Oscar Wide s The Picture Of Dorian Gray - 914 Words

Oscar Wide’s The Picture of Dorian Gray illustrates Basil Hallward’s portrait as a primary catalyst for the fluctuating personality of Dorian Gray. As Dorian gazes at the portrait of himself, he is upset that even though he will continue to age and wrinkle, the portrait will always remain young, beautiful and unaltered. Upon multiple readings of The Picture of Dorian Gray deconstructive textual analysis suggests that there are always new interpretations of the image of the painting. â€Å"Ultimately, a text’s meaning is undecidable because each reading or rereading can elicit different interpretations† (Bressler pg 126). However, deconstructive textual analysis of the painting still infers that the painting not only resembles†¦show more content†¦However, his protective attitude is brought up due to obsession and attraction towards Dorian as his sole inspiration. Basil displays this quality when he quotes â€Å"Because, without intending it, I have put into it some expression of all this curious artistic idolatry† (Wilde pg.14) when Lord Henry asks why Basil is reluctant to exhibit his artwork. This entails a homoerotic connection between Basil and his artwork because of his sexual fascination towards his muse, Dorian. It is profoundly represented when Basil beseechingly confesses his adoration to Dorian;  "I wanted to have you all to myself†¦.†(Wilde pg 110) in order to calm down Dorian and continue painting him. The inspiration of Basil’s art was found through his fascination of Dorian because of his youth and beauty. The purpose of all artwork is to capture the beauty and elegance of an idea and present it through images or sound. The portrait of Dorian was signifier of beauty derived from the youth and physical features of Dorian, which stimulated Basil’s inspiration. Although beauty is subjective to eye of the holder, there are always agreements in nature of what is conceived to be beautiful compared to what isn’t. However, Wilde argues, â€Å"All art is quite useless† (Wilde pg 5) signifying the purpose of art is to have no purpose which is transcribed from the sequence of epigrams in the preface in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Basil’s sense of