Dorian Gray as an Allusion:
Youthful Beauty Hiding A Corrupt Nature
In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray and his self-portrait are a literary allusion of a corrupt nature hiding behind an image of youthful beauty. Dorian Gray proudly lives a life of debauchery and upon acquiring a gift of a self-portrait, he envies the nature in which his image in the painting will never age. In jest, Dorian offers his soul to have the painting age rather than himself. His wish is granted and Dorian’s sinful nature is reflected in the self-portrait aging, while Dorian himself remains unblemished and in a constant state of youth. The Observer alludes to Dorian Gray in describing a television genre, “Attenborough has grown from a young man into an old one on television. At the same time, the natural history program- a genre which he helped invent- has done a Dorian Gray. Infra-red, slo-mo, ‘Starlight’ cameras: with every year, the genre is fresher, more agile and has a bigger stash of tricks up its sleeve.” In this example, the resilient history program represents Dorian Gray and Attenborough, the aging man who contributed to the program’s creation, is deemed the portrait of Dorian Gray.
Works Cited:
The Observer, 1998
Delahunty, Andrew, Sheila Dignen and Penny Stock. “Dorian Gray” The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.
Youthful Beauty Hiding A Corrupt Nature
In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray and his self-portrait are a literary allusion of a corrupt nature hiding behind an image of youthful beauty. Dorian Gray proudly lives a life of debauchery and upon acquiring a gift of a self-portrait, he envies the nature in which his image in the painting will never age. In jest, Dorian offers his soul to have the painting age rather than himself. His wish is granted and Dorian’s sinful nature is reflected in the self-portrait aging, while Dorian himself remains unblemished and in a constant state of youth. The Observer alludes to Dorian Gray in describing a television genre, “Attenborough has grown from a young man into an old one on television. At the same time, the natural history program- a genre which he helped invent- has done a Dorian Gray. Infra-red, slo-mo, ‘Starlight’ cameras: with every year, the genre is fresher, more agile and has a bigger stash of tricks up its sleeve.” In this example, the resilient history program represents Dorian Gray and Attenborough, the aging man who contributed to the program’s creation, is deemed the portrait of Dorian Gray.
Works Cited:
The Observer, 1998
Delahunty, Andrew, Sheila Dignen and Penny Stock. “Dorian Gray” The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.
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