The Picture of Dorian Gray - Compare a Character with a Person from Wilde's life

Choose a character from the book and develop an essay comparing that character with any real person from Oscar's life.

  Most of the characters in the novel are aristocrats. As aristocrats, these characters are used to consuming art. Lord Henry’s hedonistic lifestyle of ‘enjoying’ everything available in life best illustrates this feature. Oscar Wilde, for most of his life, lived with similar people. During his childhood, he met with the Dublin upper class that enjoyed his mother’s salons. After he moved to England, he became friends with Oxford alumnus representing the high-bred youngsters from all around Britain. Still later in his life, he mingled with the noblemen and rich bourgeoisie of London that read his articles and became patrons of his plays. However, Wilde himself was an artist before he was an aristocrat. Surrounded by normal people who did not share his fervor for and hardships at writing, he would have developed a unique sense of identity as a creator of art. As such, to compare and contrast Wilde with one of his characters that he arranged to live in a similar environment would be an interesting approach to digesting [The Picture of Dorian Gray].   

Basil is certainly not a replica of Wilde. Basil is described as an honest man who values people’s genuineness of heart. These features are portrayed in Basil’s reaction to Dorian Gray’s affair with Sybil Vane and the tragedy that follows. On the other hand, Wilde seems to be a person who valued artistic values over simple happiness in people’s everyday life. Wilde’s near-abandonment of his faithful wife is characteristic of Lord Henry rather than Basil.

Another conflicting characteristic is shown in their approach to their work. Basil is very hesitant at publicizing the portrait of Dorian Gray—his supposed best work. Not displaying the portrait can be interpreted as a precaution from his work becoming a subject of gossip by people. He seems to be afraid that the portrait—such a sacred thing—will be interpreted in a lowly, philistine manner by the critiques. This is reminiscent of a famous anecdote on Newton, in which he confessed that his groundbreaking book, Principia, was intentionally loaded with jargon. Newton explained that he did not want his ideas to be understood by un-intellectual people since such people would only misinterpret—even adulterate—his ideas. Such an attitude is in stark contrast to Oscar Wilde, who rather enjoyed playing with socially-scandalous ideas and daunting the public by expressing such ideas in his works.       

Yet, the deeper the reader delves into the relationship between the two, the reader comes to appreciate the similarities. Basil Hallward and Oscar Wilde are both creators of art that rely on the recognition and support of the wealthy upper class to make a living. At the same time, they themselves come from an aristocratic background and enjoy the work of other artists. Basil is described as attending operas with Lord Henry and Dorian Gray. In a movie attributed to him, Wilde is seen visiting an art gallery. This duality of identity separates Basil from other artists in the novel. Other artists are actors that perform for and rely on the generosity of aristocrats like Lord Henry and his friends. Also, actors are limited by the boundaries that playwrights set for each role whereas a painter is free to orchestrate his/her work. Such apparent contrast between Basil and other characters arouse speculation that Wilde intentionally reflected himself in Basil.

Basil’s affinity with Dorian Gray is representative of Wilde’s relation with Robbie. Basil’s almost obsessive proclivity towards Dorian Gray borders on the homosexual relationship Wilde was condemned for. What is interesting here is that Wilde published the novel before he endorsed himself in homosexual love. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that Wilde’s conception of himself included the seeds of homosexuality. Considering that Wilde was attracted to Robbie and his other lovers due to their fresh beauty and the inspirations such beauty stirred up in Wilde, Basil’s affection for Dorian Gray might be interpreted as a reflection of Wilde’s conception on the relation between an artist and his/her muse. To illustrate, Basil would preserve Dorian Gray’s original state of mind at the risk of his own work of art. In the same line, Wilde risked his career for his love for Robbie. 

Argentinian Beef

Because cows are so abundant in Argentina...
Stakes of great thickness costs only about 2~4000 won..!
Maybe I should do a comparative research on the history of beef products in the country...

Serius XM

It seems that there is a TV or Radio channel called

Sirius XM, which provides free video clips of

live music performances

I've seen two videos from it 

and luckily came upon  acoustic versions of songs that I love

which were sung primarily for this channel

KMLA rappers make parodies of dissing games

These songs are self-made songs by my friends from KMLA 16th wave.
It is a parody of the Dissing game currently happening in the Korean hip-hop scene.
I'm not an expert on the topic but so far as I know, several rappers are using the same beat to create their own dissing lyrics and uploading them on their Social Networking sites.

I thought the two were both of superb qualities
(though, my opinion shouldn't count for mush since I almost never listen to rap)

https://soundcloud.com/hangyeol-koo/koo-ntrol

https://soundcloud.com/hyunchae-kim/rap-crowd-control


This is one of the original songs

When My Love Swears That She is Made of Truth

William Shakespeare - Sonnet #138

When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:

Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.

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Brit Lit: A Picture of Dorian Gray: Ch 1

Brit Lit 

111009 Hae UK. Ko

     In the first chapter, only three characters are given dialogues. Basil Hallward, referred to as Basil in the book, is a painter. He is described as having a strong rugged face and coal black hair. This physical appearance combined with his desperate manner marks him as a common man who is not above being a piece in the chess field called the world. Next comes Lord Henry Wotton, referred to as Lord Henry in the book; he is not given a specific profession. He seems to be a happy young man with enough money to enjoy his leisure time in the way he prefers. He has a somewhat Bohemian attitude and displays hints of hedonism. He does not seem to care how the world goes on as long as he can enjoy being a spectator of the world. The last of the three is Basil’s butler, referred to as Parker by Basil. He is not given much character in the chapter and probably will not play a central role in later chapters as well. 
     
     Of the plot, I was most intrigued by the part where Basil explains the new school of art that Dorian Gray has unconsciously defined. Basil talks of a school which does not distinguish between the soul and the body. He condemns his contemporaries and predecessors for separating the two concepts which are actually inseparable. Considering that the whole novel is centered on the separation of what a man appears on the outside and what a man is truly like in his heart, Basil’s words reek of importance. Withal, this is the first moment in which a character in the novel voices his/her opinion on the relationship between soul and body. It is not hard to guess that as the plot unfolds more characters will express their views on the matter and that the characters will walk differing paths based on their views. 
     
     Referring to a letter written by Wilde himself, Basil is what Wilde thought he was. This puts a shining star on every one of Basil’s demonstrative statements. A perfect example would be Basil’s statement on the inseparable nature of the soul and the body. Yet, this should not put to shadow the statements of other characters. This is because in the same letter, Wilde also stated that Lord Henry is what the public perceive him to be and Dorian Gray is what he would want to be like. Therefore, it would be a most interesting approach to keep alert for topics which are differently presented by Basil, Lord Henry, and Dorian Gray. 
     
     Personally, the novel’s strong emphasis on the relationship between soul and body was reminiscent of [Demian]. According to Mr. Ji of the Korean department, [Demian] contains Hermann Hesse’s query on whether good and evil can be viewed as two separate things. What does this have to do with [Dorian Gray]? The good and evil in [Demian] are often understood as rationality and sensibility. This, somewhat absurd from a modern view, can be understood in relationship to [Dorian Gray] if we consider that for most of the time, medieval and ancient Europeans considered reason as the symbol of the nobility and turbulent emotions as the mark of the less educated and less wealthy. In other words, reason was the encouraged feature whereas emotional change was the vilified feature. Thus, dichotomy was applied to separate rationality from sensibility; this is also apparent in the following words by Basil: “We in our madness have separated the two, and have invented a realism that is bestial, an identity that is void”. What is more, Basil labels perfection of the spirit as Greek and passion as Romantic. Such a labeling opens up space for historical hunches and analysis. 

     
     At this point, I must refrain myself. This journal only covers those thoughts derived from reading the 1st chapter. A more in-depth study might be presented in later journals when I have read more of Oscar Wilde’s book. Another reason is that as of yet, I have not read Hermann Hesse’s work and have merely taken a few classes by Mr. Ji which dealt with the book. Hence, I must depart from this topic for the present with this last question: “Could it be possible that the two great authors, born 23 years apart—one in Ireland and another in continental Europe, both attempted to address the same problem?” .

Katatonia, the band

A list of songs by Katatonia that I especially like.

Teargas


Sweet nurse


Don't tell a soul