Cautionary Tale of the Picture of Dorian Gray: Parable and Autobiography
Cautionary Tale of the Picture of Dorian Gray: Parable and Autobiography

Summary/Abstract: Current research paper performs focused textual analysis of themes and characters of the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde intertwining the study with pertinent references to details of the author’s biography thus providing essential critical insights. Peculiarity of the paper lays with it considering the novel to encompass two distinct juxtaposed genres: an autobiography (decadent values) and a parable (moral values). By synthetically combining them, the author at the same time conveys superiority of idealized artistic aesthetic worldview of reality (at times superseding conventional morality) while reinforcing fundamental if naïve good nature of humanity with both of them engaged in (endless) struggle for the reader’s soul against the suffocating reality of hypocritical society.

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