An essay on common exam question of comparing the exploration of moral boundaries in Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' from a current university student that achieved an A* in English Literature A level by memorising the material in this essay laid out in an ea...
Essay Plan: Compare the ways in which the writers of your two texts present the
transgressions of moral boundaries in the two texts.
1) DG – Dorian and Henry meeting
2) Drac – Jonathan’s journey, Dracula as the Devil
3) DG – Portrait changing, Dorian’s demise
4) Drac – Women
Introduction:
Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ are gothic
works of literature born out of a changing face of Fin-de-siecle Victorian London and
some of the increasingly feminist, atheist and scientific beliefs that were emerging,
challenging traditional moral boundaries.
Context: Nevertheless, strict moral codes were still prevalent in Britain under Queen
Victoria’s stringent rule.
‘Dracula’ is an epistolary novel more overt in its moralising and reinforcement of
traditional boundaries through the morally good Christian characters who
successfully manage to defeat the supernatural evil of Dracula.
Meanwhile, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is ambivalent in terms of morality and
message, as the eponymous character falls from grace and disregards moral, rational
thought and behaviours that would be seen as socially acceptable at the time.
Point one:
From the outset of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ Wilde subtly employs a religious
motif to foreshadow his protagonist’s descent into immorality.
The visceral descriptions of Basil Hallward’s studio with a “rich odour of roses” and
“the heavy scent of lilac,” conjure up a heavenly image paralleling Garden of Eden
from the Bible (context).
Similarly, Wilde also uses naturalistic imagery to describe Dorian Gray with his “rose
white boyhood.” The colour symbolism of “white” emphasises the pure state young
Dorian is in, which is soon to be tainted by the Mephistophelean Lord Henry when
he encourages him to use his appearance to his advantage.
Lord Henry entices Dorian with “the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to
it,” infiltrating Dorian’s purity with his amoral worldview rooted in hedonism, the
pursuit of pleasure, which acts as a counterculture to pious Victorian society that
repressed inappropriate desires.
Context: In addition, Lord Henry and Dorian’s first meeting subverts the Biblical story
of the Fall of Man, as Lord Henry seems to be posited as the Devil disguised as a
serpent to tempt Eve to sin against God by eating the forbidden fruit.
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