The Victorian Era of Great Britain presented in The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Victorian Era was a time of stark contrast in Great Britain. Great Britain had exploded into an industrious powerhouse and engaged in widespread imperialism. The cities began to become overrun as rampant migration from rural to urban areas occurred. The massive influx of an urban population coupled with a massive increase in factories and industrial centers saw a rise in crime, horrid living conditions, and poverty for the lower-class citizens of Great Britain. Contrasted against this was the still decadent life of the aristocracy and nobility who were transitioning from rural, manor dwellers to living in the same city as the lower-class citizens they employed. From these circumstances arose the central themes of the Victorian Era and what “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde tries to encompass throughout the book; the evils of materialism and the façade of elitism along with the vanity and the dwindling of morality within society.

Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is centered on a handsome, wealthy, and young entrepreneur named Dorian Gray who slowly delves down a rabbit hole of materialism and immorality. Dorian meets a painter, Basil Hallward, who becomes obsessed and infatuated with Dorian and eventually goes on to paint several portraits of him in costumes and decorative garb. However, Basil eventually goes on to paint Dorian in a natural state and creates what he deems his masterpiece: an ethereal depiction of a pure man, stands by his convictions, and in touch with the spiritual and religious world around him. Yet as the plot of the book continues, Dorian begins to be seduced by the excessive life the social and business elites engage in. He becomes consumed with maintaining proper appearances of a socialite through an ever-increasing materialistic lifestyle to maintain his image while simultaneously losing his own morals over time that Wilde states “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses'-how does the quotation run?-'his own soul'?'(244). Soon enough, Dorian becomes addicted to drugs, goes to wealthy parties and balls, and seems to never age as well as never accrue any injuries or illness. This is due to the painting Basil did of him all those years ago, which has become corrupted and stained, all whilst preserving Dorian’s youth and purity. The plot of the book advances two central themes that existed within the Victorian era of Great Britain: materialism and the vanity of it coupled with society’s decreasing morals over time due to industrialism and hyper-capitalism.

The rise of a materialistic culture was the consequence of a socio-economic stratification between the new aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, and the wealthy, juxtaposed against a despondent lower class entrenched in poverty. The days of the old-time nobility was beginning to fade, and appearances were everything to those who wanted to make it clear they were of a different crust than that of the lower class as “the nobility focused on their social appearance rather than their spirituality or inner self. Alongside this, they perceived idleness as a virtue–a divine gift from the heavens bestowed upon the descendants of the elite rulers. They loathe those who worked for a living” (Victorian Era). People lived an unfulfilled life in the Victorian Era as they were chasing value through possession, constantly living under a social microscope that through immense pressure formed a toxic microcosm of society. Dorian Gray cares nothing but what his mentor Lord Henry and his fellow socialites think of him, wanting nothing more than brightly shine in the light that the upper-class lifestyle and socialites are casting upon him. Wilde even engages in a playfully ironic dialogue between Dorian and Lord Henry in regard to marriages that shows just how deep the need to keep up a façade runs as Lord Henry states, “one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception necessary for both parties. I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet–we do meet occasionally when we dine out together or go down to the Duke’s–we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces.” (Wilde, 10). This quote carries a twofold message behind it. The first being that Lord Henry does not love his wife and is in a purely status-based marriage. The outdated idea of marriage for political and economic reasons was nothing more than a trend passed from one age to another. Romance has faded, and in a sense, Wilde is making a statement on how losing sight of the intrinsic value of the soul and striving to pursue spiritual contentment leads to a corrupted world, one that leads to moral depravity. Hedonism and Aestheticism began to arise as the dominant moral ideologies of the elite in Victorian England and people began to lose a sense of moral base and respect in the era as “It meant praising the sensual qualities of art and the sheer pleasure they provide. ‘Art for art’s sake’ became identified with the energy and creativity of aestheticism – but it also became a shorthand way of expressing the fears of those who saw this uncoupling of art and morality as dangerous.” (Burdett). Dorian Gray engages in a never-ending quest for pleasure and satisfaction and he can never be content. He dates around, engages in drinking and drug abuse, abuses others, and even commits murder at one point to protect his image and status within society. Through these actions, Wilde is condemning societies' disconnect from morality.

The portrait Basil paints of Dorian slowly becomes dirty and stained, Dorian’s face becomes devilish and grotesque; all the while Dorian remains youthful and pure in the flesh. This is the central metaphor of the book, the corruption of Dorian’s soul in exchange for all the materialistic pleasures and sensations he could ever hope to indulge in. He ultimately destroys the vile painting of himself and with it, destroys himself. Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a fascinating commentary on the materialistic and hedonistic nature of the Victorian Era.