"It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors."

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the best novels I have ever read. Unfortunetly, I discovered that it is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. His epigrams and philosophical comments on life are fascinating. I can only imagine how a conversation with Wilde would have been. I imagine the chaos of Flail’s philosophy class nicely organized into beautiful prose. A hard task indeed.

Being an artist myself, I was intrigued most by the preface. Wilde defines art and the artist by telling us what art and who the artist is not. I actually had to reread the last line (“All art is quite useless.”) because I didn’t make the connection to the previous paragraph. Wilde says, “…The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.” I was more comforted after I understood this statement. At first I didn’t understand the importance of the preface. But after reading most of the novel, some of Wilde’s statements really resonate through The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Wilde says, “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.” Since the portrait is hidden in a secluded room, Dorian is the only man who can see the portrait changing. In the special case of Dorian, the art literally reflects the spectator’s soul. The premise of the story is that the soul of Dorian Gray is supernaturally emulated in Dorian’s portrait. And through the novel Gray’s sense of morality shrivels and deteriorates. While he remains flawlessly beautiful and angelic on the outside, Dorian’s soul is corrupted and ugly. But Dorian’s portrait does not simply become hideous. It expresses the wickedness of Dorian’s soul. Every ugly, immoral act is reflect in his eyes, his smile, and his face. It is one thing to be ugly on the surface, but another to be ugly within.

Basil Hallward’s masterpiece is the portrait of Dorian. In the beginning, Basil does not want the world to see this portrait because “there is too much of myself in the thing…too much of myself!” (13). Dorian also feels that the portrait is “part of myself” (26). Could it be that Basil’s intense admiration of Dorian actually allowed the artist to capture Gray’s soul in his artwork? Wilde says in the Preface, “Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.” At first Dorian was the embodiment of innocence and virtue. These qualities first attracted Basil to Dorian. However, Basil’s friend Lord Henry Wotton infuses Dorian with the thought that beauty and youth are only ephemeral. The thought that one day he might be old and ugly consumed Dorian and disturbed him. In a moment of despair, Dorian screams, “…If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that--for that--I would give everything…I would give my soul for that!” (25). He did.

My question is what was Wilde trying to convey through this exchange of souls? The portrait contradicts the theory that art and morality are disjointed. The theory, paraphrased, states that if art is intended to have a moral purpose, it is no longer art for art’s sake: It is propaganda for a certain belief. However, the portrait of Dorian Gray, is the reflection of his moral soul. (581)

I still have a lot of exploring to do with this novel. I am thinking about writing my essay on morality and art. Do you have any ideas for it Mr. Coon?