As I started reading Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, I noticed something that seemed quite familiar to me. I noticed that the character of Dorian Gray had many similarities to Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. The two characters seem to be quite similar with many similar things that happen to them. When you look at the two side by side, it is evident they are parallel to each other.
When I began reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, it honestly was not what I assumed it would be. As I started it seemed to be about a man who was highly desired and highly thought of who found love. Then came the death and murder and my perspective was completely changed. I soon realized that this novel was much darker than I first thought. Dorian fell in love with Sibyl Vane, an actress who loses her acting abilities once she falls in love with Dorian. Sibyl is then murdered, and some believe Dorian was the murderer. This is when Dorian Gray’s downfall begins.
Dorian Gray starts as a man who was thought highly of. He was adored and thought of as an amazing man. He was like the ideal man. He then began to experience his downfall. The thing that Dorian Gray and Jay Gatsby have in common is the way people see them as this perfect representation of a person, “Indeed, there were many, especially among the very young men, who saw, or fancied that they saw, in Dorian Gray the true realization of a type of which they had often dreamed in Eton or Oxford days, a type that was to combine something of the real culture of the scholar with all the grace and distinction and perfect manner of a citizen of the world,” (Wilde 82). People saw Dorian Gray as a perfect human, until his downfall.
I saw the same to be true with Jay Gatsby. He was an enigma. He was everything to Nick Carraway, his new friend. Gatsby ends up dying at the end of his novel as well due to his own downfalls, just as Dorian Gray. Gatsby is killed by a man named George. George’s wife was sleeping with Tom, Daisy’s fiance. Tom tells George that Jay Gatsby killed his wife, even though that was not exactly the case. Gatsby had everything in life except Daisy, and getting that killed him. The two men start as, as some would put it, “exceptional” human beings. They then allow their own downfalls to take the lead which causes their deaths.
This text works with how a man went from being extremely well-respected, to having this downward spiral leading to his inevitable death. I would like to propose a question. Was Dorian Gray’s death inevitable? I asked myself the same question when I read The Great Gatsby. Is it inevitable that these two men who had everything ended up with nothing? Dorian Gray had everything until his mental state got the best of him. Is this inevitable? Could that be the universe evening out what was thought of as a highly respected being? Maybe that was Wilde saying that you cannot have everything until you give as well. Dorian was seen as a young and beautiful until he finally cracked. Once he broke down and stabbed the painting, or himself, he was no longer seen as a young gorgeous man. He was his age finally.
I believe that the hermeneutic code is expressed here. According to Silverman’s The Subject of Semiotics, “The hermeneutic code inscribes the desire for closure and ‘truth,’” (Silverman 258). The hermeneutic code is about things that are presented as mysterious and how the mystery gets resolvedunexplained. They make the readers ask questions about what is to happen. It is the mystery of the story. The entire downfall of Dorian Gray is a mystery. The entire novel raises numerous questions that are unable to be answered.
The novel is based around how Dorian Gray has his downward spiral. This symbolizes the way nature takes its course. Dorian could not be young and beautiful forever. Something had to happen that made the world even out in a way. It represents that everything, even beauty, comes to an end. Dorian Gray could not stay young and beautiful forever, his mental health changed that. Jay Gatsby could not get everything he wanted, Tom’s lie changed that. Not everything can last forever and one person cannot have the whole world.
A Little Bookish 
Rachel, this was such a well-written blog! I especially loved the closing paragraph- it seemed very powerful to me when you compared Dorian’s downfall to nature taking its course, and reminding us that everything comes to an end. One question I have, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Sibyl’s death was a suicide? It could just be a small mistake though. I liked how you continued using the Great Gatsby that I wrote about in blog 2 to dive more into the connections- I really thought they were so similar. I think you could elaborate a little bit more on the hermeneutic code, and connect it to a situation from the novel. Otherwise, great job!
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I have never read The Great Gatsby. I also assumed this book was going to be different. I too believe that Dorian Gray’s downfall was a mystery. Dorian Gray turned evil and ugly after being such a gorgeous man. Why did he think outer beauty mattered more than his inner beauty? I liked when you said, “Not everything can last forever and one person cannot have the whole world.” This is a very accurate statement.
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