Morality in the picture of dorian gray. Research Paper

Outline
Morality in the Picture of Dorian Gray
* The various limits of aesthetics are an implication of moral responsibility.
* To show the Picture of Dorian, Gray presents the negative impacts that Dorian's aesthetic life brought to him as well as the people that he came into contact with.
* Dorian’s outside beauty makes it easy for him to get away with a lot of crime because he appears too innocent to do something wrong. The other characters confuse his appearance with morality. Thus, this results in the downfall of each one of them that associates with Dorian.
* Dorian is used as an example of moral implications resulting from his aesthetic view. He commits sins that he cannot turn away from them. This is an indication that once an individual deviate from the path of morality, it becomes difficult for them to act morally.
* The era of the novel's publication contributes to the theme of morality.
* Wilde uses criticism to address the complexity of the Victorian ideologies. During this era, people worried much about their outward beauty, while their inner souls expressed an immoral behavior. Wilde tried to follow the Victorian genre of writing through the introduction of an innocent character, a deviant from morality and an ending which brings back the morality.
* A comparison between the novel's uncensored version with the censored version is essential in establishing the theme of morality. The fact that the uncensored version was only available to the public for three years is an indication that a lot was changed in terms of the novel's content.
* The novel's new edition has been transformed to show how Wilde was in a position to change his sources into a new idea of morality. He points out that the only way through which human beings can get rid of a temptation is by yielding to it. Hence, this is an explanation as to why Dorian was able to fall under Henry's spell easily.
* Morality is best represented on a scale of immorality.
* Wilde uses characters to express morality that is absent in what the novel preaches. The search for the absence of virtue is a true definition of the current society.
* Wilde had adherence to aesthetics, and as a result, he was able to write beautifully. However, this made his fail in writing about morality but instead focused on immorality.
* Lord henrys character presents various scales of morality. Henry's seductive nature and wistfulness make it easy for Dorian to fall for his ideas. Lord Henry tells Basil that he likes people who lack principles more than anything in the world. The lack of principles could easily lead a person into immorality.
* The novels ending indicates the moral standings of society since justice is not served.
* Wilde allows Dorian to escape the apparent type of justice. An example is a case where he escapes being killed by James, for being the reason his sister committed suicide. Dorian gets lucky when a hunter accidentally kills James. Besides, the murder of Basil changes the narrative into a detective story.
* Although Dorian regrets his crimes, an action ought to have been taken to act as a lesson to other youths who would consider beauty as a free pass to being immoral. Besides, his subsequent actions could be a form of physical and mental flight, in which the reader expects justice to be served.
Morality requires an individual to act in a way which is acceptable according to society's norms. Contrary to which, the person's acts are considered to be immoral. A lot of scholars have put across different beliefs regarding the issue of morality. As well, novels have been written over the years to teach society about morality. Among such books is "The Picture of Dorian Gray," written in 1890 by Oscar Wilde. The novel is about the story of Dorian's portrait. Basil believes that the beauty in Dorian explains his mood of being an artist. Realizing that his beauty is bound to fade, Dorian decides to sell his picture while he remains young. He, therefore, lives a life full of experiences of being young and beautiful as his portrait records every sin over the ages. However, some of the actions of the characters are undoubtedly wrong. Wilde creates characters who are able to adjust their ethical and moral codes to fit their desires. The novel brings out a new concept of the Victorian's ways of living. Each of the characters has their own moral scale, which results in the reader is unaware of the difference between right or wrong.
According to the author, the various limits of aesthetics are an implication of moral responsibility. However, through control, individuals can avoid the adverse effects of aesthetics on society. The picture of gray presents the negative results that Dorian's aesthetic life brought to him as well as the people that he came into contact with. Dorian, being the main character in the novel and express morality in different ways. His character is beautiful on the outside, but the inside, he has a gross soul (Clifton 294). He realizes the devastating impact that his actions have brought when it already late. Dorian's uncontrolled aestheticism killed his moral values, thus promoting the degradation of his personality. In most cases, it is essential to ignore vain desires to protect the lives of other people and avoid self-destruction. Hence, the aesthetic values of an individual have to match with their moral beliefs to ensure that aestheticism does not bring fatal results in society. According to Oscar's narration, morality van only be preserved by deliberation before taking any action. Through deliberation, an individual would not be able to give in to their desires blindly.
In addition to the connection between aestheticism and morality, Oscar argues out that "all art is quite useless," and beauty is the only good thing in the art (Kidd 16). Some scholars have argued against Oscar's claim since the Picture of Dorian presents as a literally work, opposite from being useless. The book is a critique of Victorian ideas. During the novel's publication, various cultural and legislative moral reforms took place. Such changes resulted in the upper-class Victorians separating their public and private lives to reflect morality in public while they acted immorally in closed doors. Therefore, Oscar mocks such a society through the use of Dorian's character. The painting is a contrast of Wilde's claim in the preface since it is a useful work of art. The use of the picture in the novel gives it its aesthetic value while providing a parallel of Victorian's duality. Wilde uses criticism to address the complexity of the Victorian ideologies. During this era, people worried much about their outward beauty, while their inner souls expressed an immoral behavior. This is the case with Dorian, who believes that his beauty would remain forever as his portrait ages and carries all sin. However, his beauty does not do him good because he ends up committing crimes that he regrets. Unfortunately, he realizes the mess that he has created for himself and those around him when it is already late. Wilde develops the character of Dorian to mock the actions of Victorian society. As long as their inner souls did not express the beauty in their outer body, then it would be difficult for them to act morally.
As well, a comparison between the uncensored with the censored version is essential in establishing the theme of morality. The fact that the uncensored version was only available to the public for three years is an indication that a lot was changed in terms of the novel's content. The changes had to be made to make the story acceptable with regard to Victorian moral ideas. The changes made Dorian appear as a more immoral and callous character as compared to the initial version. The approach made it easy for Oscar to reach the various standards of the Victorian ideas on morality (Clifton 284). The author explores Dorian's new image and the impact that it has on his life. It is clear that Dorian's new life is increasingly governing his actions in life. He is more focused on his outward beauty, similar to the ...