Wilde, Dorian Gray, and Motive

Oscar Wilde was many things to many people. He was a dandy, a "somdomite," a realist, an aesthete, and one of the greatest literary minds of his generation (Class notes). He is a favorite target of scholars seeking to promote one philosophic perspective or another, and not without cause. There exist countless readings and interpretations of the motives behind Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, thoughWilde ultimately remarked during his trial that "[his] work never aims at producing any effect but that of literature" (Holland 74). By existing, these two realities throw each other into doubt. Are the scholars wrong in interpreting The Picture of Dorian Gray as anything other than a piece of literature, or was Wilde being fatuous in the evaluation of his own work?

Ultimately, it is hard to believe that a novel so charged with moral sentiment could be so devoid of moral purpose, however ambiguous that purpose may be. At the time of its publication, Clausson writes that "the popular secular press denounced Wildes novel for 'spiritual putrefaction" and yet "Christian publications... interpreted it as an ethical parable or moral fable" (2). Neither of these seemingly opposing statements can fully explain Wilde's moral philosophy as exhibited in The Picture. It seems to be, instead, a blend of the two, a dialogue between self-realization and the harm principal of John Stuart Mill. This dialogue produces a synthesis that is essentially Wilde's theory of the limits on action in the pursuit of self-realization, that the limit to self-realization is the instant of other-harm.

With the introduction of Lord Henry Wotton in the second chapter of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde begins building a theme of self-realization. Wotton powerfully philosophizes that "the aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly- that is what each of us is here for" (The Picture 19). Wotton's epigrammatic speech is thought-provoking and deserves some amount of unpacking: what, exactly, is self-realization?

Lord Henry sees the pinnacle of self-realization as giving "form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream" (20). To realize one's self is to act on every impulse and stimulate every sense, free from the constriction of society or religion. Wotton puts special emphasis on the notion that societal and religious constraints lead to self-denial that "broods in the mind and poisons" the body (ibid). Here, the enemy of self-realization comes from without. Society prevents individuals from fulfilling their passions. That ideal becomes the central theme of Dorian Gray. Indeed, as Dorian was excluded from the majority of societal and religious condemnation via his eternal youth, he was all the better able to create himself.

It is important to note, however, that later in his life Wilde subtly modified this credo in his letter to Lord Alfred Douglass, De Profundus, writing that "the real fool... is he who does not know himself," that "the supreme vice is shallowness" (874). The goal of self-realization is unchanged, yet he reinvents its antithesis as a failure to know oneself rather than a repression of cognizant desires at the behest of an intolerant society.

At any rate, the focus is unchanged. Wilde clearly wants to communicate his belief in the doctrine of self-realization. It is interesting, however, to note Dorian's progress throughout the novel, loving first the simple performance of Sibyl Vane, who "realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art," but eventually turning to opium, "drugs that could lull the moral sense to sleep" (The Picture 70, 26). His path is strewn with bodies, first Sibyl Vane, then "that wretched boy in the guards, Adrian Singleton," and, finally, Basil Hallward (117).

These fates seem almost natural to a life such as Dorian's. His callous disregard for the feelings and well-beings of those around him serves as a by-product of and almost a prerequisite for his self-realization. The question thus presents itself: does Dorian Gray, in his pursuit of self-realization, have the right to cause harm to other people? JS Mill would disagree, writing that "the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection... His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant" (Mill 9). This is the essence of Mill's harm principle, that Dorian's right to swing his dagger ends where Basil's throat begins.

Whether or not Wilde agrees with the harm principal depends upon one's reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Some point to Dorian's actions and Lord Henry's epigrams, accepting that "every effect that one produces gives one an enemy" (The Picture 151). For the majority of the book, Dorian is able to act as the pinnacle of self-realization, denying no impulse and engaging in every art. All these actions, especially the more vulgar and improprietous acts produce enemies: "the Duke of Berwick leaves the room of a club when [Dorian enters] it" and James Vane "[swears he] would kill [Dorian]" for wrecking his sister's life (117, 146).

Lord Henry's evaluation seems true enough, but a second reading proposes that Wilde does not actually endorse such methods of self-realization. While a great deal of the book is devoted to chronicling Dorian's exploits and forays into neo-hedonistic self-realization, Dorian's end ultimately falls in favor of a less solipsistic philosophy. That Dorian's sins catch up with him and inflict upon him a "withered, wrinkled, and loathsome... visage" is a testament to Wilde's ultimate feeling in the novel (170). Dorian cannot escape punishment, and he cannot escape the twinge of guilt that leads him to ask if there "was... no hope for him" (167).

Dorian's death is the final word in the debate between self-realization and JS Mill's harm principle. While it would be foolish to state that the ending negates the entire thrust of Wilde's endorsement of neo-hedonism, it would be equally foolish to disregard the ending entirely and treat the novel as a carbon copy of the poisonous book. The dialogue between these two ideals creates the following synthesis: self-realization is to be condoned only to the extent that it does not harm others.

This synthesis has a corollary to go along with it: society is unjustified in restricting the actions of others, an outlook supported by a third reading of Wilde's novel, one of sexual discovery and liberation. It is no longer a secret and even less of a scandal to state that Oscar Wilde had homosexual tendencies. That he dated "a number of young men" and engaged in "mutual masturbation [though never] anal intercourse" is well documented (Young 2). Exactly how much of his lifestyle that spilt over into The Picture of Dorian Gray is debatable. One could make the case that all of the references seen today as homosexual were, in fact, manifestations of Wilde's nostalgia for "the spirit that is Greek" (The Picture 14).

However, such an argument seems to be mostly semantic. A rose by any other name would never hide "the love that dare not speak its name" (Young 2). In other words, regardless of the character of Dorian's passions, the "villa that he had shared at Trouville with Lord Henry" can only be seen as a covert reference to homosexual acts undertaken there (The Picture 109). Indeed, the book is well laden with such references, from Dorian's "[fatal friendship] to young men" to Basil's worship of Dorian "with far more romance of feeling than a man usually gives to a friend" (117, 232).

There is a greater significance to Wilde's homosexual theme in The Picture of Dorian Gray.Wilde not only stimulates debate by writing about thought-provoking and volatile issues, but also simulates debate through the corruption and death of Dorian Gray, whose life was essentially a dialogue between neo-hedonism and social humanism, solipsism and the regard for others. When taken in context of this dialogue and the synthesis that it forms, Wilde seems to be promoting a less constrictive and more tolerant Victorian society. This ideal society is one that would remain unconcerned with an individual's pursuit of self-realization, no matter how sordid or "sodomitical," until that individual's actions began to interfere with the health and wellbeing of others (Holland 81). It is a society that Oscar Wilde had a vested interest in creating. It is a society that would not have led to his persecution and downfall.

This ideology of sexual libertarianism both bolsters and is supported by Wilde's final conclusion based on the harm principal. Insofar as it aids the argument, the homosexual theme provides copious motive for the creation of a more tolerant society. Inasmuch as the theme is supported by the harm principal, one need only realize that the harm principal, carried to societal proportions, endorses sexual freedom. Consensual acts between two individuals within the privacy of their own home hardly constitutes individual, much less societal harm. Despite Wilde's claim that "[he] rarely [thinks] anything [he writes] is true," the prominence of these motifs gives one pause (74).

By treating Dorian's enlightenment, life, and downfall as a dialogue between the principles of neo-hedonism and JS Mill's harm principle, one can flesh out a rich philosophical synthesis. Be it intentional or subconscious on Wilde's part, The Picture of Dorian Gray illuminates a great deal of his personal philosophy: that one may do anything in the pursuit of self-realization short of harming another. The corollary of which Wilde molds into a larger social argument that when one isn't harming another, he or she should be free from moral judgment such as that of Victorians against homosexuals.

Sources Cited

Class Notes, Wednesday, February 22, 2006. GWU UW20, Prof. K. Stern.

Clausson, Nils. "Culture and Corruption": Paterian Self-Development versus

Gothic Degeneration in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Papers on Language & Literature.: Fall, 2003, Vol. 39 Iss. 4, p. 339-365

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: Longman, Roberts & Green, 1869; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/130/.

The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde Ed. Merlin Holland. NY, Advanpress,

2003: 73-81, 100-103

Young, Ian. "Who Framed Oscar Wilde?". Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide;

Summer, 2000, Vol. 7 Iss. 3, p. 24-26.

Wilde, Oscar. De Profundis. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. NY: Barnes &

Noble. 1994. 873-957

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ed. Donald L. Lawler. New York:

WW Norton & Company, 1988.