Basel and Lord Henry's Influence on Dorian Anonymous 11th Grade

In Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the concept of influence is clearly reflected in two different characters and in two different forms, and juxtaposes them though the main character and his reaction to the two clashing ideologies projected upon him throughout the novel. The Picture of Dorian Gray, first published in 1890 by renowned author Oscar Wilde follows the protagonist, young and incredibly beautiful Dorian Gray through the life stages of young adulthood and culminates as he matures into adulthood at the end of the novel. The novel is a manifestation of Wilde's own ideas and attitudes of the time, his admiration of art and expression, while at the same time rejecting a great deal of art and expression, generating a complex personal stance at the concept and a supremacy complex, projected into the character of Dorian Gray. Through Wilde's own attitudes and experiences, the character of Dorian comes to life and is used as a tool to broadcast his ideas into the world. The book encompasses as well as rejects many values of the upper class Victorian society from which it stems, such as the importance of art and supremacy of youth, however rejecting the strict religious beliefs of the time and the notion of...