The Double Life of Dorian Gray

 

A. INTRODUCTION

    Imagine living the prized double life: In one life, you keep to your morals and have everyone adore you, while in the other, you do as you please without consideration for any of the societal consequences. Would you want that life? Patients with psychological ailments classified under dissociative identity disorders are able to experience this alleged luxury, but face far more problems than benefits. One of these disorders, dissociative amnesia with fugue, causes individuals to dissociate: they travel far away and start a new life to redeem themselves. Unfortunately, many unwarranted issues may follow along with such eccentricity, even in individuals without such disorders. In the allegorical novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, author Oscar Wilde depicts this split personality in a few lead characters, demonstrating how it impacts each character in their lives. Though not as severe as the psychological impairments others face, the characters’ split selves invite their own adversities.

    Having a split life can’t satiate the daunting task of escaping society because it results in a loss of identity and a life of fear with constant temptations to go through immoral pursuits. 

2. LOSS OF IDENTITY 

Living a double life may initially seem fascinating–you can live the best of both lives! The reality, however, is more harsh.

    Dorian Gray lives this exact life, but where did he end up? As the famous psychologist Freud theorized, you need your ego (reality) to balance between your superego (morality) and id (pleasure). An imbalance between the three is bound to create dissonance. Such a psychological perspective is further analyzed in a performative analysis authored by Sureshan and Viswanathan. A main point of reasoning in their critical essay revolves around the infamous portrait of Dorian Gray. The authors reveal how when Basil expresses his desire to “stay with the real Dorian he was in fact referring to the portrait rather than the 'original' of the portrait” (Sureshan and Viswanathan). This statement holds a great deal of irony; why is the portrait, a fake, described as more real than the real Dorian Gray? Perhaps, the split personality is to blame. Living two distinct, separate lives ultimately culminates in confusion: both lives have disparate qualities and are likely to merge and disorient one's thinking. Differentiating how to act appropriately in different situations in one’s own life is hard enough so imagine how it must be differentiating between two lives.

    Even keeping work and life separate has become a challenge for many with at-home working gaining traction. Actors face similar consequences in their professions as they have to isolate the roles they play and their true lives. Young Sibyl Vane faces such a dilemma. As an actor, she is a charismatic Juliet, while in person she is just another pretty girl. As author Mgr. Zuzana Charvátová describes in her character analysis, “One side is the passionate lover that she represents on the stage, and the other side is her private self when she leaves the stage”(Charvátová 26). Dorian is only in love with the actor so after he witnesses her true self (through her poor acting) his feelings are instantaneously relinquished. Upon this, Sibyl spirals into a crisis and ponders upon who she really is. The stress ends up being so fatal that she ends up killing herself. Though Sibyl’s case is severe, such dissociation can also cause great identity loss. This split life has its benefits indeed, but at what price? The aforementioned character analysis continues to expand on their ideas detailing how a split self can cause identity crises. 

As the author describes in a beautifully crafted sentence,

"[Dorian’s] appearance is so innocent and convincing that he sometimes deceives even himself”(Charvátová 33). Such a disparity inevitably ends in more confusion as can be seen through Dorian’s identity crisis. Lost between his split morals, Dorian ends up perplexed and lost in life. Should he continue to sin or start to change for the better? Even worse, others’ analysis of your actions can contribute to this stark split. Lord Henry’s criticism about Dorian’s alleged change in life causes Dorian to question whether his decision to live as one, genuine Dorian is valid. All of these anxieties and unwarranted stress can be attributed to his dissociation. Though one might be able to escape temporary societal pressures by sinning secretly, this secrecy worked as a double-edged sword for Dorian, ultimately culminating in a heavy price: death. 

3.  LIFE OF FEAR

    ​​What good is a double life if all that surrounds either of your lives is darkness? There isn’t much good. Dorian lives his life split in two and throughout the novel becomes accustomed to immoral decisions and actions. Eventually, his entire life becomes nothing short of a culmination of immoral pursuits. While this hedonistic mindset may seem beneficial for Dorian, it instead causes him to shroud himself with constant fears, not only fearing society but also fearing the sinful individual that he himself has become. Dorian more specifically fears his sins represented in his second life, encapsulated within his portrait, and due to constantly facing his true self in his portrait, he begins to live in fear and does everything he can to stay young and beautiful, to stay a true Prince Charming.​​ As stated in the character analysis, “His portrait is the only thing that shows the deleterious effects of his sins and gives Dorian a sense of freedom from morality because his own face does not show his evil thoughts and actions.”(Charvátová 28). By actively hiding his sins in his portrait, he is able to come to terms with his outside self, but he constantly fears the life that he hides within. It can even be noted in the novel that whenever Dorian faces this portrait, he never approaches the portrait, rather the portrait, or his second self, approaches Dorian with disgust and evil that Dorian so greatly fears. This fear of self 

roots into his fear of society. By being forced to hide himself from his own eyes, it is even more imperative that Dorian hides his portrait from other people's eyes. Essentially, “The compounding of those simple secrets [those of a split life] to eventually complicated and desperate situations that they become creates a metaphorical prison for its creators.”(McGibbon) Those in prison are often mocked and ridiculed for not only being caught, but for also committing a crime. Dorian encapsulates himself in this mental prison but fails to realize that he is only creating more fears for himself by doing so. He lives in the constant fear that society will reveal Dorian for who he truly is. He fears that everyone around him will be aware of his split life. He fears that his frail beauty will begin to fall apart. He fears that he may no longer be the Prince Charming of his world.

4. CLOSING REMARKS

Though the split life has only been analyzed through literature so far, its relevancy remains in the discussion of real life as well. At times, it may seem like a split life could be the solution to even the worst of predicaments. Dissociating, however, is akin to merely running away from your problems and that is a universally accepted method for failure. Evidenced through Dorian and Sibyl’s tragic deaths, a split life can really change one’s life, for the worse. So what’s your answer, do you still want to live the prized double life? 

E. Works Cited

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•     Works Cited HERE