Dorian Gray and the Imagination: 1st Draft

The reading, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a very interesting novel. One will find that many of the characters in this story are filled with imagination. One in particular that has gone absolutely insane with their imagination is Dorian Gray himself; let us say it is the making of Lord Henry. Because of this, Dorian has no heart or care for the world. He becomes very selfish and tends to corrupt the innocent. His sins have even been portrayed in a portrait that was painted of him. From this novel, I believe it is true to say that the mind is a powerful thing.
Some may say that Dorian’s mind is polluted by the one and only Lord Henry. Lord Henry is a very dear friend of Dorian. They first met at Basil’s house where Basil introduced the two. As Basil was painting a portrait of Dorian, Lord Henry starts to have a deep conversation with Dorian. The conversation was based on beauty; Lord Henry wants Dorian to realize his beauty and take advantage of it. He believes that with Dorian’s charming looks and personality he is able to do anything and everything he desires. Lord Henry then says “When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you…” (16). By there not being any “triumph” left when Dorian grows old, Lord Henry is insisting that Dorian live his life and cherish his beauty the best way he can. However, in Lord Henry’s mind, he does not mean for Dorian to live his life heavenly but rather he live in sin. That’s how selfish Lord Henry is. Even Basil himself has warned Dorian of Lord Henry’s bad influence, but certainly there was no stopping Harry’s influence over Dorian. By now Dorian’s imagination has triggered to newer things. Already he was afraid to grow old and lose his flawless good looks.
When a splendid portrait was painted of Dorian Gray, Dorian becomes very conscious of his beauty. He then thought of what Lord Henry had said to him early about beauty and the brevity of it. Dorian say’s “But this picture will remain always young…if it was the other way! If it was I who were to be always young, and the picture that were to grow old!” (19). This statement seems to be more of a wish. He could not stand the thought of him losing his attractiveness; he feels that if one loses their charm, they lose everything. It seems as if Lord Henry stored this fantasy world onto Dorian’s mind, a fantasy of never having to grow out of his youth. Dorian now thinks that youth is the only important thing worth living for. It is pretty clear that Lord Henry is the cause of Dorian’s mind being so impure.
There had been a time where Dorian Gray fell in love with a gal by the name of Sybil Vane. He loved her for acting talent; she is a work of art in his eyes. He adores her ability to play numerous roles a week. This day she is Juliet, another day she is Roseland and the next she is Imogen. It was because of Lord Henry’s saying that made Dorian have this “wild desire to know everything about life” (24). So Dorian fell for this girl because she is a fine art piece. However, when this art piece decides to alter, he then finds not one interesting thing about it. Also, as Lord Henry became a bad influence to Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray becomes a bad influence to others, particularly the young and innocent. Every relationship Dorian has with a young man, the young man’s life soon becomes horrid. Alan Campbell, a former friend of Dorian, was force to participate in a dreadful act for the sake of his life. Although Dorian spared Alan his life, Alan soon committed suicide. One will think it is because he was not able to take the unlawful act he has done for Dorian. Dorian’s mind is of a high range; he thinks of himself as someone very powerful because of his beauty, the influence of Lord Henry has definitely changed his mind and character.
As the portrait of Dorian Gray has altered I wonder, did his wish come true or was it all in his head? When the news about Sybil’s death came about, the portrait showed a sudden sign of cruelty. At first Dorian thought it was because of him being cruel the night before, however, when Lord Henry told him about the tragic news Dorian figured it all out. The Novel stated that the portrait “had received the news of Sybil Vane’s death before he had known…it was conscious of the events of life as they occurred” (51). This shows that the portrait is able to portray all the sin’s that Dorian has committed. Also, as he got older in age and not in youth, the portrait seems to grow older in appearance; this goes back to his the wish he had made before. One may wonder if the portrait is able to guide Dorian through his life and display his soul; apparently it has done just that. It may have all been in Dorian’s head as we might have thought however, once Basil emphasized every detail of the picture, it was pretty clear that it was not his imagination. Towards the end when Dorian had enough of the portrait reminding him of his sinful ways, he decides to destroy it. Apparently, it was not the best idea in mind; the portrait returned to the beautiful young Dorian Gray we all know and on the ground laid a dead, older loathsome version of him.
In conclusion, I would say it is a known fact that Dorian Gray has a very corrupted mind. He has become a bad influence on others just like Lord Henry has been to him. Lord Henry has altered the child’s mind with ignorance and selfishness for the world. The caring Dorian Gray that we have known from the beginning of the Novel is definitely not the sinful Dorian we have known at the end. The portrait displayed it all. This novel truly has all the “terrible beauty of a great tragedy”.