How does 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde use paradox to explore its aesthetic standpoint

Authors Avatar
How does 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde use paradox to explore its aesthetic standpoint?

By Oliver Walsh

In the 'Picture of Dorian Gray' Wilde uses paradox throughout the novel to express, explore, question and test the philosophy of aesthetics. The characters in the book are seen through the eyes of Wilde's moral standpoint, and the fates of individuals are all steeped in opposite dualistic meanings. Wilde is writing about aestheticism in a Victorian era where it flourished partly as a reaction against the materialism of the burgeoning middle class, assumed to be composed of philistines (individuals ignorant of art) who responded to art in a generally unrefined manner. In this climate, the artist could assert himself as a remarkable and rarefied being, one leading the search for beauty in an age marked by shameful class inequality, social hypocrisy, and bourgeois complacency. Wilde weights his argument heavily on the benefits of aestheticism and plays down its negative aspect, like the lack of morality, until the end of the novel when Dorian is confronted by the painting which dramatically illustrates and exposes his corrupt soul and the darker side of pursuing a hedonistic lifestyle.

The character of Henry Wotton is constructed as the philosophical idea of aesthetics. He includes in most conversations linguistic paradoxes, contrived in epigrams which subverts conventional views and manufactures truths to support his aesthetic ideology. "Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity, it is their distinguishing characteristic". Henry's influence moulds Dorian life into one of aestheticism, however, by so doing he paradoxically contradicts his own philosophy by saying, "All influence is immoral....because to influence a person is to give him one's soul." Whist he attempts to heavily influence Dorian, Basil sees Dorian as having a kind of aesthetic value because of his youth and beauty. He worships Dorian's form or surface as an appreciative artist, reiterating the paradox of Dorian being an amalgamation of nature and art. In the later stages of the novel Basil is the single figure of conventional morality that condemns Dorian by challenging the depraved level to which Dorian has sunk. This conflict between friends can be identified as the traditional idea of depth and essentialism.
Join now!


Dorian lives a hedonistic life for several years, according to the guidelines established by Henry and the 'yellow book'. (A book given to him by Henry which details sinful but desirable things this has a profound effect on Dorian, influencing him to predominantly immoral behaviour over the course of nearly two decades). While the face in the painting has turned ugly, Dorian remains young, beautiful, and innocent. People talk about Dorian's hedonistic life style and his dreadful influence on the people around him, which criticises the aesthetic ideal, highlighting the devastation and corruption it causes to life and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay