Discuss how Wilde presents the relationship between Dorian and Basil Hallward here and at one other point in the novel
Discuss how Wilde presents the relationship between Dorian and Basil Hallward here and at one other point in the novel
The twelfth chapter, although seemingly unimportant- yet a necessary reintroduction of Basil Hallward- in fact reveals a great deal about the way in which he sees Dorian. ‘Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man’s face. It cannot be concealed’ is a clear example of traditional Victorian values of aestheticism and a perfect representation of Basil’s views concerning Art and morality. It is at this moment Basil reveals how strongly he believes that ethical goodness has a relationship to aesthetic goodness, especially when it comes to Dorian. As we have seen earlier in chapter one, Lord Henry Wotton describes Dorian as ‘some brainless, beautiful creature’, a statement which Basil seems to pass over as if it were true but his intelligence is unimportant in comparison to his beauty as Basil states that ‘his beauty is such that Art cannot express’. Basil reveals to us in the twelfth chapter that he has always seen Dorian as nothing more than a beautiful piece of Art and with that comes moral purity as within the realms of aestheticism how is it possible for there to be anything more than the beauty of the piece itself? It is this which Basil and Dorian’s relationship has always been based upon. Basil describes Dorian in chapter twelve as having a ‘pure, bright, innocent face’ out of love and utter disbelief that Dorian could be anything more than beautiful. The word ‘pure’ conjures connotations of an untainted and morally good as if nothing could ever affect the beauty that Dorian has and in Basil’s eyes, that is all Dorian has and will ever be; a beautiful piece of Art, beautifully internally and externally. But, Dorian’s internal moral decay is concealed by his stunning good looks to every person who does not thoroughly contemplate his personality, and therefore, by aesthetic belief, not one person ever truly knows him, except for Basil, who pays for that knowledge with his life.