Thesis: Dorian Gray's selfish criminal actions and his unwillingness to confess or repent the horrible crimes he has committed characterize Gray as a completely depraved individual.
1. Dorian becomes completely enveloped in a life of selfish crimes yet he is apathetic and never deals with the consequences of his actions.
a. "Nothing that [Dorian] could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin. His sin? He shrugged his shoulders. The death of Basil Hallward was very little to him" (Wilde 163).
Dorian feels no remorse for the horrible murder that he is responsible for. As long as he did not have to suffer the consequences, he was okay. He will never be able to cure himself of sin because he shows no desire to repent, only to hide and avoid his problems
b. "Had it been merely vanity that had made him do his one good deed? Or the desire for a new sensation?" (Wilde 163).
Dorian is struggling with the realization that his sudden will to do good is not genuine. It is out of sheer vanity, to make himself look good to others or to make him feel good about himself. His "good deed" (if you could call it that) was not truly a good deed and it was done out of selfishness rather than because Dorian knew that it was the right thing to do
2. After Dorian murders Basil, he continues to commit awful crimes, showing no desire to change his corrupt way of life.
a. "'I am so sorry for you, Alan,' he murmured, 'but you leave me no alternative. I have a letter written already. Here it is. You see the address. If you don't help me, I must send it. If you don't help me, I will send it'" (Wilde 125).
b. "'Good heavens! What a life that is! You have gone from corruption to corruption, and now you have culminated in crime. In doing what I am going to do, what you force me to do, it is not of your life that I am thinking" (Wilde 126).
Dorian has turned to blackmailing in order to help dispose of Basil's body. Rather than just admitting his wrong doings, he is concerned with saving himself in the specific moment (not his soul). He looks for a way to prolong his immoral way of life by any means possible. He does not take into consideration the well being of Alan or Basil but only himself. As he says in the end of the chapter, "'You have saved me from ruin, Alan. I cannot forget that,' said Dorian simply" (Wilde 128). Even though Alan kills himself and Basil is dead, Dorian claims no responsibility or feels bad about the things that he has done
3. Dorian never reveals himself as the true cause of Sibyl, Basil or Alan's death yet he is amoral and unable to see the true horror of his corrupt soul.
a. "'Alan! Alan! if you don't come to my assistance I am ruined. Why, they will hang me, Alan! don't you understand? They will hang me for what I have done" (Wilde 124).
Dorian never admits to his heinous crimes. He worries about what will become of him and his good name rather than actually being a morally sound individual. Dorian is completely obsessed with what will become of him he does not recognize the impact that his actions will have on Alan or the terrible fate that he bestowed upon Basil
4. Dorian's shallow solution to the remorse to the horrible crimes he has committed is to numb them through the drug use and other activities and finally to destroy the thing that haunts him the most, his own wretched painting.
Dorian does not have to deal with the guilt that comes with the horrible choices that he has made because the painting wears his sins. When he he begins to feel haunted by regret and shame he remembers what Lord Henry told him: "'to cure the soul by means of the senses and the senses by the means of the soul'" (Wilde 135). Dorian decides on visiting an opium den as a means to curing his soul through his senses. Although this may seem like a cure to the evil deeds he has done, he is only temporarily escaping from his problems. By slipping into a sedated and detached state, he is able to fill the void in his soul created by the horrendous crimes he has committed but only for so long.
When Dorian destroys the painting he is destroying himself. The horrors that the painting instilled in him were his true feelings yet because the painting was hidden away from the world, he did not have to confront them. When Dorian makes the decision to destroy his soul, he ultimately destroys himself.
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