Dorian Gray Overview
The fiction world is filled with characters, some that are likable, while others are not. Some characters show maturity while others remain detained in a certain phase of development. Applying a psychological or psychoanalytical perspective to Dorian Gray can give us quite the insight into what type of character he really is.
In the story of The Picture of Dorian Gray, his major conflict is having promised his soul in order to live a life of perpetual youth and trying to reconcile himself to the bodily decay and dissipation that is recorded in his portrait (Wilde, 2003). Throughout the story Dorian commits himself wholly to his indulgences without any regard for his reputation, such as his affair with the character Sibyl Vane (Wilde, 2003).
Eventually Dorian becomes emotionally instable and kills the character Basil Hallward (Wilde, 2003). Dorian then descends into the opium dens of London where he attempts to express his remorse, at which time he stabs his portrait, thereby killing himself (Wilde, 2003).
Analysis of Dorian's Character
From this short overview of Dorian’s character, I find him to be vain, insecure, emotionally unstable, depressed, vulnerable, impulsive, self-conscious, felt occasional guilt, and is not satisfied by interpersonal relationships. The traits I have just described refer to the neuroticism cluster of the Big Five traits also referred to as the “negative affectivity” (McAdams, 2006).
Neuroticism describes the general personality dimension that concerns an individual’s differences by their experiences of negative emotions, like anger, guilt, anxiety, and depression (McAdams, 2006). Neuroticism also measures a person’s chronic anxiety, excessive emotionality which can result in impulsiveness, nervousness, moodiness, hostility, self-consciousness, and vulnerability (McAdams, 2006).
Dorian’s actions and choices throughout the book support my belief in placing him in the neuroticism category. Dorian’s exceptionally vain ways and need for reassurance from the characters Lord Henry and Basil Hallward show us that he is insecure about himself, which leaves him vulnerable to the influence of others (Wilde, 2003).
Dorian’s constant insecurities lead him to worry, stress and become impulsive in his choices and behaviors. For example, his thought about waking one day without having his youth and physical attractiveness sends Dorian into a panic, and he impulsively pledges his soul in order to live without bearing the physical burdens of aging and sinning (Wilde, 2003).
Dorian’s vulnerability and insecurities are also shown as he bounces between the influences of Basil Hallward and Lord Henry, each resulting in an impulsive choice or behavior by Dorian. When he is under the influence of Basil, Dorian falls in love with the character Sibyl Vane because of her artfulness of acting and swears he will sacrifice all his social standings for her (Wilde, 2003).
However, when Sibyl loses her acting ability because of the love, Dorian rejects her cruelly, and she commits suicide (Wilde, 2003). This particular behavior shows Dorian remains vain, emotionally unbalanced, impulsive in his choices to fall in love, and the combination of such traits result in him not being able to be satisfied with interpersonal relationships.
Eventually Lord Henry tries to influence Dorian to adapt to his pleasure-seeking lifestyle of “Hedonism” (Wilde, 2003). For a short moment during the transition, Dorian experiences a moment of crises where he weighs his guilt about his treatment of Sibyl and her death against the freedom from worry that Lord Henry has promised (Wilde, 2003). This moment of vulnerability and insecurity leads Dorian to impulsively choose to adapt to Lord Henry’s ways.
At this point Dorian pursues pleasure dispassionately and cares nothing for the morality of the conventional society. This behavior is shown as he goes from lover to lover, male or female, and ruins the reputation of each lover (Wilde, 2003). As he is doing this, his actions and choices seems to become more impulsive, and his emotions become more unstable.
Eventually Dorian’s unstable state leads him to murder Basil (Wilde, 2003). Though in the past Dorian was able to sweep the infamies from his mind, he is unable to shake the fact he has killed his friend (Wilde, 2003). As Dorian’s guilt tortures him relentlessly, he becomes more emotionally unstable, depressed and anxious about what he has done.
Trying to redeem himself of the dreadful actions he has committed, he finds himself in the opium dens of London where he becomes completely emotionally unstable and depressed. This dark and unstable state leads him to impulsively choose to stab his portrait, killing himself (Wilde, 2003).
Review
Dorian’s actions and behaviors throughout the book gave a better understanding of how negative both his emotions and experiences where and why he fits the personality trait of a neuroticism. As research shows neuroticism individuals are shown to experience more negative emotional events, and in Dorian’s case, he experienced a vast amount of negative emotional events, such as murdering Basil or Sibyl's death (McAdams, 2006).
Dorian’s impulsive behaviors and choices employed he was relatively futile at coping with stressful situations and depression, a strong indicator of a neuroticism trait. In the end I believe it was the neuroticism indicators, vulnerability and insecurity that mainly contributed to Dorian’s slippery slope of demise.
Sources
- McAdams, D.P. (2006). The person: a new introduction to personality psychology. Hobokin, NJ: Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Wilde, O. (2003). The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York, New York: CRW Publishing Limited.
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