Picture Of Dorian Gray: The Power Of Pressure Essay, Research Paper
The Power of Pressure
Everyone has dealt with peer pressure sometime within his/her life. Just recently a friend, Julie, gave into smoking weed although it went completely against her morals. Her friend was so persistent and pushy in trying to persuade her to try it, that Julie could not fight it anymore and gave in. Julie explained later that she knew it was wrong and told how her conscience was screaming for her not to smoke, but the pressure and influence from her friend was just too strong. Many people have been in similar situations where they find that peer pressure is so overwhelming that they ignore the little voice in their head, their conscience. In Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, he describes the power of peer pressure, through two themes: influence and conscience. Through the characters of Dorian Gray and Lord Henry, Wilde proves that influence can overpower a person’s conscience.
Basil Hallward, a painter, knows the corruptive influence that Lord Henry can impose upon his model, Dorian Gray. Basil does not want Lord Henry to even meet Dorian because he is afraid that Dorian will be influenced and ruined. Basil begs Henry by saying, “Don’t spoil him. Don’t try to influence him. Your influence would be bad. The world is wide, and has many marvelous people in it. Don’t take away from me the one person who gives to my art whatever charm it possesses: my life as an artist depends on him” (Wilde 10). Right from the beginning Wilde begins to show what type of person Lord Henry is. Lord Henry’s influences pose a threat to Dorian. Basil is well aware of this. Through Basil Hallward, Wilde implies that Dorian can easily be corrupted. However, Dorian tries to assure Basil that he is not being
influenced. He states that Lord Henry “has certainly not been paying me compliments. Perhaps that is the reason that I don’t believe anything he has told me” (Wilde 15). The only reason Dorian does not believe Lord Henry is because Lord Henry does not complement him. Wilde infers that if this is the only reason for Dorian to doubt Henry, Dorian could therefore be influenced in some other way. Overall, Wilde shows how a person may deny the warning signs of being influenced.
Lord Henry slowly begins to influence Dorian, intentionally allowing his corruptive words to eat away at Dorian’s conscience. Lord Henry lacks morals and is not shy in expressing his unethical opinions to Dorian. Lord Henry believes that, “Conscience and cowardice are really the same things. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm” (Wilde 5). In essence, Lord Henry feels that listening to one’s conscience and doing the right thing shows weakness and cowardice in a person’s character. Since Wilde creates an evil character who holds these beliefs, one can imply that Wilde feels quite the opposite. Wilde must feel that having a conscience and listening to it shows strength in a person’s character. Nevertheless, Lord Henry persists n corrupting Dorian. Lord Henry feels that, “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself?” (Wilde 13). Lord Henry tries to persuade Dorian to believe that listening to his conscience will only bring him pain. Dorian must give into temptation if he wants to be happy. Dorian listens acutely to Henry’s words. Dorian now has a justification for ignoring his conscience and acting sinful. Slowly Henry’s influence takes over Dorian’s conscience. Basil begins to notice this corruption in Dorian’s face right after Dorian meets Henry. When Basil is painting Dorian, he notices a change. Basil “?deep in his work, and conscious only that a look had come into the lad’s face that he had never seen there before” (Wilde 13). Dorian is loosing his innocence and purity due to Henry’s influence and Basil can detect this subtle change. Wilde illustrates how
having a corrupted conscience and soul, can negatively affect a person’s outer appearance.
Wilde reveals the process in which influence takes over a person’s conscience through the relationship between Lord Henry and Dorian. Lord Henry is witty and therefore able to subtly, almost subliminally, impose his corrupted opinions upon Dorian. He makes his comments nonchalantly and makes them sound so believable that it becomes easy for Dorian to accept his beliefs. Dorian is “dimly conscious that entirely fresh influences are at work within him. Yet they seem to him to have come really from himself” (Wilde 14). The ideas Lord Henry offers are new to Dorian. Regardless, Dorian is weak and easily persuaded to believe that these immoral opinions and ideas are actually moral. Lord Henry even offers justifications. Although Dorian is blind to the corruption of his conscience, Lord Henry is not blind to his negative influence. Lord Henry feels:
There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence. No other
activity was like it. To project one’s soul into some gracious form, and let it tarry
there for a moment; to hear one’s own intellectual views echoed back to one with
all the added music of passion and youth; to convey one’s temperament into
another as though it were a subtle fluid or a strange perfume: there was a real joy
in that-perhaps the most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar
as our own. (Wilde 26).
The corruption of Dorian’s conscience is an intentional plan of Lord Henry’s. It is terrible how Henry finds pleasure in controlling a person’s life. Unfortunately, Dorian doesn’t even realize that Henry’s influence is taking over his conscience. Through the characters of Dorian Gray and Lord Henry, Wilde verifies the dangers that evil and corrupt people can pose to those who are weak in our society.
Although Henry persistently attempts to corrupt Dorian’s conscience, Dorian is able to savor enough of his conscience to recognize and accept his love for an actress, Sibyl Vane. Loving Sibyl Vane provides Dorian protection from Henry’s influence. Although Henry’s influence overpowers Dorian’s conscience, his love for Sibyl overpowers both Henry’s influence and Dorian’s conscience. Dorian tells Lord Henry, “I do love her. She is everything to me in life” (Wilde 37). He later describes, “the mere touch of Sibyl Vane’s hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories” (Wilde 56). His love for Sibyl temporarily relieves the control Henry has over Dorian. He is not as blind to Henry’s negative influences but he no longer believes that succumbing to temptation is pleasurable. He feels that pleasure “is to adore some one” (Wilde 57). Dorian seems to be gaining his conscience back, which gives Lord Henry a greater desire to corrupt and control Dorian. However, through Dorian’s actions, and his abrupt change, Wilde suggests that Dorian is weak and does not foreshadow much improvement with Dorian’s conscience and strength. Dorian is easily influenced by Lord Henry, which shows his weakness. He falls in love and is completely enveloped so that he looses sight of himself. This also shows weakness. He is able to change so quickly, proving his weakness and Wilde infers that weakness in a person makes them more susceptible to influence.
Dorian only has his conscience back for a little while until Lord Henry begins to corrupt him again. When Lord Henry begins to loose his control over Dorian, he tries even harder to regain it. Lord Henry places so much importance on Sibyl’s acting skills that when she doesn’t perform perfectly, Dorian is influenced to stop loving her. However, his conscience does hint that he may have been too cruel. Dorian wonders, “Had he been cruel? It was the girl’s fault, not his. She disappointed him. She had been shallow and unworthy. And, yet, a feeling of infinite regret came over him, as he thought of her lying at his feet sobbing like a child. Why had such a soul been given to him?” (Wilde 66). Wilde successfully illustrates the struggle Dorian faces between his conscience and Lord Henry’s influence. Wilde shows how Dorian feels remorse (conscience) and yet at the same time he attempts to justify his wrong and cruel actions (influence). Yet when Dorian reflects upon his actions, his conscience prevails and speaks out. He realizes “how unjust, how cruel, he had been to Sibyl Vane” (Wilde 70). At last his conscience appears to have defeated Lord Henry’s influence. Dorian decides to write a letter apologizing to Sibyl and to restate his love. He also concludes “He will resist temptation. He will not see Lord Henry any more-would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward’s garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things” (Wilde 67). Wilde instills hope in the reader that Dorian may be saved. Dorian is even able to stand up to Lord Henry. Dorian confesses, “I know what conscience is, to being with. It is not what you told me it was. It is the divinest thing in us” (Wilde 71). Dorian appears to be changing for the better. He regrets hurting Sibyl and has gained the courage to do the right thing in order to win back her heart. Through this incident, Wilde shows how a person can act moral if love is the underlying factor. However, if a strong, outside influence begins to prevail, a person could still lose sight of their conscience.
Dorian looses his sense of conscience during the Sibyl Vane incident because Lord Henry beings to influence him again. Dorian initially feels devastated when he realizes Sibyl has killed herself. His conscience truthfully tells him that he is partially at fault. Through Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde shows how one’s conscience allows a person to see the truth in situations. However, although people may have a conscience, they can still be easily influenced to ignore their conscience. Dorian hears his conscience and realizes that he mistreated Sibyl. Unfortunately, he does not listen to it. Instead, he allows Lord Henry to influence him offering plenty of reasons for him to not feel guilty or sad. Lord Henry claims, “Women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They love being dominated” (Wilde 75). This is far from the truth. Nevertheless, Dorian accepts Henry’s solution in order to cure his own pain and to relieve his feelings of guilt. Dorian is weak, therefore believes the idea that Sibyl liked being hurt. To further reduce the feeling of guilt, Lord Henry persuades Dorian into believing that Sibyl, “never really lived, therefore she never really died. So don’t waste your tears over Sibyl Vane” (Wilde 75). Lord Henry influences Dorian to believe that his lack of emotion is not wrong. Sadly, he is able to make Dorian lose his feelings of remorse. Lord Henry is even able to persuade Dorian to go out with him. Henry insists, “Dorian, you mustn’t let this thing get on your nerves. You must come and dine with me, and afterwards we will look in at the Opera. It is a Patti night, and everybody will be there. You can come to my sister’s box. She has got some smart women with her” (Wilde 72). Wilde shows the complete control Lord Henry has over Dorian by showing how Lord Henry is able to persuade Dorian that Sibyl is not worth the pain and to go out with him the following night. Oscar Wilde shows how easily an emotional or weak person can be influenced when a different person offers them a solution to happiness, regardless if it is moral or immoral.
Oscar Wilde is able to show the affects of Lord Henry’s influence on Dorian’s conscience by illustrating how Lord Henry’s influence can cause Dorian to lose all emotion despite what his conscience is telling him to feel: remorse. He asks Lord Henry, “why is it that I cannot feel this tragedy as much as I want to? I don’t think I am heartless. Do you?” (Wilde 73). Dorian does not realize that he cannot feel the tragedy because of Lord Henry’s influence, which is so subtle that Dorian does not understand why or how he is changing. He does not relate his lack of emotions to Lord Henry. His conscience tells him he should be hurting, but he is not. Unfortunately, he accepts his lack of emotions and continues to ignore his conscience because it reduces his feelings of guilt. He feels no pain concerning Sibyl’s death. Later he comments to Basil, “What is done is done. What is past is past. It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion.” Basil responds by saying, “You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you. It is all Henry’s influence. I see that” (Wilde 79). Henry’s influence becomes so strong and powerful that it is almost as if Dorian is brain washed. Dorian truly feels no remorse. He questions this by asking if he is heartless. Lord Henry assures him he is not, while Basil disagrees, accusing him of just the opposite. Unfortunately, Dorian believes Lord Henry due to the control Henry has over him. However, Basil is not blind to the situation. He is able to look at it objectively and see that Lord Henry has a huge influence on Dorian. Basil rightfully blames Lord Henry for Dorian’s heartlessness. Dorian’s conscience is completely overpowered by Lord Henry’s influence. Through these two characters, Wilde proves how easily a person can ignore their conscience and be influenced.
Dorian denies the fact that he is completely influenced and corrupted by Lord Henry and also ignores his conscience. Dorian is so corrupted that he even finds pleasure in the fact that he has turned evil. Wilde writes, “Dorian grew more and more enamored of his own beauty, more and more interested in the corruption of his own soul. He would think of the ruin he had brought upon his soul, with a pity that was all the more poignant because it was purely selfish” (Wilde 93-94). Wilde shows how sickening it is that Dorian can find pleasure in corruptness. Lord Henry has influenced him to ignore his conscience, act sinful and become arrogant. Lord Henry’s influence completely takes over Dorian’s conscience and Dorian gains a horrible reputation from having a corrupted personality. However, Dorian denies his reputation. When Basil questions him and brings it to his attention, Dorian tells him, “I don’t wish to know anything about them. I love scandals about other people, but scandals about myself don’t interest me. They have not got the charm of novelty” (Wilde 109). More so than the lack of novelty, Dorian doesn’t want to believe that he is bad. However, his reputation is truthful, and so is his conscience yet he prefers to ignore both of them. Therefore he feels no remorse for his negative actions. He justifies his actions and personality to Basil by saying, “Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him” (Wilde 115). This serves as a justification because he tells himself that he is no different from others. Dorian feels that if everyone has evil within him/her, then he is no different. Through Dorian’s actions, Wilde confirms how people deny and ignore the truth and their conscience when being controlled by a negative influence.
Nevertheless, when Dorian’s life is threatened, he reevaluates himself and begins to listen to his conscience. He believes that if he does a good deed, then he will not longer be sought after and killed. He tells Lord Henry, “I want to be better. I am going to be better” (Wilde 155). Nevertheless, Wilde suggests that Dorian cannot get better unless he changes for the good of society. Dorian only wants to change and be good for selfish reasons; he does not want to die. Sadly for Dorian, he has been influenced for so long that it is near impossible for him to gain his conscience back. Wilde infers that it is too late for him to change. Dorian need to just accept the past. Dorian suspects this and begins to doubt the importance of the one good deed he did. “Had it been merely vanity that had made him do his one good deed? Or the desire for a new sensation, as Lord Henry had hinted” (Wilde 163). Dorian begins to recognize the truth in his situation. He cannot be honestly good. His acts of kindness are for his benefit only. His conscience begins to tell him that he can never change. It also gives him the idea that he is going to die due to his horrible personality; his conscience reveals the truth about himself. Dorian decides that he must ruin his conscience in order to put his mind at ease. Wilde writes, “Basil’s portrait of him had been like conscience to him. Yes, it had been conscience. He would destroy it” (Wilde 164). With that, Dorian stabs and ruins the portrait. When he destroys the portrait, he destroys himself. He kills his conscience, therefore killing himself. Wilde unravels to the reader that without a conscience a person is without life.
Oscar Wilde describes two different themes in his novel. He describes the control influence can have in a person’s life and the importance of a person’s conscience. Wilde uses both of these themes to describe the power influence has over an individual. People are influenced everyday by others. Sadly, people may hear their conscience, but will not listen to it. They will succumb to peer pressure and ignore their conscience. Throughout his novel, Wilde successfully proves the power of influence over the mind.