Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Wilde began and ended his novel with the concept of art. The portrait that perfectly depicted Dorian’s youthful appearance was given to him in the first chapter and destroyed in the last. Therefore the purpose of art and the imitation of life was a theme that spanned the entire story. Dorian’s struggle with beauty combined with the issue of morality was illustrated through his actions and his relationships with his friends. In a way, he was art. Dorian remained the same, young and unblemished, for years while his picture mirrored his sins. He never let others see his true personality and the one person that did paid for it with his life.

In a like manner Sybil Vane, Dorian’s only love interest, represented art too. She died young and beautiful, forever immortalised in her seventeen year old body. The world would only remember her as the actress on stage that brought to life characters from Shakespearean plays, including Dorian. Dorian only saw her as Art, a living embodiment of what it was to walk in the shoes of characters known to him on a page and brought forth in the theatre. He saw her through the lens of an artist, not a lover. This theme was important because it recognised the influence Aestheticism had on Wilde’s work.