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The Controversy In The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

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Lord Henry is known as the person that turns an innocent boy named Dorian Gray into a cruel vile murderer. Some of the comments stated by Lord Henry are seen as cynical however there is controversy on whether or not he truly means these statements or rather they are just for effect on the story. I believe Lord Henry doesn’t mean these comments completely based on his actions in the book. The author of the book The Picture of Dorian Gray was Oscar Wilde. Wilde was known as a very eccentric kind of fellow. He could draw attention from an entire room just because of his deep calming voice. However some of his tastes were very peculiar. Later in his life Wilde began to go out more and hide things from his wife. It came to be known that Wilde was having an affair, but not with another woman, it was with young children and other men. This was a crime in England at the time so Wilde was imprisoned. Wilde would eventually pass in a run …show more content…

Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed. (Wilde, 91)”. This quote states that marriage must be the most atrocious thing in the world. However Lord Henry is in fact married and shows no intentions of terminating it. Also he doesn’t state what an alternative is to become happy. If Lord Henry is not happy in his marriage why does he not try and pursue his happiness somewhere else.

Nextly Lord Henry said "I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world. (Wilde, 19).” Lord Henry states that rather than surround himself with high morality people he would much rather be with people with no principles. However in the story he surrounds himself with upper class people, with high morality and who see themselves above others. He occasionally goes out to the slums to bars and opium smoke houses, but he always comes back to his mansion with his wife with high

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