An Exploration of Literary Techniques in The Picture of Dorian Gray

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the literary techniques employed in Oscar Wilde's novel, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray.' The analysis focuses on the use of metaphors, similes, irony, and foreshadowing, demonstrating how these devices contribute to the novel's themes of beauty, morality, and the consequences of a life devoted to superficiality. The essay explores the connection between the novel and the Aestheticism movement. The essay also examines the characters of Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward, and Lord Henry Wotton, and how their interactions and perspectives shape the narrative. The essay further highlights the novel's Faustian elements and its enduring appeal. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the literary techniques to fully appreciate the novel's complexity and message. The essay references the work of various scholars to support its arguments. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform providing resources for students.

Running head: LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
ANALYSIS OF LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
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1LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a novel written by Oscar Wilde that is rich in literary
techniques. This is the only novel of Wilde and in that, he has revealed the beauty of English
language with metaphors, similes, irony and foreshadowing. The narrative technique that has
been used in the novel clearly describes the association of the author with the literary and artistic
movement of Aestheticism (Ariyanto 2015). The paper highlights the witty use of the literary
techniques, rhetorical devices and dialogues that help the readers to perceive the meaning of the
novel in a lucid manner.
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” first came out in the year 1891 and still continues to amaze
people with its complex theme. The main theme of the novel is that when people try to evaluate
physical beauty and charm more than the morals and ethical values, they suffer greatly in life, as
they have to pay a huge price for it. The novel focuses on three main characters Dorian Gray,
Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. They all place more value on outside beauty and are
obsessed with it. The plot revolves around the painting of Dorian Gray that was created by Basil
Hallward, a good friend of Gray who was a painter. Gray is a handsome, young man whose life
turns completely over because of the painting. He rashly makes a wish of staying young, healthy
and handsome forever and to his surprise, the wish does come true. Gray says, “If only I would
remain young while the portrait grows old. I would give my soul for that!” (Wilde 2003). He
discovers that he is still the same good-looking young man after years while his painting has
become grotesque. The monstrous face of Gray in the painting is the symbol of the corrupt soul
of Dorian Gray. He uses many conative words like “reverie”, “unconscious” to have a hypnotic
effect on the reader. The plot is similar to the legend of Faust where the devil persuades a
German necromancer to exchange his soul for all his desires of power and knowledge (Dita
2019). The Faustian character can escape from this deal by asking forgiveness from God

2LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
however, he feels that his actions are unpardonable and delves into it deeply (Drumova 2015).
The only difference is that the Faustian character successfully redeems himself while Gray fails
to do so. Thus, the theme of the Faustian legend and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is similar in
terms of the message that is portrayed.
Even after so many years of publication, the book has not lost its appeal. The interesting
plot, witty presentation of the characters coupled with the clever use of the literary techniques
makes this novel a masterpiece. The literary techniques add vividness and humor to the novel.
There is ample usage of metaphors, similes, parallelism and personification throughout the text
that helps the reader dive into understanding the psychology of the characters and the message of
the novel (Veale, Shutova and Klebanov 2016). There is heavy usage of metaphors in the book.
The author writes, “It was a poisonous book” where he refers to the effect of the book that took
away the innocence of Gray. The book is compared to a poison due to its toxic effect on the
simple mind of Gray. Another sentence like “The heavy odor of incense seemed to cling about
its pages and to trouble the brain” gives the feeling that the book has the effect of a drug on
Gray. In another instance of the usage of metaphor to bring out the character of Gray, the author
uses the character of Lord henry and writes, “Mr. Gray, you yourself, with your rose-red youth
and your rose-white boyhood, you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that
have fined you with terror, day-dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain
your cheek with shame” (Wilde 2003). In this line, there is a comparison of youth to a red rose to
suggest its freshness and boyhood to white rose to suggest its purity. Such use of metaphors
make the language more vivid and attractive to the readers.
There is usage of similes in the novel that makes it more aesthetic in approach to the
readers. When Dorian explains his encounter with Sybil, he compares her beauty to “a white

3LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
narcissus”. In Greek Mythology, Narcissus is incredibly beautiful and this suggests that Sybil is
not only gorgeous but has a pure heart too. This shows the love that Dorian felt for Sybil, which
brings out the positive side of the character. The author has also used irony to bring out the
central theme of the novel. The lines “Perhaps one never seems so much at one’s ease as when
one has to play a part. Certainly no one looking at Dorian Gray that night could have believed
that he had passed through a tragedy as any tragedy of our age” is an ironic one. The line is
ironic because Gray had committed severe crime by murdering Basil that night and had caused
the worst tragedy of all than other tragedies of people. The author has used the literary element
of foreshadowing too in the novel. “He was walking home about eleven o’clock from Lord
Henry’s, where he had been dining, and was wrapped in heavy furs, as the night was cold and
foggy” (Wilde 2003). This description of weather foreshadows a terrible incident that is going to
occur that is the murder of Basil at the hands of Gray. Therefore, such use of language and
literary devices brings out the theme of the novel in an extremely compelling manner.
Thus, the use of the literary devices like the metaphors, similes, foreshadowing and irony
bring out the central theme of the novel that resonates with the theme of the Faustian legend.
Both the gothic novels portray the message that it is impossible to escape the consequences of
one’s actions morally and that the purity of one’s soul is more important than physical beauty.

4LITERARY TECHNIQUES IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
References
Ariyanto, I.S., 2015. The Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Genetic
Structuralism Analysis.
Dita, P.D., 2019. A Late Victorian Interference of Genres: Aestheticism Reshaping the Faust
Myth in the Picture of Dorian Gray. Humanitas-Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 7(14),
pp.337-357.
Drumova, V., 2015. The Picture Of Dorian Gray: Eternal Themes Of Morality, Beauty And
False Values Through Centuries. Thesis Unpublished. Estonia: University of Tartu.
Veale, T., Shutova, E. and Klebanov, B.B., 2016. Metaphor: A computational
perspective. Synthesis Lectures on Human Language Technologies, 9(1), pp.1-160.
Wilde, O., 2003. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1891. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, 3,
pp.165-357.