Individualism In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Purity of nature or soul is not a characteristic inherent to the feminine in the Victorian novel. A famous masculine candidate to the title of ‘pure and innocent being’ can be found in
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. In fact, the protagonist, Dorian Gray himself, is idealised by the painter Basil Hallward for his “simple and … beautiful nature” (Wilde, 16).
He is a muse who inspires him with his “passion of the romantic spirit, […] and perfection of the spirit that is Greek” (Wilde, 12-3). He is also depicted as being “wonderfully handsome, with his finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair” (Wilde, 17) and holding a boyish innocence “unspotted from the [modern] world” (Wilde, 17), which draws
Lord Henry’s attention. Indeed, Dorian detains a

The only problem is, he appears to be quite a hypocrite and inconsistent when it comes to his own code. Either he does not understand the precepts of Individualism as Wilde does – “Individualism exercises no compulsion over man,
… it knows that people are good when they are let alone” (Wilde, Soul 49); “the true personality of man will not be measured by material things” (Wilde, Soul 27); – or he does not
Sabrina Tschanz 9 believe a word he says (Wilde, 11) as Hallward suggests, and therefore it remains a “cynical pose” (Wilde, 8) or a mere theory meant to be tested, preferably on someone innocent and impressible, like Dorian. His conception of good and bad is equally inconsistent: “To be good is to be in harmony with one’s self” (Wilde, 67), an open theory that gives credit to all sorts of behaviours as long as they coincide with one’s nature. However, being the one who initiates
Dorian’s fall, Henry’s behaviour can only be regarded as utterly bad. His presence at Dorian’s side when he unconsciously sells his soul in a devil’s bargain with the picture (Wilde,