him, the charm with which he approaches his life making it easy to gloss over some of the acts that he commits. In the end, however, the glamour that he shrouds himself is torn apart for the reader, long before he destroys himself. Norman Page discusses the most relevant theme of The Picture of Dorian Gray as being related to the act of concealment. He states “it is right to stress the importance of concealment in this novel: the artist is fearful that the picture reveals too much, the sitter in turn hides the portrait whose deterioration will betray his own secrets, and the concealment of the painting becomes a metaphor for the secret life” which in turn leads to the concept that of “the necessity of concealment and the fear of revelation” (17). This goes the core fear of vanity in that it is he exercise of covering through superficial means that which one does not want the world to see of their interior. The exploration of the ‘other’, the self that is also a stranger is explored through the concept of both the vanity of Dorian and the concealment that comes into effect with the painting. Kembler describes this stranger as “the mysterious other, a person who may look exactly like you but who is a stranger, doing deeds you would have never contemplated” (161). The painting at first is nothing more than a replicated image, but its supernatural quality transforms it into the exterior manifestation of the ugliness within the man. This duplication that is reflective of the soul rather than the image provides the fear that is the core of Dorian’s vanity. His beauty shields his ugliness from the world, thus making him seem free of stain, but in truth, holding him hostage as it manifests on the canvas. Vanity Looking at the poem “Tears, Idle Tears” by Lord Alfred Tennyson reveals something of the nature of the vanity that Dorian expresses through his lasting youth which is lamented by Tennyson. Tennyson writes:    Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more. Tennyson is using the seasons to discuss the nature of age, which is a common metaphor, and as he looks on the autumn of his age, he laments the days of spring and summer which are now lost to him. Just as Dorian exalts his youth and beauty, the supernatural elements of the book allowing for him to retain it, so does Tennyson look on those days with sorrow as her realizes they are gone. Tennyson goes on to write: So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.    Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd On lips that are for others; deep as love, Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; O Death in Life, the days that are no more! The lament that ends this poem speaks to the vanity of youth that it cannot be regained and that they are dead but live only in memory. The memories of that time were innocent, sweet as recollected in reference to a kiss and through first love, which is often reckless and without the depth of true love. The vanity that is described may be innocence, but still it is vain in that it does not rejoice in the depth and meaning that comes with time, but for the freedom from that depth of understanding. Another poem that supports the connection between time and beauty is that of Christina Georgina Rossetti in her poem “A Farm Walk”. The narrator discusses a moment in time when he had come upon a young milk maid who had inspired desire in him. He remembers the innocence and beauty of that moment, her loveliness being the only reason that he was attracted to her and his memory of her perfect because of the moment in time it had taken place. As he discusses the impact of time upon them he states: Alas, one point in all my plan My serious thoughts demur to: Seven years have passed for maid and man, Seven years have passed for her too; Perhaps my rose is overblown, Not rosy or too rosy; The superficiality of the moment, as it stands as a memory in his mind, can be compared to a portrait. The image of the memory is unchanging, but the truth of time would possibly mar the beauty of that memory. The moment was based upon a superficiality of the imagery that was created in the barn. Similarly, Browning writes about the theme of love, time, and the moment in his poem “720. Porphyria’s Lover”. The narrator of the poem sees the desire and love that the woman has for him, but in the end, he captures that moment by killing her. Browning writes that the lover is trying to resist her love, but she is to weak and comes to him anyway. As she says that she would give herself to him forever, he takes in that moment her life, making her his exactly as she has stated. Browning writes: Murmuring how she loved me—she   Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, To set its struggling passion free   From pride, and vainer ties dissever,   And give herself to me forever. This poem evokes the same kind of dynamic that can be seen in the work by Wilde as the nature of horror and love are used in ways in which to create a sense of the darkness of terrible consequences to love that are given to those with vain and superficial interpretations of the emotion. Just as Dorian uses others without developing long term meaningful relationships which often end in death and devastation, the lover in Browning’s poem captures the moment in a way that is betrayal and horrific. The ultimate vanity that is assumed by Dorian can also be seen in the character of the narrator. Dorian is able to continue to harm others because there are no consequences for his actions. As he has broken the barrier between what he should do and what he can do, he no longer has the moral restraint to behave within the boundaries of socially acceptable structures. Even murder is not beyond his capacities and he commits it with the belief that he is immune to the effects. His vanity in how he views his moral imperatives and that he his above any sense of morality is a core component to how he behaves throughout the novel. The narrator of Browning’s poem has a similar vanity about his actions. His revelation at the end is applied to the way in which Dorian sees his actions. Browning writes: And thus we sit together now, And all night long we have not stirr'd, And yet God has not said a word! The narrator believes that his entitlement to this action is confirmed because God has not acted to avenge his sin. He is above the vengeance of God just as Dorian is above the vengeance of God, Time, or the sin within his own soul. Death One issue that the novel explores is that of death and suicide as it relates to vanity. Sibyl Vane kills herself because Dorian withdraws his love from her. This might be seen as his first true cruelty, the first chink in his sweetness and youth that mars his soul, even as it is confined within the canvas. As she kills herself because he has withdrawn his love, the power that his love held over her is converted to a vanity in which he believes himself to have the ability to choose how to wield that power. Suicide, in the terms of romantic notions of the act, is often seen as a way to control how, when, and most importantly why someone will have their life come to an end. Although society and the church deny the use of suicide to end life, the drama of suicide has been characterized in Victorian literature as an act of nobility to thwart the ‘fallen woman’ application to a character (Hedgecock 49). As Sibyl kills herself, she is invoking this nobility to regain her virtue, even as she does so to still the horror of life without the man who she thought loved her. Fallen women in Victorian literature are not redeemable. While male heroes often redeem themselves from previous actions, women have little recourse other than to keep falling or to end the fall through some form of death. The control of death is found in suicide. Hedgecock states that the fallen woman is a form of pollution which makes a moral mark against the overall goodness of society (49). The power that Dorian assumes in manipulating the emotions of others becomes his own form of pollution through which the contagion provokes acts of redemption from those he infects. The exertion of suicide is a vanity, the nature of that form of death one that defies the will of God, but is still used to create social redemption within Victorian literature. This conflict creates a problem in understanding the nature of morality within the social framework of Victorian England. The answer may lie in the need to control the eventuality of death. The belief that one can control death is a vanity that has been a conflicting theme throughout time. This can be seen in the example given by Mathew Arnold in his poem “A Wish” in which he extols his desire to have a death that is free from the laments of his friends and family, but is defined in a manner that he has prescribed. Arnold writes: I ask not that my bed of death From bands of greedy heirs be free; For these besiege the latest breath Of fortune's favoured sons, not me. I ask not each kind soul to keep Tearless, when of my death he hears; Let those who will, if any, weep! There are worse plagues on earth than tears. On the outset he describes the many ways that the people in his life will offend the process of his passing from the world. One can see a vanity in believing that death can be controlled in this manner, similar to the suicides that occur in Wilde’s novel, as well as the way in which Dorian controls his mortality through the painting. Conclusion The theme of vanity and the consequences in various vanities can be seen within the development of the character of Dorian Gray. The supernatural has eliminated the elements of the ravages of time, leaving Dorian free to be seduced by this moral reprieve, his superficiality served by the ongoing beauty that he holds. Victorian elements of literature can be found in the novel. The idea of time as something that is captured in moments can be seen as Dorian is suspended in time, much the way that both Tennyson and Rosetti seem to lament is impossible for them. The idea of horror as it relates to both love and murder is also explored in Wilde’s work, just as it is seen in the work of Browning in his poem ”720. Porphyria's Lover” as the narrator in Browning kills his lover to have her forever. Vanity is seen through both the superficiality of the experiences of Dorian, but also in his belief that he can do whatever he chooses without consequences. He has been relieved of consequences through superficial means, through those that manifest as dark spots on his soul. Dorian still has his conscience and this is the way in which he fails as he is seduced by vanity from the loss of his soul. Works Cited Arnold, Matthew. "A Wish." Matthew Arnold.” Online Education. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. Browning, Robert. "720. Porphyria's Lover” The Oxford Book of English Verse” Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. Hedgecock, Jennifer. The Femme Fatale in Victorian Literature: The Danger and the Sexual Threat. Amherst, N.Y: Cambria Press, 2008. Print. Kembler, Patricia. Cyberfeminism and Artificial Life. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print. Page, Norman and Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Wildside Press, 2005. Print. Rossetti, Christina. "A Farm Walk." Infoplease. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. Tennyson, Alfred. "Tears, Idle Tears." By Lord Alfred Tennyson.” The Literature Network. 2012. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. Wilde, Oscar, and Richard Ellmann. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings. New York: Bantam Dell, 2005. Print. Read More