Pleskovo Comprehensive Orthodox Christian Boarding School

Dorian Gray Syndrome

Modern society’s cognitive disease: origin, features and therapy.

Author Daniil Igorevich Chugaev a senior student

Supervisor Irina Vladimirovna Nickishina an English teacher

2012 Contents

Prologue ’s novel «The Picture of Dorian Gray»: • author’s short biography; • summary of the novel; • theme analysis. Pages 3 through 6

Keynote Dorian Gray Syndrome: • myth about as a representation of ancient society; • becoming a trend of modern society; • origin and features; • ways of treatment. Pages 7 through 9

Conclusion Page 10

Credits Page 11

2 Prologue

Oscar Wilde’s biography

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the circumstances of his imprisonment, followed by his early death.

Wilde's parents were successful Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. He also profoundly explored Roman Catholicism, to which he would later convert on his deathbed. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States of America and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art", and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day.

At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely, and combine them with larger social themes, drew Wilde to write drama. He wrote Salome (1891) in French in Paris but it was refused a licence. Unperturbed, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London.

At the height of his fame and success, whilst his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), was still on stage in London, Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, prosecuted for libel, a charge carrying a penalty of up to two years in prison. (Libel Act of 1843) The trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and

3 led to his own arrest, tried for gross indecency with other men. After two more trials he was convicted and imprisoned for two years' hard labour. In prison he wrote De Profundis (written in 1897 & published in 1905), a long letter which discusses his spiritual journey through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. Upon his release he left immediately for France, never to return to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six. Wilde was initially buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux outside Paris; in 1909 his remains were disinterred to Père Lachaise Cemetery, inside the city.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine. Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters; the amended version was published by Ward, Lock, and Company in April 1891. The Picture of Dorian Gray is considered a work of classic gothic fiction with a strong Faustian theme.

At the outset of the novel, Dorian Gray is a tabula rasa. The young man’s encounter with artist Basil Hallward and socialite Lord Henry signifies the launch of his descent into a life of debauchery and hedonism. When confronted with his own beauty through the eyes of the two men, Gray is loath to part with it and he thus wishes to remain as untainted and lovely as the masterpiece that Hallward has painted of him. He wishes that the portrait could age in his stead. A supernatural force grants his wish, and Gray’s sins and age are manifested in his portrait. He is free to live a life of decadence and immorality without paying the physical cost. He is immortal. Gray’s initial vulnerability makes him excellent clay for Lord Henry’s willing hands. Lord Henry moulds and manipulates Dorian Gray with ideas of pleasure-seeking and hedonism by maintaining that intense experience is the key to true beauty, even when the experience itself is something sordid, ugly, or grotesque. Gray’s life is punctuated by momentary happiness but it is fraught with pain and anxiety, much like Narcissus.

4 Theme Analysis

Homoerotic love Homoerotic love is an underlying theme of the novel, although it is never stated directly. Both Lord Henry and Basil Hallward are deeply attracted to Dorian Gray on account of his great physical beauty. Basil insists that his love for Dorian is “noble and intellectual,” and there is no reason to doubt him. But he also speaks about Dorian in terms that a man would normally speak about a lover and about falling in love. “I worshipped you,” he says to Dorian. “I grew jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you” (Chapter 9). Basil sublimates any erotic dimension to his feelings about Dorian by pouring them into his art. Lord Henry prefers the company of Dorian to that of his wife, and he consistently expresses misogynist views. He worships youthful male beauty as embodied in Dorian, and he encourages Dorian to give full rein all his secret desires. When he says the following to Dorian, he may well be suggesting that Dorian has a previously unacknowledged sexual attraction to men: “You have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, day- dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with -” The language here, and the use of the word “shame,” suggests that Dorian’s “sins,” although they are never explicitly described, may be of a sexual nature. One has to remember that in the Victorian age, attitudes to homosexuality are very different from what they are today.

Art vs. Life The novel presents a contrast between art and life. Art possesses beauty and form; it is contrasted with the ugliness and shapelessness of real life. Lord Henry encourages Dorian to treat his own life as if it were a work of art. He must experience it fully, as one would a piece of art, but at the same time remain detached from it, in the way that one might appreciate a great painting or a play. This involves a paradox: he must be at once involved and uninvolved, fully participating, not drawing back from anything, but always remaining a spectator. Such is Lord Henry’s notion. He is depicted as being a connoisseur of all the arts and surrounds himself with objects of beauty. He maintains the essential detachment that enables him, or at least he claims it does, to avoid the pain of the world. It also means that he does not adopt moral positions on anything, since that would mean taking life more seriously than art. For Lord Henry, the purpose of life is not to exhibit one’s moral prejudices but to contemplate beauty. The contrast between art and life can be seen in the chapters that describe Dorian’s walk to the theater where Sibyl Vane performs and on his ride to the opium den.

5 In both instances, the sordidness of these parts of London is described. Dorian feels this keenly, and he takes refuge in the art that Sibyl creates. Her value to him is that she enables him to live out Henry’s creed. When she ceases to show an interest in art, Dorian ceases to be interested in her. On the ride to the opium den, Dorian’s position has changed. He now embraces the ugliness of life. He has forgotten the creed that Henry taught him. He has exchanged art for life-and that itself is a sin, in Oscar Wilde’s credo.

Sensual Gratification Lord Henry’s philosophy of life, which is adopted by Dorian, is that the senses should be indulged to the full. In the fleeting sense experience lies the intensity of life, and all life is simply a series of these intense moments. This is not intended as a mindless indulgence for the sake of it, but is a conscious quest for beauty. Dorian thus learns to cultivate all kinds of sense experience, passions and sensations in the pursuit of beauty. He studies exotic perfumes, he collects musical instruments and precious stones. He once went to a costume ball wearing an outfit covered with 560 pearls. Neither Henry nor Dorian believe in any restrictions on desire, because desire is life itself, whereas self- in the name of morality is exactly that-a denial of life. Henry’s belief is that self- development, not self-restraint, is the purpose of life. He describes this philosophy as a new Hedonism. It is a refined understanding and appreciation of life that amounts to a form of spirituality. And so Henry’s friend and disciple Dorian believes that in indulging the senses he is freeing them to be what are intended to be, a channel for the experience of beauty. In chapter 11, he states his belief that the senses have never been properly understood before: «They had remained savage and animal merely because the world had sought to starve them into submission or to kill them by pain, instead of aiming at making them elements of a new spirituality, of which a fine instinct for beauty was to be the dominant characteristic».

6 Keynote

Narcissus

The beautiful Narcissus was divinely punished for his exceptionally cruel despisal of those who fell in love with him. He was thus caused, by the gods, to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool. Unable to obtain the object of his love and not being able to break away from the beauty of his own reflection, Narcissus pined away alongside the pool and, succumbing to his sorrow, finally perished.

Myths are allegorical representations of ancient society. Much like fairytales and folklore, myths served to maintain models for behavior as well as social structures and institutions. The myth of Narcissus teaches society of the dangers of self-love, which leads to sorrow and even death – literal and figurative. This is certainly the case for Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, who sells his soul in payment for the preservation of his youth and beauty. Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray can be considered a modern myth – a cautionary tale of supernatural horror, similar to the legends of old. The author’s biting wit allows for an acute social commentary on the plague of that has laid claim to soul of society.

A trend of modern society

In an ode to the life of Dorian Gray, society has spawned what is known as Dorian Gray Syndrome (DGS), which «denotes a cultural and societal phenomenon characterized by an excessive preoccupation with the individual’s own appearance accompanied by difficulties coping with the aging process and with the requirements of maturation. Sufferers of Dorian Gray Syndrome are heavy users of cosmetic medical procedures and products in an attempt to preserve their youth».

The desire of society to remain forever youthful is by no means a modern concept. It is deep-rooted in ancient philosophy and practice, and this is perhaps the reason that self-love is so utterly crippling. Narcissism has had centuries of practice and it seems to have finally gripped society by the throat and is squeezing out every last breath of life. The ethereal eternal fountain of youth has been replaced with Botox, anti-aging pills and creams, and plastic surgery – some costly but more convenient options to the time consuming hunt for that ever-elusive elixir of life. Oscar Wilde’s

7 Lord Henry personifies modern society – a predator in the guise of an ally that lurks in the background eagerly awaiting its chance to distort the moral fibre of weak and insecure minds. There exists the idea that, like Dorian Gray, we are blank slates awaiting the infiltration of ideas that will manipulate our decisions and actions. In an age when few people are inclined to take responsibility for their own actions, it is easiest to jump on the band-wagon and blame the media. A media industry created by society for society – «Of the people, by the people, for the people», in the wise words of Abraham Lincoln. Tangible irony. We are caught in a self-created and self-propagated web of inescapable narcissism. And yet the futility of it all seems, conveniently, to elude us – after years of obsession and time-consuming beautification processes, we get old and die. Life is spent trying to curb the inevitability of old age, instead of being lived. Dorian Gray’s attempts to «cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul» (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 16) are unsuccessful. When faced with the portrait of his soul, Gray beholds that «in the eyes there was a look of cunning, and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite», and he stabs the picture, in a bid to destroy it. In so doing, he ends his own life. Gray’s soul is united with his body. He becomes the disfigured image in the painting and when his death is discovered, the portrait is found unharmed, showing Dorian Gray as a beautiful young man, and on the floor is the body of an old man, wrinkled and disfigured, with a knife plunged into his heart.

Origin and features

Narcissism is understood to be compensation for poor self-esteem – an explanation that renders the likes DGS acceptable. Perhaps this is a desperate attempt by society to understand a behavior that is inherently part of human nature and thus cannot be explained. And yet social behavior indicates that society is consumed by a culture of self-loathing. Self-loathing ignites the desire for perfection and this, in turn, results in narcissism. Yet there is a distinction between the narcissism associated with DGS and the self-respect which denotes a healthy self-love. The ability to love oneself is a sign of self-respect as well as the admission that life is precious, and it is necessary in order to love others.

In this dog-eat-dog world, society teaches us to look out for ourselves. And so we have developed self-preservation tactics, which exclude the unconditional and selfless nature of love, and embrace narcissistic values at the expense of other people.

8 Ways of treatment

Years change not only our views and believes but also appearance. Throughout years our lifestyle, circumstances, problems and dilemmas we are facing form the way we look. Wrinkles on our faces can tell many interesting things about us. Optimistic and smiling people usually have light lines near the eyes. Firm wrinkle on a bridge of the nose tells that a gloomy man is in front of us. There are many other face expressions that can tell us different things about ourselves and people around us. Only babies have smooth skin. Well, their minds are not spoiled yet. Difficult situations, misfortunes, anxiety leave marks on our faces. We cannot avoid it, however we can slow down the aging processes.

Plastic surgery is not the only way to save the beauty and youth. Dr. Robertson from Trinity College in Dublin, Oscar Wilde’s alma-mater, says that there are seven major factors that influence the way we look and the number of years we could live. Doing sports, interesting job, good education, absence of stress, friends and active social life all together accompanied with healthy diet and optimism are the key to the healthy long life.

Michael Marmot, a professor from London, proposed an interesting theory. He believes that the number of years a particular man can live is proportional to his social status. Therefore socialization and self-development is as much important as doing sports.

Nevertheless, many seniors still say that the secret of long life is optimism. They are sure, that all kinds of solutions are useless without it. All the same, every age has its advantages. Just don’t be late to understand it, because the time is running out.

9 Conclusion

Modern society is in pursuit of youth. Not only elderly people are trying to change their appearance, but even teens. Plastic surgery became extremely popular. It truly became a panacea. If adults, mostly women, are not satisfied with weight and age, which seems reasonable enough to do surgery, teens change their noses and ears with no reason, they just don’t like how it looks. Sometimes their reason could be as crazy as to be like a favorite singer, actor or actress. Adults and elderly people want to look younger not just a bit but a lot, which is impossible. Nobody could be forever young. Plastic surgery should be used only in exceptional or emergency situations. For instance, a boy had been bitten by a dog so bad, that he had lost his ear. This way the plastic surgery could be an only way to improve boy’s appearance. Cosmetics are used in excessive amounts too. Fashion became a teen malady, girls in particular. People are ready to spent thousands of dollars to buy latest trends, put tons of cosmetics on their faces, do twentieth surgery plastic surgery... It’s absurd! People are tremendously obsessed with the way they look. It became a disorder. Dorian Gray Syndrome is tightly connected with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is a serious psychological problem. Plastic surgery as well as cosmetic industry became a big business like fashion industry. Although media has its huge impact on this trend, it’s not fair to blame it for that. We need to understand that the way we look is God’s will and gift. We need to teach our children to be proud of their appearance. It’s impossible to stay young forever. Time is an unbeatable rival we will never be able to conquer.

10 Credits

Author of this project would like to thank his supervisor, who helped him with this project.

Thanks to different bloggers, whose posts the author and his supervisor had read and later used to write this project.

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