Name symbolism in Dorian Gray PDF

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Anul 2, literatura victoriana (prof. Daniela Brown)
Eseu pt seminar...

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Name symbolism in The Picture of Dorian Gray

The aim of this essay is to present names’ symbolism in Oscar Wilde’s novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The main character’s first name is a Greek one, the Dorians being an ancient Hellenic people settled in the Peloponnesus and Crete. But “In spite of Dorian’s Greek name, he is in fact gray because his fate is to err and be judged by the standards of Hebraism.” (Zirra 76) Dorian is not the only name by which the main character is known; Lord Henry Wotton refers to him as Adonis or Narcissus, both inspired from the Greek mythology: “I really can't see any resemblance between you, and this young Adonis, who looks as if he was made out of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus”. Adonis was a beautiful young man, with whom both Aphrodite and Persephone fell in love with and quarreled over him. In a similar way, Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward are jealous of each other when it comes to spending time with Dorian and influencing him. Before introducing Dorian to Lord Henry Wotton, Basils warns the latter: “Don’t spoil him. Don’t try to influence him. Don’t take away from me the only person who gives my art whatever charm it possesses.” And later, while he is painting: “Harry, I want to finish this picture to-day. Would you think it awfully rude of me if I asked you to go away?” Narcissus, a very charming youth who heartlessly rejected many admirers and fell in love with his own image reflected in the water, just as Dorian falls in love with the painting:” When he saw it he drew back, and his cheeks flushed for a moment with pleasure. A look of joy came into his eyes, as if he had recognized himself for the first time. The sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation.”

Lord Henry Wotton’s name is inspired from Wotan (Odin), the most important Germanic God. He has been often described as an old blind man who has given an eye in exchange for wisdom. “Lord Henry Wotton whose name is like the Wotan/Woden: absent from the visible world, a mere voice that sets themes for meditation and practice” (Zirra 76). This true nature of Lord Henry Wotton is remarked by Basil at the beginning of the novel: "You are thoroughly ashamed of your own virtues. You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose." In Antiquity the Sybils were prophetesses and this is what Sybil Vane stands for in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. The cruelty and indifference with which Dorian treats her after his feelings for her suddenly change, typify his entire attitude from this point on. Her surname Vane symbolizes that Sybil’s love for Dorian is in vain and he only responds to it for a short time. Dorian falls in love with her art, with her acting, with her persona on the stage, and when he sees her as the real Sybil Vane, he finds nothing more in her to love: “I loved you because you were marvellous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away”. Vane could also suggest Sybils destiny, her life as a whole, which without acting are in vain; she can only exist through her art, and when giving it up, she gives up her life as well.

In conclusion, the characters in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” are indirectly described by their own names. Name symbolism has the function of rendering the main aspect of each character’s personality and to anticipate their destiny.

Works cited -

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1891. London: Penguin Classics, 2003. Print.

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Valero, Luis T.Melgar. Enciclopedie de mitologie. Bucharest: Teora, 2008. Print.

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Zirra, Ioana. Contributions of the British 19th Century- The Victorian Age- to the history of literature and ideas, volume 2. Bucharest: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2011. Print....