The Ideas of Influence and Evil within the Novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'

The Picture of Dorian Gray can be considered as one of the most controversial novels of the aesthetic movement. Oscar Wilde was one of the leaders of the aesthetic movement during the 1890s. Wilde’s novel takes us through a lifestyle of someone who lives without boundaries. He digs deep into our main character Dorian’s personality as well as some of the other characters to prove the fatality of letting these psychological things take over. Through the novel, we can see the mental states of these characters slowly decline, and their actions start to be driven by what they feel. These characters have different motives due to their differentiating psychological mindsets. We will specifically be looking at these mental issues within Dorian Gray, Lord Henry, Basil, and Sybil Vane. Throughout the novel, Wilde shows us how harmful an unbalanced personality and mind can turn out to be.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, it is easy to see that there are ideas of influence as well as evil within this novel. These play a specific role in the understanding of motives in some of the main characters in this book. There seem to be a lot of things that contribute to the corruption of Dorian Gray, but we can see that Lord Henry is probably considered the number one contributor. Henry’s evil personality is the constant source of destruction in Dorian. He consistently persuades Dorian to think certain ways or do things he would not usually do. One of the first things Lord Henry says to Dorian is, “to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul” (Wilde 20). We can clearly see that this is foreshadowing Henry’s future desires to convert Dorian into evil and manipulative person. Another theme that plays a huge role in the novel is beauty. There is a direct relation between character and beauty when the two mesh together to show how the picture is changing over time. We can see that declining beauty and cruelty have been a result of Dorian acting out the way he has. Dorian’s actions are portrayed in the face of the portrait which is why Wilde uses the reference of the portrait being a mirror.

During the late 1800s, the idea that a person’s psychological issues are the result of repressed impulses or childhood trauma was popularized by a man named Sigmund Freud. The psychoanalytic theory concentrates on the unconscious and early childhood experiences. (Spielman 20). Freud was the founding father of the psychoanalysis, he believed that we never truly give our motives for doing things. He says this is not because we are lying, but because we are the best at self-deception. (McLeod pp. 3). Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has three specific parts; the id, the ego, and the superego. We can distinctly see these parts throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray due to the way the characters act as well as think.

If we pay close attention to these characters in the novel, we see that each one shows a specific part of the psychoanalytic theory. Lord Henry strongly portrays the id part within the theory. His character wants automatic satisfaction from things. His character is mainly focused on the pleasure and that pleasure must be reached regardless of if the consequences are worth it. This is shown by the way he shows an interest in only his instincts, he is interested in the death and beauty of things. He seems to show no empathy or regret for anything he does. He is trying to make Dorian into the same type of person he is, which causes Dorian to have an inward struggle between his id and superego. In the book, it shows that Henry is trying to get Dorian to care about nothing but oneself and one’s desires. “One’s own life- that is the important thing. As for the lives of one’s neighbours, .... one can flaunt one’s moral views about them, but they are not one’s concern. Besides, individualism has really the higher aim” (Wilde p. 94). When Lord Henry says this, we can see that he is basically telling Dorian that other people are not his concern, that Dorian himself is what should really matter and no one else.

Basil demonstrates the superego part of the theory. The superego is the part of the theory that focuses on the values and morals of society. It acts as our conscience. It looks for perfection and leads to feelings of pride or guilt. (Openstax pp. 5). The superego is supposed to control the impulses of the id and turn the ego to moral goals instead of real ones. Basil displays these traits by continuously trying to convince Dorian not to give in to immorality. He wants Dorian to ignore the awful things Lord Henry is trying to instill into his mind. In one part of the novel Basil says, “Dorian, this is horrible! Something has changed you completely. You look the same wonderful boy who, day after day, used to come down to my studio to sit for his picture… You were the most unspoiled creature in the whole world. Now, I don’t know what has come over you. You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you” (Wilde 122). He is seeing that Dorian is acting differently, he is trying to get Dorian to see himself changing and that the way he is acting is wrong.

Dorian himself also presents the superego trait in the psychoanalytic theory. To be more specific, he starts as the superego but ends up being the id as well. At the beginning of the novel, Dorian is very polite and unspoiled as he was described in the book. He had his morals in the right state and he did nothing out of the moral compass. He wanted everything in his life to be perfect and poise, but we see this take a turn for the worst. After the death of Sybil Vane, Dorian starts to have battles within himself between morality and immorality. When Sybil dies, Lord Henry tells Dorian that her death is an artistic achievement that he should be proud of. He begins to lose his emotional and moral superego and gives into Lord Henry’s ideas. Sybil’s death is where Dorian’s downward spiral and mental deterioration begins. Dorian seems to be a “battleground” for these two parts of the theory. We can see that in different parts of the novel Dorian seems to constantly have internal conflicts as he goes back and forth between what is right and wrong. This is clear after the death of Sybil, and again toward the end of the book when he decides to destroy the portrait. The whole novel seems to be showing Dorian as a character who is stuck in between the battles of the id and the superego.

The next psychological aspect we can take from this novel is the disorders that are portrayed throughout the story. Narcissism is one of the most common themes within this novel, so that is the one we will be discussing. This novel was used as the basis of a disorder called “Dorian Gray Syndrome”. This syndrome is a “cultural and societal phenomenon characterized by a man’s extreme pride in his personal appearance, which is accompanied by difficulties in coping with the requirements of psychological maturation and with the aging of his body” (Gandrabur). This is very closely related to narcissism. They have ideal characteristics and Dorian definitely exemplified these. He expressed multiple times through the novel that he wanted to remain beautiful forever, “I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me. Why should it keep what I must lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me and gives something to it. Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now! Why did you paint it? It will mock me someday -- mock me horribly!'. (Wilde 43) Dorian wishes that he could trade places with the portrait and the portrait grow old instead of him. He is jealous of the painting because no matter how many years pass, it will stay the same. This idea would soon consume his existence and he would become mentally ill, he was constantly focused on the portrait and how it looked. He displayed symptoms of his own disorder as well as an antisocial personality disorder. Auden compared Dorian to a Greek mythological hunter, “And ‘once in boyish mockery of Narcissus’, Dorian had kissed his portrait, but instead of falling in love, like Narcissus, with his own image, an aesthetic extension of himself, he comes to hate it and destroys himself as he attempts to destroy his painting.” (Auden 1).

As we see, our mental states can make us do things that severely affect our lives. Lord Henry is the main one to blame for starting Dorian’s mental deterioration and leading him down the path of death. By using psychoanalysis, we can see the character's motives and what they are actually going through. Psychological themes greatly affect each character within the book and we can only wonder what would have happened if some characters were never introduced to one another.