The Battle of Good and Evil in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Abstract

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel published by Oscar Wilde. The novel is considered to be one of the most controversial literary works of the 19th century. In his novel Wilde uses his three main characters to reflect the battle of good and evil that exists in every man. The conflict of choosing between good and evil exists in every human with free will. This essay explores how the battle between good and evil is represented in the characters of Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray. It also discusses how Dorian Gray represents the everyman that deals with the battle of having to pick a position between good and evil. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a story about the spiritual journey of Dorian Gray, a beautiful young man tempted by the concept of eternal youth and beauty. Wilde uses personal experience and different literary themes to create his novel. In the novel there are elements of gothic fiction, aestheticism and the Faustian bargain. Faust and The Picture of Dorian Gray have many similarities, both in the structure of the stories, as well as in themes and plot. This essay looks at the similarities and differences between the corresponding representatives of good and evil, Lord Henry and Mephistopheles, Basil, the Lord and the three angels and Dorian Gray and Faust. This essay explores how Wilde uses the similarities and differences to Goethe’s Faust and the Book of Genesis from the Old Testament to add emphasis to the moral opposites of good and evil in his novel.