An Analysis Of The Picture Of Dorian Gray Using Structuralism Theory (Binary Opposition Tenet)

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of Oscar Wilde's masterpieces. This novel is written in unique, authentic and beautiful language style. There are a lot of metaphoric expressions used in this novel. Even it is rich in terms and lessons related to philosophical and moral values. This novel is about a young aristocrat man living in England in the era of Victoria who had great obsession on physical beauty, youth and materialistic lifestyle in which all those things would just lead him to violate moral values and bring him to an unbearable and tragic life ending. 

Here are some following points of my analysis:

First, the picture of Dorian Gray is a product of Oscar's protesting action toward the problematic system and inequality that existed in England during the Victorian era

the portrait of social inequality of people in England (the Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat)

In the picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar implicitly tried to compare two groups of people from different social classes which were the powerful class and the subjugated class by portraying their opposite life conditions. With the Victorian time setting, two contradictive sides of England were vividly revealed in this novel. On one side, the group of Bourgeoises enjoyed their hedonistic lifestyle. We as readers are invited to come to the world of aristocrat by following the life of main characters; Dorian and Lord Henry. Both of them were described as noble and prominent men. They were as narrated in the story living in big mansions in which full of fancy property and even some imported products such as divan of Persian saddle-bags, Chinese silverware, Japanese paintings and so on. Their mansions had beautiful flower gardens and parks and even art studio. As the members of aristocrat family, Lord Henry and Dorian often attended fancy parties and elite social gatherings where they wore their best clothes to meet aristocrat ladies with their best ballgowns, jewelries and tiaras and to have so-called intellectual conversations with aristocrat scholars and businessmen in their best night coats. In the luxurious parties, they ate good foods and drunk best wine, enjoyed classic music performances, danced happily in a large hall and watched an opera. They did also love seeking for unordinary entertainment and pleasures such as hunting wild animals, taking a fancy trip to famous destinations, collecting famous fainting and other artistic works, collecting jewelries and fancy stuffs and also consuming a few types of drugs. They seemed to have whatever they wished for with the money and social power they had in society. They lived luxurious lives, got respect, popularity and power. On the other side, the marginalized people which were represented through the characters of sybil, her brother and mom, their lifestyle was very opposite to the ones belong to Lord Henry and Dorian. Yeah, they lived very divergently from the way the main characters did. They had to struggle, working every day to make their living. They even had to work under the control of a Jewish man as their employer. They could not go to schools or pursue their dreams since they spent most of their time working to make money. Sybil had to do the job that she was not really fond to. She often felt like she was being forced to do that. Even Sybil's brother had to move to other country in order to look for better opportunity. He decided to part away with his family at the young age. 

Therefore, I would say that in this novel Oscar attempted to show how problematic the social and economic system in England was at that time. Despite of the fact that Victorian era is always regarded as the golden era of British empire since there was a lot of improvement and development in a few fields like technology, science, industrialization, transportation and agriculture, unfortunately the social gap between the rich and poor people was big. A lot of people still lived under poverty and inequality.

"..I don't suppose the proletariat live correctly'.

the portrait of gender inequality of people in England (Women vs Men)

In this novel, the writer also attempted to highlight the other type of inequality as the failing product of problematic system that existed in England during the late nineteenth century which was gender inequality. Even at the very first beginning, we could see how women were theoretically and practically subjugated through the ways how Lord Henry and Dorian viewed women only as brainless beauty. In which they considered women as the source of inspiration and entertainment only for the sake of their physical beauty since they believed what men could adore from women was only their beauty. The way how these people considered women not more than a part of decoration of men's lives implicitly represented the common stereotype and attitude that mostly people at that time had in treating gender equality. It indicates that mostly people at that time did not think women were capable for doing things in certain areas like business and education. They expected women to be good only in domestic stuff like child-bearing, household business and how to take care of their physical appearances so men could feel satisfied with them. Even more, certain people like Lord Henry had extreme belief in seeing women's quality. He believed that a smart woman might be ugly one because beautiful women were the one who could do nothing excepts satisfying their men and how men did not need a smart woman in their lives because smart women would only be disobedient and rebellious, could not give benefits in their lives. Moreover, it was not only men who did underestimate women's roles and capabilities. As a matter of fact, women at that time were also narrated as the ones who agreed with the stereotype. They might also consider themselves inferior than men. Through the characters of Sybil and her mother who believed that women could not live without men, that they had to rely on men in order to have chance to improve their lives. They did not believe that they could stand on their own feet. Even the noble lady like Henry's wife could not have enough courage to interfere in her husband's business. And the duchess, as one of Henry's friend was narrated as a woman in which all she had in her mind were dresses and how to look prettier. She was expected to be loyal, obedient and supportive in giving her husband freedom to do his business and enjoy the life he wanted. It actually represented the way how mostly women lived their lives at that time. They did let men to regard them less powerful since they did even see themselves as inferior than men.

"My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are only a decorative sex. They never have anything to say but they said it charmingly. Women represent the triumph...."

-Lord Henry-

Therefore, from my simple analysis I would say that Oscar intentionally tried to show how gender inequality existed in England at that time, how women were seen as brainless beauty in a place where its powerful ruler was the greatest queen, the mighty queen Victoria. It is an irony, isn't it? 

Second, the picture of Dorian Gray is a product of Oscar's protesting action toward the problematically cultural-moral values and beliefs of people in England during the Victorian era

Young vs Old (the way how people at that time used "age" as one of the parameters in judging people's quality)

In this novel, the writer also used binary opposition tenet which was in term of age; young versus old. Oscar implicitly reveals how age could be seen as a crucial thing in human lives. The characters like Henry and Dorian who are narrated as young men seem to be given better quality. They are portrayed as the ones who were more capable, powerful and respectable. They are narrated to have better, more pleasurable lives.

"because you have the most marvelous youth and youth is the one thing worth having"

-Lord Henry-

"When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it... and when one loses look, whatever they may be, one loses everything"

-Lord Henry-

As I already mention, I think from this novel, we could learn how at that time many people in England stick to problematic and unhealthy beliefs such as they did use "age" as one of the key parameter's in measuring one's worthiness and quality. Dorian and Lord Henry for instance they did believe that youth was one of the greatest assets a person had in which could be very beneficial to lead him to a satisfying life because when he was young, he could achieve whatever he intended to have, the world was with him. Other people would respect and adore him for the young outlook he embraced and the moment when he started aging, than he would lose all the sweets of life. No more respect and adoration, no more popularity. That is why in this novel Dorian is portrayed as a young man who was very obsessed to stay young and delicate. On the other hand, being old was considered as the unlucky, annoying and miserable thing. They believed that elder people would not be able to achieve as much and as great as they did when they were still young. That is why they believed one's quality and worthiness degraded at the time when he started aging.

From the analysis, I could conclude that Oscar implements "binary opposition" by comparing two contradicted things "old" and "young" in aims to portray how a few of beliefs and values that society in England at that time were more likely problematic.

Other forms of binary opposition (Pretty vs Ugly and Intellectual vs Stupid: the way how people at that time used "physical outlook and intellectual capability" as the other important parameters in judging people's quality and worthiness)

In this novel, the writer used Lord Henry and Dorian, as the representative characters whose points of view were based on binary opposition tenet. For instance, they believed that physical outlook and intelligence were the other crucial parameters used in measuring how good and worthy someone's quality was. Oscar implicitly revealed how problematic the life values that mostly people at that time especially the aristocrat had. 

"beauty is form of genius- it is higher indeed than genius .... beauty is the wonder of wonders"

-Lord Henry-

"some days when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, when thought has seared your forehead with its lines and passion branded you lips with its hideous fires you will feel it, you will fell it terribly...

-Lord Henry-

"I choose my friends for good looks, my acquaintances for good characters and my enemies for their good intellects..., I have not got one who is a fool..."

-Lord Henry-

The other characters in which put in the category were Basil and Dorian. Basil was one of the main characters in this novel who was narrated as a man with intelligence and art skill meanwhile Dorian was also the main character in this novel and he was narrated having two qualities to be a worthy man. He had youth and beauty. All of the characters with powerful positions in this novel were portrayed to have at least one or two of the quality standards (Beauty, Youth, Intelligence and wealth). However how this story revealed that the characters with great power and expected to be "worthy men" like Henry and Dorian, they did violate moral values. It showed and proved that how the social value and belief of people at that time in regarding a man 's quality based on the standards (Beauty, Youth, Intelligence and wealth) was problematic because even the people with all the standards could not be considered "as perfectly good men with good quality". Indeed, how the story ended "Dorian killed his own friend, engaged in corrupted behaviors and finally decided to kill himself", it became a portrait of the final product of the problematic social values which means it was the way how the writer wanted people to know that the values could bring such significant harms. 

Good vs Evil (moral / immoral)

In this novel, there are two main contradicted characters compared implicitly by the writer. One is Basil who narrated as a wise, mature and kind artist. He had better understand on moral values and he was also aware of the bad things of materialistic or hedonistic values. He did not agree with Lord Henry's ideas in judging people's worthiness and quality mainly on their physical looks because for him good character was much more important than beauty. He also did not agree with Henry who kept doubting about the real love and loyalty in marriage. Indeed, he could not accept the extreme belief that Henry had instilled into Dorian's mind related to the importance of youth and beauty. 

On the other hand, Dorian is a rotten character in this novel. After being manipulated by Henry. He started living with immoral behaviors. He did enjoy the hedonistic lifestyles, he did involve in moral corruption (he used drugs, committed in human trafficking, prostitution, free sex lifestyle and he did even murder his own friend; Basil), it is clearly narrated how his character was corrupted because of his toxic obsession to stay young and beautiful physically which is kind of impossible thing because as human beings no body can avoid aging. No body can stay young and pretty forever.

Third, the picture of Dorian Gray is a media that the writer uses to introduce and promote aestheticism which was a new way to see and understand arts at that time (aestheticism vs realism).

As a matter of fact, Oscar Wilde is considered as one of mastermind of Aesthetic movement in England. He criticized the values that Victorian elite people had through his works which one of them is the picture of Dorian Gray. Indeed, he also protested the common notion of society's as that time regarding arts as a representation of society's life including morality and interactivity. That is why he introduced the theory of aestheticism.

In the picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar tries to offer a new concept of seeing and appreciating arts. Through the character of Basil, an artist who had a great hope to change the way how people at that time were supposed to see arts. He believed that the realism theory was no more valid. People should not value the arts by considering the meaning that the arts probably carry. Arts in his new perspective should be treated only as a product of abstract beauty in which people enjoy only for the sake of their beauty. People should not treat arts as the autobiography of the artist neither as the representation or product of the cultural and social life of certain society. Arts had nothing to do with it.

"Every portrait that is painted with a feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter..., it is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter, who on the colored canvas, reveals himself"

"an artist should create beautiful things but should put nothing of his own life in them we live in an age when men treat art as if it were meant to be a form of autobiography. We have lost the abstract sense of beauty. Someday I will show the world what it is; and for that reason, the world shall never see my portrait of Dorian Gray".

Therefore, I would say that the shifting of the way how people start questioning the old theory and reconstructing the theory, it indicates that at that time there was a kind of movement or revolution occurred in the way how people treated arts. In other words, Oscar Wilde tries to show how people at that time were mostly against the theory of realism and they came up with a new theory called "aestheticism" in which based on the theory, art is just an art and it has nothing to do with any external things like politics, social-economy and other purposes. It does not carry meaning. It just represents the beauty itself.

References:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/174