Picture Of Dorian Gray Essay, Research Paper

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.

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