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Myra Joanna C.

Arce

AP Literature and Composition

Literary Analysis – Dorian Gray Chapter 11

December 28, 2018

Sensory Pleasures as Bread of the Spirit

Often times it is said that a symbol is the mediator between the audience and the
supernatural. If it is impossible for an idea to exist in itself, an icon is used to strengthen the
belief. In various religions, symbols—the cross for Christianity, Star of David for Judaism, and
crescent and star for Islam for example—make it possible for followers to have a representation
of the divine. It is natural for humans to seek physical connection to understand the spiritual
dimension hence rationalizing transcendence and making it possible for the mind to have a
grasp on something that only exists in thoughts. However, form without content is futile. It is
similar to a house of cards: architecturally complete yet collapses when blown. It is the lack of
solid foundation that keeps it from being worthwhile; it has no purpose. Dorian, in Oscar
Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, dwells in the beauty of what is tangible. In fact, he seeks
refuge in these things to satisfy his senses longing to satiate his spirit.

While Dorian is conflicted due to his sins being reflected on the painting that Basil has
given him, he turns into a lifeless character as he loses his sense of humanity. His inability to
decide whether he is moral or immoral (amorality) suggests that he has no concept of what is
humane or not. There are discrepancies in his own thoughts making it difficult for him to
understand philosophies and ideas. He is too confused about his own experiences that even
when facing the same painting, he could not decide whether he should “loathe it and himself”
or be filled “with that pride of individualism that is half fascination of the sin, and smiling with
secret pleasure, at the misshapen shadow that had to bear the burden that should have been his
own.” (p. 136) He does not know if he should let his deteriorating portrait rattle his grace and
composure or rejoice in his freedom of suffering from age and sins; he could not settle if he is
choosing the path of immorality or let his conscience take over him.

Moreover, his reliance and fascination on the “yellow book” stresses his need of
tangible proof to be able to carry out his decisions. For years, Dorian has based his adventures
and philosophies on a yellow book, which—due to his fascination—“he procured from Paris
no less than nine large copies of the first edition, and had them bound in different colours, so
that they might suit his various mood..” (p. 123) He has read this book over and over again,
adopting its ideals, and allowing it to take control of his thoughts. His religious dependence
and obsession with the book could be compared to how the Bible has influenced masses for
thousands of years. The yellow book is similar to the Bible in a couple of ways: its countless
reprints in different versions, readers’ reliance in its words, and the philosophies it imposes in
the lives of its readers. Dorian worships the yellow book in a way how most Christians lean on
the words of the Bible and believes in its proclamations. In other words, Dorian makes sense
of his lack of thought through the spirit by satisfying his senses and reading the book. He has
lived through the book so much that he has been “poisoned by [it].” (p. 142). Its physical
presence has allowed Dorian to have a grasp on what used to be mere thought.

In relation to Dorian’s lack of spiritual connection to abstract things, it is mentioned


that he has once expressed interest in the rituals of the Catholic Church. “He loved to kneel
down on the cold marble pavement, and watch the priest….” (p. 128) He finds beauty in these
sacrifices; he finds it as a visually pleasing form of art instead of a transcendental connection
with the divine. He finds beauty in the colors of the robes and the religious practices that
followers carry out. However, Dorian’s loss of interest in the Roman Catholic could be due to
a sense of faith and sacrifice that the religion requires. Since the teachings of Roman
Catholicism relied heavily on what was decided upon by the Church with regards to what is
written on the Bible, Dorian—in his own unsuccessful effort—could not understand its abstract
beliefs. These beliefs may include the idea of salvation, sacrifice, and most importantly, finding
the beauty and importance of what is within and not of what is superficial.

Furthermore, with Dorian’s apparent inability to subscribe to thoughts that heavily


demanded belief in an abstract idea, he had to look for a different approach which would give
him the similar satisfaction that filled those who had a spiritual connection with the divine.
Dorian is similar to any other human being who needs to satiate his spiritual needs; however,
he turns into sensory pleasures, thinking that these could help him to satisfy the needs of his
soul. In fact, he stresses the idea that the senses are “no less than the soul.” (p. 129) He views
the senses and the soul as two entities—existing exclusive of one another—with the same
ability to fill the spirit. He thought that if ideas remain abstract, it is a hollow school of thought.
He felt that “all intellectual speculation, when separated from action and experiment [is]
barren.” (p. 129) There has to be a physical representation to prove intellectual claims. With
this doctrine, Dorian makes it as his life-mission to indulge in things that would make him
happy; he makes it as his principle to live for pleasure and happiness.
Dorians’ way of living for pleasure and happiness is referred to as hedonism. Dorian’s
descend to the indulgence of sensory pleasures can be traced back from Lord Henry. There is
no argument regarding Dorian’s beauty. Basil worships his beauty: his “finely-curved scarlet
lips, his frank blue eyes, and his crisp golden hair…” (p.15) and “all the candor of youth…as
well as youth’s passionate purity” (p.15) painted on his face. He was so beautiful that Basil
considers Dorian’s portrait as the “best work of [his] life.” (p. 9) However, his youth is tainted
by the influences of Lord Henry. The latter leads Dorian in a world of debauchery to feel happy.
Lord Henry’s “strange panegyric on youth [and] his terrible warning of its brevity” (p. 24)
made Dorian aware of his own beauty. He recognizes his own beauty and “it came to him like
a revelation.” (p.23) He is changed by this revelation, leading to his life of entrancement
towards material things. He becomes “jealous of everything whose beauty does not die.” (p.25)
Most particularly, he becomes jealous of his portrait for it will leave him miserable once he
ages as the painting remains youthful and beautiful while his face and limbs age. For this
jealousy, Dorian wishes to be surrounded with everything that is beautiful. He delights in
beautiful things seeking pleasure and happiness.

Since Dorian seeks pleasure in beautiful things, he studies various forms of art that
would satisfy his senses. For example, he “[studied] perfumes.” (p. 129) He looked into the
process of how it is made and how it affects those who use it. Dorian even attempted to discover
how the scents can stir several emotions: “wondering what there is was in frankincense that
made one mystical, and in ambergris that stirred one’s passions, and in violets that woke the
memory of dead romances, and in musk that troubled the brain, and in champak that stained
the imagination.” (p.129) Dorian wanted to find out what these scents stood for, searching for
a spiritual connection through olfaction. Aside from this, at another time, “he devoted himself
to music.” (p. 130) He acquired various musical instruments, tried them, and let go of them
whenever he lost interest. He jumped from learning one instrument to another and collected
instruments from different parts of the world. Dorian’s connection to music did not rely on
composition or enjoyment of vibrations; it relied heavily on his interest in musical instruments.
He had to have a physical representation of music and they came in the form of these musical
instruments. He did not devote himself into music the way that musicians do—religiously and
patiently learning how to play an instrument and make music—instead, he indulged in the idea
that these musical instruments were beautiful. So, he had to involve himself to these
instruments. To satisfy his senses even more, “he took up the study of jewels.” (p. 131) He
enjoyed jewelries so much that “he would often spend a whole day settling and resettling in
their cases the various stones that he had collected.” (p. 131) He procured these jewels from
different countries and looked at these gems with pure pleasure. Moreover, along with these
jewels came various stories that sparked Dorian’s interest. These stories, no matter how
brutal,—“white stone taken from the brain of a newly-killed toad,” and “bezoar found in the
heart of the Arabian deer” (p. 132)—was beautiful for Dorian. These stories attempt to justify
Dorian’s strange fascination in jewelry. To satisfy his sense of touch, he turned to embroidery.
He was emotionally attached to these pieces that “for a whole year, he sought to accumulate
the most exquisite specimens that he could find of textile and embroidered work.” (p. 143)
These embroideries depicted images of nature; they are filled with colors and texture that
Dorian could not get enough of their beauty. Ultimately, all these treasures that Dorian
collected suggests his attempt to have a connection with these tangible things through his
senses. He tries to understand what the beauty of these treasures stand for; however, he only
procures these materials out of curiosity and not of passion. He is only capable of grasping
what is on the surface and has no ability to dig deeper.

Furthermore, he recognizes his futile efforts, glorify them, and call it aestheticism. It is
a school of thought that takes pride in art for its visual appeal rather than its meaning in the
social or political context: art for the sake of art. Dorian’s goal of having a spiritual connection
with tangible treasures is impossible for he has unconsciously submitted to the idea that it is
enough to appreciate the beauty of something according to how it is presented. However, he
has jumped into various forms of art, from perfumes to jewelries and from music to embroidery,
trying to have a deeper connection with them. Unfortunately, “he would often adopt certain
modes of thought that he knew to be really alien to his nature, abandon himself to their subtle
influences, and then, having, as it were, caught their colour and satisfied his intellectual
curiosity, leave them with that curious indifference….” (p. 128) Despite his desperation of
longing to have a spiritual connection, he is only willing to learn until he loses his interest.
Dorian has never reached a point wherein he understands and appreciates a piece for what it
stands. He only tries to understand what a piece represents for it is beautiful; its form and how
a piece is represented comes first before the meaning or the story that lies behind it. Even then,
he has never reached an in-depth relationship with a piece of art.

The absence of his soul as an explanation for his inability to better connect to art is
further illustrated in his relationship with his portrait. Dorian is disgusted with the fact that the
painting could “keep what [he] must lose.” (p.25) Youthfulness, beauty, and life are the things
that Dorian fears to lose. As the years passed and he retains his beauty while the painting
deteriorates, Dorian hides his portrait away from the world. He does this not because he fears
that other people would recognize his sins, but because of the fear that they might see an old
and ugly image of him. This is kept away from him, only visited whenever he felt like he
needed to have a check on his grave sins. He feared his own corrupted image for what it looked
like more than for what it meant. “He would examine … sometimes with a monstrous and
terrible delight, the hideous lines that seared the wrinkling forehead, or crawled around the
heavy sensual mouth….” (p. 124) He would examine the reflections of his sin and either loathe
in disgust or be evilly grateful for not experiencing such change. Whatever Dorian’s feelings
towards the painting may be, he is condemning the image of the portrait.

Meanwhile, a subtle yet repetitive metaphor in Chapter 11 is presented to the readers to


paint a larger picture of how followers of aestheticism use the principle to satisfy their spirits.
It is first mentioned that Dorian, with his “white hands,” (p. 124) compared his youthful body
to the ugly portrait. One can argue that the description that Wilde used is to evoke fear in his
audience. However, the same “white hands” are again used in the same chapter when Dorian
describes how the priest moves the veil aside to reveal the tabernacle. (p. 128) Lastly, still
within the same chapter, Dorian mentions the “white fingers [that] creep through the curtains”
(p. 127) when he describes the grotesque yet enduring Gothic art. Whenever these white
hands/fingers are mentioned, it is always juxtaposed with something dark: Dorian’s ugly
portrait, the black shadows that hid in their rooms, and most particularly, curtains that covered
something.

“Gradually white fingers creep through the curtains, and they appear to tremble. In
black fantastic shapes, dumb shadows crawl into the corners of the room, and crouch
there. Outside, there is the stirring of birds among the leaves, or the sound of men going
forth to their work, or the sigh and sob of the wind coming down from the hills…” (p.
127)
In this part, curtains function as a division between what is good and what is bad. The
white fingers that creep through these curtains are the people (including Dorian) who peeps
into the spiritual realm—understanding the form of something and having a spiritual
connection with something through the soul—from the world of goth and darkness that focused
in the form rather than the content and purpose. Furthermore, the white hands is first noticed
by Dorian with Lord Henry. Dorian is fascinated with Lord Henry’s “cool, white, flower-like
hands.” (p. 20) Ironically, it is Lord Henry who has led Dorian to corruption. The white hands
which Dorian is fascinated with became his own as he, together with Lord Henry, descend into
a darker pit of immorality.

Since Dorian is able to satiate his spiritual needs through the pleasures of the senses
and has subscribed to various principles such as hedonism and aestheticism, his desire to
experience pleasure increased. “The more he knew, the more he desired to know. He had mad
hungers that grew more ravenous as he fed them.” (p. 125) His desperate desire to be happy
has grown so much that he has been divorced from morality. For Dorian, pleasure and beauty
are far more important than anything in the world. He has been so devoted to grace and beauty
until “it feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals.” (p. 138) Dorian
has gained freedom from what is socially moral and immoral, yet he has become imprisoned
in his obsession with beauty and pleasure.

Furthermore, he has become so fascinated with art that he finds aesthetic pleasures in
crimes. Stories of death, murders, adultery, and crimes has fascinated Dorian that he has
forgotten that these crimes are bad. He has become too obsessed with the beauty that mystery,
darkness, and Goth represented. Several stories from the yellow book such as that of “Filippo,
Duke of Milan, who slew his wife, and painted her lips with a scarlet poison that her lover
might suck death from the dead thing he fondled” (p. 141) has amused Dorian so much that he
has read these chapters over and over again. More than the stories, Dorian has grown fond of
sinners of the past, most especially his own ancestors. He would take a stroll in their family
gallery and gaze at the beautiful yet sinful looks of his ancestors. He has found amusement in
how his ancestors “looked evil.” (p. 139) For Dorian, they were beautiful. Dorian finds these
things to be beautiful to the point wherein he forgets that these things are evil. Unfortunately,
he ultimately forgets how to distinguish between what is good and what is evil for evil becomes
“simply a mode through which he could realise his conception of the beautiful.” (p. 142)

Dorian’s beauty was never put to question; it is how he has come to the realization that
he is beautiful and how he has turned into an animal who wanted to satiate his spirit yet
fulfilling his sensory pleasures instead. His weak and naïve character made it impossible for
him to make sense of something abstract. So, he turns to art and its forms such as jewelry and
music to be able to fulfill his pleasures. In his attempt to fill his spirit, he has become fascinated
and obsessed with art that he separates from morality. He started to find beauty through evil
and has transformed into a beast with no concept of morality and humanity.

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