Chris Adams
Stories (8/0)
Blanche Dubois & Dorian Gray – A Love Affair Carved From Illusion
Blanche Dubois – a ruined Antebellum with the incapability to separate realism from her fantasy world of candlelight and magic. Dorian Gray – a beautiful, yet self destructive narcissist, caught between the realities of time and the grotesque salvation of his portrait. Both consumed in the mad pursuit of maintaining their youth and beauty, both damned to fail.
By Chris Adams3 years ago in Geeks
The Effect of Self-Perception on the Conflict Between Illusion and Reality Pt.2
Dorian’s acceptance of his new self-perception is displayed through his actions and desires; because his identity is rooted within the illusions of beauty, he falls for Sybil Vane, failing to realize the truth; to him, “she was always a dream, a phantom that flitted through Shakespeare’s plays” (106-107). He loved the idea of Sybil, not the reality of her, showing how one’s self-image can cause an individual to accept an illusion as actuality. Once Sybil truly fell in love with Dorian, she was unable to uphold the very illusion her “prince charming” admired, and so Dorian, obsessed with his own self-perception as an aesthete, addressed the conflict between his ideal and the reality by breaking Sybil’s heart. This action, however, failed to resolve the tension—instead, it led to Sybil’s death by suicide, demonstrating how when identity is the factor inhibiting an individual from resolving a conflict, attempting to preserve one’s own view of themselves may cause them to act cruelly. Though Sybil’s death does cause Dorian’s self-perception to falter momentarily—when he calls her death “terrible”—Lord Henry’s sway over Dorian’s identity results in him admitting “that this thing that has happened does not affect [him] as it should” and instead it seemed “to [him] to be simply like a wonderful ending to a wonderful play” (104). Dorian’s unsympathetic response to the death of someone he once claimed to have loved reveals the dichotomy between Dorian’s perfectly tragic illusion and the heartless superficiality of his reality; through this contrariety, Wilde highlights Dorian’s increasing levels of corruption as he begins to self-identify more with the illusions of beauty and youth, going so far as to suppress the true gravity of his actions in order to perpetuate the ideals. Dorian continues to indulge in his illusions by going to “opium dens where one could buy oblivion, dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new”—he hungers for novel stimulus, because “curing his soul by the means of the senses” (193) would prevent the reality of his immoral actions from affecting him. Essentially, Dorian seeks reprieve from his undesirable reality by reinforcing his own fantasies, thereby embedding his self-perception entirely into his hedonistic ideals. Ironically, this serves to amplify the conflict between his illusions and reality by further dividing the two.
By Chris Adams3 years ago in Geeks
Dorian Gray
When Basil Hallward is informed that Dorian will wed Sybil, a “little actress”, he replies as such: “But think of Dorian’s birth, and position, and wealth. It would be absurd for him to marry so much beneath him.” Basil’s reply is an appeal to the reader’s logos as it was a social construct for individuals to marry another of the same social status. Basil’s response to Dorian’s engagement is logical because Dorian and Sybil’s romance is parallel to Dorian’s mother and father’s relationship. Pointedly, Dorian’s mother was high class and rich (like Dorian) while Dorian’s father was low class and poor (like Sybil). Due to this parallel, Basil’s argument is foreshadowing how society will not approve of their marriage and therefore decimate it – as was what had happened to Dorian’s parents.
By Chris Adams3 years ago in Geeks
Innocence
Note: this is not a critical essay (I’ve used ‘I’s and ‘I think’, and my lack of 2 out of 5 paragraphs), but rather me trying to better understand the psychology of the author through the story that he had created. Of course I can always add more and make it a proper polished critical essay. However if I may request something of the reader who wishes to comment it is this: I’d like for you to tell me how I did on that ‘matter’ section of things, ‘significance of it all’, because that is something I find that we all struggle with the most is explaining the human condition and which aspects of it writers are explaining and developing in their literary works. And feel free to point out any and every mistake I’ve made.
By Chris Adams3 years ago in Geeks
Admiration Or Obsession's
The Shakespeare Company with Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth’s production of Julius Caesar on September 27th, 2017 was a brilliant interpretation of Shakespeare’s classics which captured the inconsistency of an obsessive mob mentality. This to say, if the Roman public had been free-thinking they would not have been so easily swayed to form mobs for and against Caesar. The play’s production allowed for many moments of analytical appreciation for curious minds with aspects such as the symbolic use of blood to the irony of having an omnipotent Caesar in the background throughout the duration of the play. Audience members were left with plenty to ponder upon; however, the aspect of the play which I found most integral when transitioned from text to stage was the arch of the Roman citizens’ outlook on Caesar as it brought forth the notion of admiration versus obsession.
By Chris Adams3 years ago in Geeks
The Effect of Self-Perception on the Conflict Between Illusion and Reality Pt.1
Illusions are generally viewed as the quintessence of escapism; through the creation of false ideals, one may find the motivation to alter an undesirable reality. An individual’s self-perception, or, identity, is responsible for the creation of these discrepancies between one’s illusion—that is, the perceived truth embedded in their idyllic concept of the world—and the reality of their existence. If an individual is unable to reconcile the conflict between ideals and reality, however, then said self-perception—and therefore, the illusion—must be altered to meet the truth of one’s existence. Otherwise, the individual will remain trapped within the duplicity created by the split in self-image, and thus be unable to create a meaningful identity. This is what occurs to the titular character in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. As Dorian’s self-perception changes due to the influence of those around him, his adopted illusion of class, wealth, and beauty diverges from the reality of his immoral actions, creating two distinct personas. Dorian’s attempt to hide the corruption of his soul under his ideals of hedonism results in paranoia and unfulfillment, ultimately leading to his death. Through Dorian’s undoing, Wilde demonstrates that self-perception, when responsible for the creation of illusions which do not match with one’s reality, will hinder an individual’s ability to lead a fulfilling existence; this is portrayed in the novel through Dorian’s changed identity, the creation of ideals that conflict with his actions, and his subsequent descent into corruption. In other words, because Dorian’s self-perception was rooted solely within his illusions, he was unable to perceive the truth of his actuality. As a consequence of this conflict remaining unreconciled, Dorian lost the opportunity to create a more stable identity, one rooted within his reality instead of deceptive illusions.
By Chris Adams3 years ago in Geeks
Duplicity
It has been widely argued that there is no moral component in art, that the artist has no responsibility to maintain a source of ethics within their art – the foundation for all art, as stated in the Aesthetic Movement, is to simply be art. “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors,” (Wilde, 4), however, it is through this idea itself, the fact that the art is reflective of the spectator, that an artist must be willing to be held accountable for the consequences of their art. Within this, a sense of duality is created as evident through Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and the use of duplicity in character and setting as unintentional subtle “reflections” of the “spectators” of the Victorian era.
By Chris Adams3 years ago in Geeks