Dorian Gray and the Quest for Youth and Happiness

Youth and happiness are two of the most desperately sought out qualities in life, both in the time period in which The Picture of Dorian Gray was written and today. This is especially true for the character Dorian Gray, who spends his life in pursuit of pleasure and a way to preserve his innate good looks and charm. His obession, however, eventually leads to his demise.

In the beginning of the book, Dorian is a "good" young man who is innocent to the pleasures and corruptions of the world. However, after meeting Lord Henry he is introduced to a new way of thinking about the time we have here on earth. Lord Henry tells Dorian that he needs to take advantage of his youth and good looks since they will soon fade. He also repeatedly intices Dorian to seek out all his desires and pleasures in life while he is young enough to enjoy them. While Basil is horrified at Lord Henry's influence and sees a change in Dorian, he is powerless to stop the impact Lord Henry has on the young man.

Soon Dorian's main goal is to have fun, and he spends his life trying to fulfill his human desires. However, he is plagued by the knowledge that he will loose his looks as time goes by and he ages. Now a very superficial person, this eats away at Dorian and he desperately searches for a way to preserve his beauty. He wishes that the portait by Basil could age, while he remains young forever. And this almost comes true. As time goes by, the protrait gets noticeably older and deformed, while Dorian seems hardly to age at all. However, time is not the only factor that changes the portrait. The change in Dorian's lifestyle and soul also makes the portrait transform into a horrific and deformed figure, reflecting Dorian's true soul.

In the end, Dorian murders his friend Basil and in an effort to destroy his portrait he kills himself as well. I would argue that such a tragic ending would never have occured if the tormenting desire for youth was not placed in Dorian's heart. It was his actions in an attempt to remain eternally beautiful that changed him into the shallow and immoral man he became.

The same can be said today about the pressures society places on people to remain young and beautiful. How many people have had plastic surgery or other alterating procedures to change thier appearance? They do this in an effort to conform to society's lust for beauty. Many people, like Dorian, become obesessed and take things to the extreme. Some ruin their faces after too many facelifts have been performed, others are left scarred from procedures gone wrong, and others still are never satisfied with who they are and can only see their remaining flaws when they look into the mirror.

Its a shame how our world has placed such importance on something that is impossible to maintain. We will grow older. There is no way around it. No matter how hard we try to preserve our youthful looks with creams, surgery, and hard work, there is just no outsmarting mother nature. If we could learn to be happy with ourselves as we are and focus on living life to the fullest, I think many people could avoid tragic endings such as the one in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

At the National Gallery, I found the section of the 16th century especially interesting. Two paintings in particular from that era stood out to me, and they are both by Raphael. The first, The Ansidei Madonna, was absolutely gorgeous and caught my eye immediately. It is a rather large painting with an elegant and magnificent gold frame. I thought Raphael did an amazing job with this painting and loved the bright colors. While some paintings have a lot of meaning being grim with dull colors, I am drawn to the vibrant and bright paintings. Raphael's second painting, The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints, and Angels, was also a magnificent painting with bright colors and was also surrounded by a beautiful golden frame. In this painting, I especially liked Raphael's take on the crucifiction scene with the two angels on either side of Christ. I have never seen a scene with the angels present and just thought it was a really interesting way to look at the death of Christ. It makes the scene more endearing, and not so heartbreaking. Ususally the death of Chirst is a solemn and grim picture that portrays the great suffering and sacrifice of Jesus. However, I thought it was really great to also show the brighter side of his death. That it was all a part of God's plan and that he had a purpose. And that he had his angels there by his side at the time of his death.

Today at Westminster Abbey I was blown away by pretty much everything inside the church. I have never seen such exquisite and breath-taking architecture in my life, and enjoyed every second I was there. While it is difficult to pinpoint my favorite part of the experience, I would have to say that I was taken aback by the number of great leaders that are buried there. It was weird to my at first to walk over the tombs of countless people, not to mention the elaborate tombs that were on display. Some of the greatest Kings and Queens in history, like King Edward the Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth and Mary, were laid to rest in that church.

Such a memorial is not commonplace back in America and I was just really amazed at the number of historical people buried together inside the church. As I walked through, I wished I knew more about Enlgish history so I could really appreciate the great Kings and Queens who were laid to rest beneath my feet. However, I am excited because my family is coming to meet us after our five weeks are up to come and visit England for about a week. So I will have another chance to tour Westminster Abbey, and now I have time to do my research and learn about the stories and history of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth, Mary, ect. The audio tours were another aspect of Westminster that I thought was really great. Without hearing great detail about each section of the church, I would not have understood its great importance and would have breezed on through many incredible parts of the church. All in all, I had an amazing time at Westminster and I look forward to going back in a few weeks and spending a much longer time walking around and enjoying its great beauty.

While I thought I was understanding Turner's concept of cultural studies, his example with Oliver North really helped me understand its depth and meaning. Before reading this text, I would have looked at the picture of Oliver and his wife and not have thought twice about the meaning and symbolism that is jumping out at me. Turner did a really good job explaining in detail how little things in the picture tell a story, such as how his wife shows her support for him by standing close to his side. This also jumped out at me especially since I am doing my project on Sherlock's Holmes' impact on London culture. Being a detective, Sherlock had to pay extra special attention to such small details in order to get his next lead in cracking the case. In the short stories, he gains important information from small things that most people overlook. It is really interesting to me how much we can learn from just looking at a picture, and noticing all the small details. I am looking forward to learning more about this topic and am going to try and practice what I have learned so far.

Today at the Museum I was struck by two particular exhibits: the Memorial to the 2005 victims of the London Bombings and the Great Fire of London exhibit. I thought it was a gracious gesture to dedicate a part of the museum to those who lost thier lives on that tragic day. It was very sobering to flip through the pages and see pictures and biographies of those killed in the terrorist attacks. I could not imagine how devastated I would be if something like that were to happen to one of my loved ones. It makes us remember the tragedy of September 11th and how so many innocent lives were lost, and lets us pause and take a moment to appreciate the life we are living today.

Secondly, the Great Fire of London exhibit grabbed my attention beacuase I did not realize how devestating the fire actually was. I have learned briefly about the London Fire in school, but never was given in-depth information of how the fire started and to what extent it burned the city of London. I did not realize that London was just a disaster waiting to happen with the wooden houses built on top of one another. So it makes so much more sense now to how the fire spread so rapidly and was able to destroy thousands of houses before it was extinguished. I also was amazed at how many people, including the King and high officials, stayed behind to try and put out the flames. If it were not for these brave men tearing down houses to stop the fire from spreading, who knows how long the fire would have lasted.

Both disasters brought the community of London together as a whole. When in crisis, people tend to forget thier differences and band together for support and survival. In 1666, thousands of families in London were without a place to live, and all of their possessions had been lost in the fire. However, this event became apart of those people. It changed who they were, thier values, and their perspective on life. It became apart of their identity, and they were stronger by surving such an ordeal. It brought the community together to learn from thier mistakes (of buildign wooden houses too close) and rebuild a better London. It changed their idealogy and made them look differently at what is important in life. I think they learned to appreciate the things in life that many tend to take for granted.

The same can be said for the survivors of the 2005 London bombings. After such a sudden tragedy, the people of London could not help but to take a moment and be thankful for all that they have in life, and be especially thankful that they were not in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even if for only a few months or years, I think the bombings changed the idealogy of the citizens of London. To be more thankful for what they have and not worry so much about the petty things of life. Learning in detail about these two events had an effect on me as well. It made me, a visiter to London, take a step back and think about what it would have been like to live through either of those situations, and I appreciated the fact that I am alive to live another day.

Hey everyone! Just to introduce myself, my name is Kelly and I am a Business Management major at the University of Georgia. I will be in my fourth year this fall and plan to graduate in May. I am so excited about being here in London because I have never been out of the country and have always wanted to see Europe, and espeically London. I really look forward to learning about London's culture and get a taste of what it is like to live here.