Please read
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Chapters X-XII (pp. 86-112). Review the four tenets of
The Decay of Lying (see brief list below - visit previous
Aestheticism post for full details) and apply it to the first 12 chapters of the novel. I look forward to your responses.
1) Art never expresses anything but itself.
2) All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals.
3) Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.
4) Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.
One of Vivian's points, The underlying theme that Nature reflects art, much more so than the other way around, I believe couldn't be any more relevant in the novel so far-especially in reference to the last two chapters. Through the Decay of Lying, Wilde talks about how art is the only independent medium, and that though the untruthful aspects of the world are frowned upon, they in themselves are the most beautiful aspects of art/life. As seen in chapters eleven and twelve, Dorian, who is now heavily influenced by the newly acquired book Henry gave him, turns strange over the following years to come due to the strange effects it had on his character. During this time, Dorian internally .contemplates the greater questions of his lifes choices, even those which go against his own ideals, such as questioning his egotistic driven actions and way of thought. He however externally chooses to surrender to his aesthetically driven lust for finding and surrounding himself with everything which brings him joy. One Dorian is drowning himself with jewelry and other decadent aesthetics in fear, only to try to feed and please the other monstrous Dorian, who is ravishing anything and anyone in pursuit of maintaining everlasting beauty, both in himself, but also with his life. Though these two Dorian's fight as he as a character spirals out of physiological control, he still views both sides as artistic and beautiful. As Vivian states, "Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realize that energy." Dorian still sees both conflicting personalities as beautiful for they both are the energy he needs ( or at least, the energy he thinks he needs) to maintain his beauty, and to achieve the aesthetic life he wants to live.
ReplyDeleteIn the first 12 chapters we see the shift from the actual picture of Dorian Grey as the piece of art to Dorian Grey becoming more art than the actual painting. The painting starts to represent Dorian’s soul, when Dorian does something immoral it is reflected in the painting not Dorian. The painting goes from beautiful, before Dorian meets Lord Henry, to grotesque, after Dorian ruins people’s lives while Dorian’s appearance does not change. The second tenant is that bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals, this can be seen in the different paths of Dorian Grey and Lord Henry, Grey follows what Lord Henry says but he actually lives by those words, while Lord Henry justs speaks them. Dorian elevates them to a way of life while Lord Henry says those things but does not actually believe them. The third tenant is more clear with Dorian’s relationship with Sibyl, when Sibyl starts to love Dorian she realizes that the words of Shakespeare do not represent what she truly feels, the art does not imitate life but Sibyl’s life does imitate the art, she commits suicide but Dorian does not furthering the idea that he is becoming less like art but rather Dorian’s painting is the thing that feels the suffering. The fourth and last tenant again shows that Dorian is almost like art, his appearance does not reflect the things that he has done while his painting does not lie but reflects Dorian true actions.
ReplyDelete-Conor Walsh
The chapters of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" that we have read thus far reflect some of the tenets of "The Decay of Lying". The first example of this I can think of is tenet number three which states, "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.". The way in which this is reflected is when Dorian constantly checks the painting of him created by Basil to see if it has changed based on real life events. He checks the painting almost as if it is a confirmation that what he has done or seen or heard is really so, and so it can be said that he believes that his reality follows that of the expression he sees on the art piece. "Yet it was watching him, with its beautiful marred face and its cruel smile. Its bright hair gleamed in the early sunlight. Its blue eyes met his own." The other tenets seem to offer some contradictions to each other (unless I don't really understand them). For instance, how can the purpose of art be to lie if reality imitates it? If reality imitates art then the art itself is the truth and any contradiction is a lie.
ReplyDelete-Yuval
There is a very visible connection between the first tenant of the Decay of Lying and Dorian's painting, however there is also a connection between tenant four and Dorian himself. Four states that lying itself is just the telling of beautiful untrue things. It also states that it is the proper aim of art. In that sense then, Dorian's youth and beauty is a lie. Just something to hide his true self from those around him. That could be the reason why Basil sees him more as art, than person. However this contrasts greatly with his painting. The portrait of Dorian tells only the truth about its subject, and is found to be hideous because of this.With this yo could also argue that Wilde is making a connection to the third tenant. He believes Life should imitate Art, and in the novel when it is the other way around the end result is terrible.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think Sibyl's character could be used to argue any of Wilde's four tenants. Specifically when she learns life does not imitate art, when Romeo leaves her. She also favors tenant one and two. Before Dorian, her art was only expressed itself. She embodied every role, and yet, never had life experience that could be portrayed while she was acting. It is only after she falls in love, we can truly see tenant two. And with this newly gained life experience,she realizes art would never live up to this.
-Skye
Up to this point, with every immoral act that Dorian commits, the painting reflects those acts upon itself; thus keeping Dorian physically "clean" compared to his painting. To "All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals" addresses about Lord Henry's influence on the Dorian Grey; that Dorian takes Lord Henry's "teachings" and lives it out functionally like Biblical scripture (though in this case, this is not the Biblical scripture he should follow). Yet, when it comes to Lord Henry, he merely speaks of it and nothing more; speaking as if he indeed lives his life to the specifications he promotes others to live.
ReplyDeleteYet, to agree with Yuval on account of point four, that "Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art" - how can it be a lie, when it imitates life/reality? (This circumstance clearly does not make much sense; for if it is indeed a lie, what/can art is trusted?)
(Emily Chiang)
In these chapters we begin to realize that the painting is reflecting Dorian and his actions. The painting has become so ugly that the needed to put a sheet over it and store it somewhere where no one could see it. He becomes obsessed with a book that Lord Henry gave him, and buys multiple copies of it. he said that "the whole book seemed to him to contain the story of his own life, written before he had lived it".
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the story, Dorian Gray has a beautiful portrait of himself. As time goes on though, the portrait starts to change for the worse every time Dorian does something horrible. Although tenet three states that life imitates art far more than art imitates life, the painting of Dorian Gray is the art imitating Dorian's life. This even connects with tenet one where art should be expressing itself, but instead its expressing the life of Dorian Gray. Throughout the story Dorian becomes worse, he listens to Lord Henry's ideas about appreciating beauty while ignoring the harsh parts of life, and lives by that idea. Both Basil and Henry adore Dorian, but his beauty is a lie that hides his cruelty. This shows that Dorian has been following tenet four by having his beauty mask his horrible character, but in doing so, he is also following tenet two, by imitating art by following the idea of tenet 4.
ReplyDeleteIn the end sentence I meant he is following tenet three rather than two. The sentence is a bit confusing, but basically i'm trying to say he is imitating art by being beautiful, but rather than having a beautiful character, he is actually a horrible person.
DeleteA similarity between the decay of lying and Dorian Gray is "art never expresses anything but itself." As Dorian changes, so does the painting. It grows more and more grotesque with every "ugly deed" he commits. The art and Dorian are connected, are one. So, every move Dorian makes is reflected back in the painting because the painting is apart of himself. This also connects with the second decay of lying "All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals." On one hand you could probably consider the painting "bad art", not because it was poorly made or isn't meaningful- but in the way it haunts and tortures Dorian. on the other hand, Dorian kind of brought it upon himself when wishing that the painting would age for him. With all of Dorian's character developments, there are many connections with the four tenets of the decay of lying.
ReplyDeleteI believe a big theme we've seen in the first 12 chapters is "art never expresses anything but itself". At the beginning of the book we meet a Dorian who is boasted about by Basil and Lord Henry. But with time we see Dorian himself, and the painting, starting to reflect the poor decisions Dorian begins to make. Dorian Gray refuses to take the painting out from the school room as he is afraid to see what it has become because he has been influenced by the "yellow book" Lord Henry gifted to him. We also see from the painting changing with Dorians actions the aspect of "life imitates art far more than art imitates life". The choices Dorian makes in life reflects onto the art and changes it from that.
ReplyDeleteAs years pass, Dorian undergoes many behavioral and psychological changes while remaining physically the same. His portrait carries the weight of his actions and grows more and more twisted and grotesque as times goes on. It excites Dorian just as mush as it disgusts him to see the distorted image of himself. He one day receives a yellow book from Lord Henry, and after reading some pages he becomes obsessed with it. He even orders more copies bound with different colors to match his moods. I believe this ties in with the tenet "life imitates art far more than art imitates life" because the book acts as almost a guide for Dorian and holds a great influence over him as his life starts to mimic the adventures of the main character.
ReplyDeleteIn the past few chapters, Basil’s masterpiece has become nothing like his vision. The portrait changed and warped so that “The hair would lose its brightness, the mouth would gape or droop, would be foolish or gross...there would be the wrinkled throat, the cold, blue-veined hands…’(89) and no longer looks like the Dorian Gray Basil admired. However, if “Art never expresses anything but itself”, then the portrait is more accurate than Basil would believe. Gray’s art was his beauty and innocent persona. Though he may have been known for that before, now he is rumored to be corrupt and cruel.Yet, when looking at the painting, “The very sharpness of the contrast used to quicken his sense of pleasure. He grew more and more enamored of his own beauty…”(93). Dorian is unbothered by this change within him, a sign of his changing art. His selfishness and treatment of Sibyl have only enforced this change in Dorian. So, as a result, his portrait, the symbol of his art, decays.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading these 12 chapters I have noticed that the 3rd tenet (life imitates art far more than art imitates life) is more of the opposite. Dorian's picture in the book imitates his life by changing every time he would do something terrible. It started off as this really nice painting that made him look very nice and lovely but as the story went on and he kept doing really bad things to people the painting would change and become more and more grotesque. On the other hand Sibyl's life does imitate art before she met Dorian. She would be enveloped by her role and she would take her roles to heart. Her life was imitating art at that point until she met Dorian. When she meets Dorian she cannot take her roles as seriously because she now has something other than her art to focus on.
ReplyDeleteEvan Arhelger
Though this novel does project all four tenets of art, it focuses more on #3 and #4. In regards to number three, when Dorian Gray is talking about wanting a beautiful soul, it is because he wants to be beautiful, like his painting. Conversely though, as his actions become less ‘pure’ his painting becomes more grotesque. This would demonstrate the rarer occurrence of Art imitating Life. The fourth tenant is best captured in chapter 11, where Dorian is talking about
ReplyDelete“the canons of good society are, or should be, the same as the canons of art. Form is absolutely essential to it. It should have the dignity of a ceremony, as well as its unreality, and should combine the insincere character of a romantic play with the wit and beauty that make such plays delightful to us. Is insincerity such a terrible thing? I think not”. (Ch.11)
Though humans do crave authenticity and humanity, we are also fascinated by a fantasies and the remarkable almost truths. Even Dorian’s portrait is a romanticised image created by a man consumed fascination for the subject and inspired by the Greek Adonis(Greek and Roman art is known for its emphasis on the ideal figure). As attractive as Dorian may be, he will never look quite as good as his portrait.
I think tenet #4 is best one to use after what we've read. When Sybil commits suicide, the way Dorian reacts shows that he is not able to face life truths but rather be focus on concept that life is just an art. After Dorian done something bad he is trying to avoid it thinking that this have never happened and trying to live normal life even tho he sees that the picture of him changing which represent that he knows that it's impossible and it will change him and his life. He is trying to close himself in the world where he doesn't have to think before he commit something, so he can live without any worries and take everything easy as Lord Henry.
ReplyDelete-Roman Shepeliev