The Nature of Beauty in Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray Essay

The Nature of Beauty in Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray - Essay Example At the studio of the painter, Basil, was Lord Henry who heard Dorian’s wish to remain youthful and grants him the wish (Wilde 26). Lord Henry Wotton uses sweet words to lure Dorian Gray into retaining his youth and beauty by exchanging the aging effects with the portrait made by the painter Basil. This fascination Gray receives from Basil makes him jump into a life of falsification. Many characters in the book are shown to admire the beauty of Dorian Gray. He does not age but instead the portrait painted by Basil is the one that changes and fringes in place of Gray. Due to this falsified beauty, Dorian wins the love of an actress called Sybil whom he dumps after learning that she has stopped acting. The story outlines how beauty is adorned in times of Wilde by the characters of the book. The nature of beauty is that it cannot be preserved in other things such as art. To this the adoration of youthfulness and beauty continues to define the lives of many who risk for their lives and morals in the name of beauty as it is depicted in the theme of the book. First, the nature of beauty is demonstrated through art in the book. ... es the notion that art is used to express morality and values of humanity as it were taken in the Hellenistic age, however he acknowledges that art is for beauty and the artists do not necessarily have morals and the ethics while designing the arts. This symbolically associates art with beauty as whatever the artist creates will be beautiful. Basil admires the beauty of Dorian and even tells him â€Å"I worshiped you†. â€Å"I grew jealous of everyone to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you" Basil tells Dorian (Wilde 26). He does all this out of the admiration he has for the beauty of Dorian Gray. As a result, Basil has no better way of appreciating how much he adores the beauty of Dorian other than through art, and he goes ahead and paints a picture of Dorian. The author clearly elaborates the distinctions between art and real life. Dorian admires the painting of Basil and associates it with beauty and regrets that he is go ing to frown with age, but the picture will remain beautiful as it is. He continues to regret that the portrait will be reminding him of the beauty that he had during his youthful stage. As he regrets, Lord Henry, a noble man in those times who admired the beauty of Dorian Gray, offers to make Gray’s wish to come true (Wilde 26). He persuades and lures Gray into accepting his charm and retain his youth and beauty forever. Lord Henry through his charming talk and brilliant wit as described in the story tricks Dorian to suspending the aging effect into the portrait and he remains beautiful. Henry wants the young beautiful man to live his life as if he was a piece of art. This is symbolic of how the nature of beauty was believed to be found in art. In contrast, the book views life as the contrast of