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The Devils intrusion in ones life

Whether we debate evil as a form of physical manifestation or as an influence in someones mind and soul, I tend to believe that in Oscar wilds book The picture of Dorian gray the roots of this malefic force lies in the person of Lord Henry Wotton. The aim of this essay is to identify the origin of the immoral acts of Dorian, to show the importance of the role played by his mentor in the person of Lord Henry and to understand the relationship established between the composition of evil in theory and the structure of evil elements in practice. In the beginning of the book we encounter in Dorian an ideal of beauty and youth archetype and an unspoiled or somehow nave soul before he meet Lord Henry. Lord Henry on the other hand has an unconventional morality of his own. By not changing his personality but rather influencing others with his theoretical hedonistic principals over life and the aesthetic aspect of it we can say the is a static character, while the others are living in a constant change due to his dominance over mind and ideas. An argument that sustains the idea that he is the one who planted the seed of evil and sin in Dorian is the impression he gets the moment he sees Dorian the first time they meet and what he discovers in the lead He is a brainless, beautiful thing, who should be always here in winter when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence. He speculates that there is space for his own ideas to be cultivated and grow and the next thing he does is to beginning the seduction of Dorians mind. This seduction turns out to be as Dorian says the poisoning of his soul You poisoned

me with a book once. I should not forgive that. Henry promise me that you will never lend that book to anyone. It does harm.To Dorian Lord Henry is the devil who tempts him. Later on, he explains the process and what he is really doing to Dorian: Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly -- that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to oneself. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion -- these are the two things that govern us. Becoming his mentor, Lord Henry is the one who determins Dorians actions trasforming his soul into his own work of art.He is guided by the idea of seducing the lad and molding him into a malicious archetype.Lord Henry is possessed by wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories and with his brilliant intellect he becomes the demon that leads Dorian into the pleasures of the sinful life. As a character he is unshakable from the beginning of the book to the ending.Henry is the source of malignance elements in society and Dorian extracts his moral code,but the difference between these two is that Dorian is the evil doer and Lord Henry does not embrace and indulge the sordid behaviour .He never felt the effect of his philosophy unlike Dorian. Another difference is that Henry believes in the equal persuit of moral and immoral while Dorian takes the side of the immoral experience, embracing it and sharing it to the world.

What Henry like is a person better than principales and a person with no principals at all is better than anything .When the reality sets in for Dorian he realises that he represents to Henry all the sins he never had the courage to commit, the life that he preached but he never had the courage to practice, that Dorian is everything Henry was to afraid to be. In the book evil is practiced in his most elaborated forms by Dorian through Henrys grudge.The cruel intentions of the two characters combined with the moral of the book show us the highest level of sinful life .

Student:Maruntu Marina-Madalina 2nd yr Gr7

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