The ideals of beauty have always changed depending on its time period. The novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is set in the 19th century during the Aesthetic Movement in Victorian London. In contrast with other eras, the Aesthetic movement defines beauty as much higher than others. The movement threatened to dismantle earlier Victorian tradition. This is important because it allows readers to see that the movement opposed ideals of the Victorian Era such as sexual restraint, hardworking, and honesty. The Aesthetic movement centered around the doctrine that art existed for art’s sake, the belief that everything has no other purposes other than its beauty. These ideologies began to develop through the characterization of Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry is a rich individual who speaks to others about his interesting theories, emphasizes the importance of youth and places beauty above all else. Because he continually talks about his beliefs, it is inevitable that Dorian Gray adopts Lord Henry's standards of self beauty and pleasure. Dorian Gray has lives a roughly easy and innocent life. However, he comes across different people who has strong beliefs. Because of this, he commits actions with a goal of maintaining youth, but at what cost? The shared characteristic of placing self pleasure over moral values of the people within the Aesthetic movement can be represented by Dorian Gray and Lord Henry’s characteristics in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Lord Henry’s characterization is developed through his interactions with people around him and his philosophies on life. Unlike other main characters, Lord Henry is more of a static character. Therefore, it is easier to infer and determine much of his characteristics. In the beginning of the novel, Lord Henry is already established as an strong influential person because of how his philosophies have changed Dorian so fast. His philosophies can be described as hedonistic because of its emphasis on personal pleasure. The readers are introduced to Lord Henry’s philosophies fairly early on in the novel as Henry converses with Dorian about “one of the great secrets of life”(Wilde 32), which is “nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”(32). Since Lord Henry believes that pleasure, the senses, can cure anything, even the soul itself. Similar to the people of the Aesthetic Movement, the ideals and philosophies are the exact opposite of the Victorian characteristics where people strived to be honest and stray away from sin. Therefore, this represents the ideals of the Aesthetic Movement. Another aspect of the Aesthetic Movement, as mentioned before, is that people neglected moral conscience for beauty and youth. Since Lord Henry is a static character, this aspect can be seen through Lord Henry in the end of the novel as well. However, he does not only talk to Dorian about his hedonistic philosophies but to people he is around. Lord Henry begins to move to the importance of beauty instead of pleasure. He begins to say that “it is better to be beautiful than to be good. But… it is better to be good than to be ugly”(223). The meaning behind this is that beauty is more important than meeting moral standard(good). Furthermore, moral values are neglected, which is an aspect that was pushed within the Aestheticism movement. Beauty of not only of outer appearance but also that of art, literature, and fashion was stressed. Since more people were less concerned about others morality, it would be said that beauty was better than moral goodness, said by Lord Henry. Lord Henry represents the Aestheticism ideals through his many, similar theories throughout the novel.
Just like Lord Henry, Dorian also represents the Aesthetic Movement but instead of through his defining characteristics, it is through his action. In contrast to Lord Henry however, Dorian can be seen as a round character because of his drastic change. Although Dorian’s character changes and develops rather quickly in the novel, the reader is still able to know his characteristics before the shift. As Dorian continues to listen to Lord Henry and his philosophies, he begins to adopt many of the Aestheticism Movement ideals. Furthermore, before Dorian’s character shift, he is seen to have “a simple and beautiful nature”(16) and how he has “all the youth’s passionate purity”(18). These characteristics are similar to the Victorian Era which contrast the Aestheticism Movement, where Dorian is seen to neglect the ideals of the Victorian era and develop that of the Aesthetic Movement. This is important because similarly to Dorian, the Aesthetic Movement also shifts to contrast and threaten Victorian ideals and tradition. In addition, Dorian’s actions will also reflect the Aesthetic Movement as he becomes influenced by Lord Henry. As the novel progresses, the reader is able to see that Dorian commits actions that are very much sinful. However, he neglects it because he has his youth. There was no point in thinking about his sins because “why should he watch the hideous corruption of his soul? He kept his youth-that was enough”(125). Dorian places his youth and beauty above all else, even if it means his soul is rotting. He commits actions against his morality which then contrasts Victorian ideals. His actions of neglecting sin is similar to the Aesthetic Movement. Moreover, this is why he represents the ideals and characteristics of the movement.
Dorian Gray and Lord Henry share much of the characteristics of the people within the Aesthetic Movement, which shows how they represent them in the novel. The ideals of the movement are emphasized in the novel from Lord Henry’s philosophy to Dorian’s shift in character. Lord Henry’s theories reflect much of the ideologies within the people in the moment. The importance of beauty is further emphasized. Dorian’s change is very much like the shift in ideologies between the Victorian Era and the Aesthetic Movement. The similarities highlight the ideals that the people had and can be compared to other eras. Different time periods have always had changing effects of not just on its own period but others as well.