In this blog post, I explored why ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is regarded as a masterpiece of Decadent literature, and reflected on the meanings of beauty, desire, freedom, and decadence as revealed through the characters in the work.

Decadent Literature and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’

Reading ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ prompted me to reconsider the term “décadence.” Originally a French term meaning decline and decay, by the late 19th century it had come to refer to the decadent trends that spread throughout Europe, as well as to an artistic movement. It began when young Symbolist poets—following in the footsteps of the masters of French Symbolism, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Rimbaud—called themselves “décadents,” and from there, the movement spread throughout Europe.
However, décadence has a character somewhat different from other literary movements. This is because it did not begin as a movement that predetermined new values or directions for art to pursue, but rather originated from rebellion against and rejection of existing authorities and value systems. Consequently, in Decadent art, the extraordinary takes precedence over the ordinary; the morbid and grotesque over the normal; the sensual over the rational; and individual self-awareness and desire over universal ethics or values. While distancing itself from real-world society and expressing aversion toward it, the movement advocates for “art for art’s sake”; it also promotes aestheticism, the belief that if there is any value art should truly pursue, it is beauty alone.
Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, which I have read, is known as one of the representative works of this Decadent literature. So, in what ways is this work considered a representative work of Decadent literature? I believe the reason is clearly revealed in the words Sir Henry Wotton spoke to Dorian Gray when he first saw him.
“We are being punished for denying ourselves in this way. The impulses we suppress take root within us and poison us. The only way to rid ourselves of those impulses and temptations is to yield to them. It is useless to try to suppress them; doing so only makes them more toxic. All those desires take on a hideous form and make a person sick. “Mr. Gray, you are in the prime of your youth. But haven’t your passions ever frightened you? Haven’t you ever had dreams that make your cheeks flush just thinking about them? Whether it be night or day.”
In short, he is telling us to unleash our repressed desires to our heart’s content. And to celebrate and enjoy life to the fullest. The reason people become unhappy and are punished is not because they harbor ugly desires, but because they suppress those desires. With these words, Henry instantly captivates Dorian Gray.
Reading this passage also reminded me of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. It feels as though Henry is telling Dorian Gray to set free the Hyde that lies suppressed within his heart. Furthermore, it seems as though he is saying that Hyde was not originally such a monstrous being, but became a monster because he had been imprisoned and suppressed for far too long. If so, who imprisoned Hyde? It was none other than himself. It is himself, trapped by social ethics and conventions. To put it further, he himself is the prison.
Dorian Gray breaks free from that prison. In that sense, Dorian Gray in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ can be thought of as a beautifully transformed Hyde. In ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, Hyde is an object of loathing to everyone, but in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, Dorian Gray becomes the object of everyone’s envy and admiration. The reason is simple: he is beautiful. He does not age as time passes and retains the beauty of youth forever.

Human Desire for Eternal Youth

Of course, this is absolutely impossible in reality. Who can completely escape the weight of time? Many people say, “I may look this way on the outside, but my heart is still young.” Perhaps we all live under that illusion. Perhaps we’re growing old under that illusion. And perhaps, in the end, we’ll die under that illusion.
But even so, that illusion might be better than living in resignation, thinking, “I’m old now. It’s human nature to die as time passes.” Dorian Gray seems to be the very embodiment of that illusion—everyone’s dream, an illusion they cannot let go of even at the moment of death.
That is why the fact that Oscar Wilde said, “Dorian Gray is the person I wanted to be,” strikes me as all the more meaningful. Why would Oscar Wilde alone have wanted to become someone like Dorian Gray? We all lament the loss of our youth and secretly wish it could last forever. Yet we also know that is impossible. Perhaps it is precisely this—knowing the truth yet being unable to accept it—that defines us as human beings.
Even though we know that everything is fleeting—even though we know that as time passes, we cannot help but grow old and eventually die—it is human nature to hope that a moment to which we have devoted all our passion and love will, at least for that moment, last forever. In that sense, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ felt less like a work that merely depicts the fantasy of eternal youth and more like one that reveals the universal human dream of something we simply cannot let go of.

Lord Henry Wotton, Basil Hallward, and Oscar Wilde

I believe that ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is considered a quintessential work of Decadent literature—even while depicting this universal human dream—because it scathingly mocks all social ethics and conventions through the character of Lord Henry Wotton.
Henry is intelligent and free-spirited. At the same time, he spews caustic remarks that make many people uncomfortable. He is also cynical because he keeps his distance from the world. The author described Lord Henry Wotton as “the image of myself that people have in their minds.” Considering this statement, it can be interpreted to mean that Oscar Wilde lived his life in the world as Lord Henry Wotton. Oscar Wilde likely heard many times from those around him that he was a caustic and cynical person.
However, Oscar Wilde also said, “Basil Hallward is the real me.” Basil Hallward is the artist who painted Dorian Gray’s portrait. If that is the case, it makes perfect sense that Oscar Wilde would describe him as his true self.
However, in the story, Basil Hallward is despised by Henry as merely a boring person, and to Dorian Gray, he is simply someone to be avoided—a man who does nothing but offer moral advice. Moreover, he is a pitiable character who is ultimately murdered by Dorian Gray. By introducing the character of Basil Hallward, the author has effectively made himself the object of cynicism as well.
There may be nothing more decadent than an author who championed “art for art’s sake” as his motto making himself—an artist—the object of his own cynicism. In that sense, decadence in this work is not simply something ugly. Decadence is beautiful, free, and unconventional. It entails no obligations and no constraints. That is why it is so alluring. And because it is dangerous, it is all the more captivating.
Moreover, not just anyone can easily become decadent. Like Henry in the story, a decadent individual is highly intellectual. They are eloquent and sharp-witted. They mock the world with style. If you happen to have a friend like that, you might find it difficult to get close to them, yet feel strangely drawn to them at the same time.

Could the allure of decadence become a way of loving life?

This might sound a bit risky, but youth that has never succumbed to the allure of decadence might feel barren. Youth that has never mocked the world to the fullest might lack vitality. Just as someone who has never been sick cannot appreciate the gift of health, someone who has never mocked the world to the fullest may find it difficult to know how to love life.
This is because decadence, in the end, is simply another way of loving life. Moreover, when one harbors a dream that is virtually impossible to achieve within the reality in which they are immersed, decadence can even be sublimated into an ideal. While reading ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, I realized that decadence does not simply mean an attitude of giving up on life or turning one’s back on reality. This is because it also encompasses the attitude of rejecting the values and norms of reality—when one cannot find satisfaction in them—and dreaming of other possibilities.
This seems to be why beauty, freedom, desire, and cynicism are inseparable in this work. Dorian Gray realizes the dream that people long for by gaining eternal youth, but hidden desires and depravity lie behind that beauty. Lord Henry Wotton mocks social ethics and customs while speaking of freedom, yet at the same time reveals just how dangerous and alluring that freedom can be. And Basil Hallward, while showcasing the other side of art and morality, ultimately becomes a victim of that world.

Reflecting on Oscar Wilde’s Life and Works

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, in October 1854. His father was a renowned ophthalmologist and archaeologist who had served as a professor at University College Dublin, and his mother was a poet. Thanks to his parents’ commitment to his education, he became fluent in German and French from an early age.
While attending the University of Oxford, he wrote poetry and won a prize for new writers; from that time on, he was already deeply immersed in Aestheticism, which championed “art for art’s sake.” After graduating from college, he began his career as a writer in earnest, though his primary focus was playwriting.
Around 1882, he stayed briefly in New York City before moving to France. He published a collection of fairy tales and wrote plays; in 1888, he published his only novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, in a magazine. Aside from the content of the work itself, the preface—which contained the statement, “There are no moral books, nor are there immoral books. There are only well-written books and poorly written books”—caused controversy and made him a target of criticism at the time of its publication.
Thereafter, he devoted himself primarily to writing and staging plays, earning a reputation as the greatest playwright in London, England. His published plays include ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’, ‘A Woman of No Importance’, and ‘An Ideal Husband’; in 1892, he also published ‘Salome’ in French.
However, in 1895, he was charged with homosexual acts with a minor, found guilty, and imprisoned for two years. Although he was released from prison in 1897, he was banished from England and lived in poverty in Paris, eventually dying a miserable death from meningitis.
Reflecting on Oscar Wilde’s life while revisiting ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, I gained a clearer understanding of why beauty, freedom, desire, and social norms are in constant conflict within the work. While this work appears to celebrate beauty alone, it also reveals how closely that beauty is linked to dangerous desires; while it mocks societal ethics and customs, it also shows the consequences that such freedom can ultimately bring. Therefore, the decadence felt in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ cannot be explained simply as a matter of downfall or moral decay. This is because it simultaneously embodies both the allure and the danger inherent in humanity’s desire for beauty and freedom.