FREE ESSAY ON THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

Art, what is Art? It is an ambiguous matter: without an exact form, an exact meaning. Does
it have any rules or restrictions? However, it can be a great influence on the lives of
people. In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, two lovers have fell in and out of love
due to Art! 
Dorian Gray found Sibyl charming because of her Art! ??She has not merely art, consummate
art-instinct in her, but she has personality also; and you have often told me that it is
personalities, not principles, that move the age?? (63). Sibyl is an actress. She is
formed by others: no self is without external influence. Therefore, Art that expresses
the self is less valuable than art which expresses the influence of others. The special
thing that made Dorian mad about her is that she is more than an individual. ??I (Dorian)
have seen her in every age and in every costume. Ordinary women never appeal to one??s
imagination. No glamour ever transfigures them?? (59). By imagination that Sibyl has the
power to arouse, she can be of any characteristics. 
Art has no set form, but the purpose of art is to give form to feeling. Now, Sibyl is a
person that is able to provide all kinds of feelings that Dorian wishes to experience.
Dorian finds extreme pleasure in experiencing through all the sentiments that Sibyl
gives. Being a spectator to the different lives and stories amuses Dorian: one evening
Sibyl is Juliet, next evening she is Imogen, another night, she is Roselind. 
Art is something that arouse imaginations, imaginations of the viewer. In order for
imagination to live, reality must not exist. ??She regarded me merely as a person in a
play. She knows nothing of life?? (61). Art is not ??real??, or, rather, it forms its own
type of reality, its own world. ???Kbefore I knew you (Dorian), acting was the one
reality of my life. It was only in the theatre that I lived. I thought that it was all
true?? (95). Before Sibyl fell in love with Dorian, she lives in a world or Art, a world
of imaginations. That great pureness of Art is so powerful that she can spiritualize her
audiences, and give them a soul if they lived without one, create the sense of beauty in
people whose lives have been sordid and ugly. Art has the power to bring people into a
place where they have not been, or a place that they don??t have the opportunity to go to
in the reality. Dorian has realized, ??I love acting. It is so much more real than life??
(88). Real life is so limited as to in acting, a man can live any scene that he can
possibly think of. 
Dorian??s rejection of Sibyl came upon one night that Sibyl has lost her magic. A night
that her acting lost the power to attract and charm the audiences. ??Good artists exist
simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are??
(64). That night, ??she spoke the words as though they conveyed no meaning to her?Kshe
was absolutely self-contained. It was simply bad art. She was a complete failure?? (93).
Sibyl has become herself! She has gotten out of the world of imagination into the real
world, into what she is, herself! 
Sibyl??s mind is occupied by Dorian. ??You are more to me than all art can ever be??
(96). Now, all the wonderful influences that Sibyl had, have been wiped out, but the
influence of Dorian Gray. She tried to show Dorian of her love for him, but as the author
of the book mentioned in the Preface, ??No artist desires to prove anything.?? Sibyl is
no longer an artist. There is no more imagination for she is ??a?? person, an individual
now, a ??Sibyl?? that is in love with Dorian, and Dorian only. There is no more curiosity
that Dorian can have of her. 
??You have killed my love?? (96). Dorian didn??t loved ??Sibyl,?? he loves Art! ??How
little you can know of love, if you say it mars your art! Without your art you are
nothing?? (97). Anything without Art is plain to Dorian. Dorian??s philosophy of Romance
is consist of infinite imaginations, beauty, personality, and attraction of curiosity,
--which is Art. 
Dorian have found so much imaginations to Sibyl as she acted in Shakespare??s play, but
how come he could not or would not think or indulge himself one second to imagination of
his love story? Is it because as Basil Hallward, a great artist that have painted a
portrait of Dorian Gray, said, ??An artist should create beautiful things, but should put
nothing of his own life into them?? (19). 
Dorian Gray founded Sibyl as a beautiful creature, but he put nothing of his own life
into her. The one who Sibyl fell in love to, is ??Prince Charming.?? It is only the life
of Sibyl that is heard of from their ??love affair??. Dorian never really participated,
he was only a spectator. After Sybil lives in the real world, Prince Charming is killed
in the world of imagination. ??Art for art??s sake,?? after Art is vanished, the
relationship is over.