There is a famous debate in human psychology which poses an interesting question: Are humans born good or evil? Two famous philosophers have made this question the center of their rationale. The first is Thomas Hobbes who believes humans are born evil and need clear and rigid boundaries to ensure a human’s innate instincts do not threaten society. On the other hand, Jean-Jacques Rosseau believes humans are innately good and would rather be gentle and pure if not for the corruption of society which imposes a class system meant to divide. The language and restrictions of these two great thinkers have provided the “good versus evil” debate with a restrictive thought corral, where people can muse over complex human emotions in a simplified, safe environment. This can become problematic when discussing pieces of art which have no clear meaning and are not meant to. In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray the great debate is opened again on the titular character but is restricted by being crowded into the minds of Hobbes and Rosseau. In actuality, to accurately analyze Dorian Gray, one must step outside of the minds of those two philosophers and into the mind of another. John Locke was famous for his tabula rasatheory, which explains humans are born as blank slates and can only be influenced by their outside, sensory experiences. While analyzing this groundbreaking novel, I have found Wilde rejects Hobbes’ and Rosseau’s explanations of human nature in favor of Locke’s theory. This tabula rasa is valuable in order to understand Dorian as a blank canvas, his actions as influences from outside sources, and art as quite useless.
The very first scenes of the novel find Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton lounging around Basil’s studio as he completes a portrait of a beautiful man, as Lord Henry’s curiosity grows as to the identity of the man Basil relates the story of their first encounter. While attending a crush, Basil is introduced to Dorian and the two become inseparable. Basil explains his first fear of Dorian’s impact at this encounter by stating, “I did not want any external influence in my life…I have always been my own master; had at least always been so, till I met Dorian Gray” (16). Already, Wilde is planting the seeds of how outside influences can affect the soul. Further on, Basil begs Henry to leave Dorian out of the manipulation games he plays, saying, “don’t try to influence him” (24) as Dorian “has a simple and beautiful nature” (24). Here, Basil is casting Dorian as more than a mere muse, he’s casting him as the livelihood of his artistic creation, it is only in his simple, beautiful, blank nature from which Basil can find his deepest inspiration. As Dorian poses for Basil later on, Henry takes his chance in Basil’s distraction to say to Dorian that “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” (27). Here, Henry is asserting that the human mind can only be influenced, there are no organic thoughts or passions born within a human, these necessaries of humanity are only gained through outside influences. These words to Dorian are the same effect as a flower blooming open to the first ray on sunshine on a spring day, it was then “he was dimly conscious that entirely fresh influences were at work within him” (29). This is the first instance in the novel of Henry directing Dorian towards the path he favors, one of selfish debauchery. This all goes to cast Dorian as a blank canvas who has had no great influences in his life before the day Henry opened his mind to the possibilities of human nature. The scenes in the first few chapters set up a wonderful dichotomy of good versus evil for the rest of the novel and how each can influence Dorian, as Basil represents good and Henry represents evil. These two people guide Dorian each in their own ways along their own personal philosophies, in the end it is simply one who outpowers the other.
As is discussed above, Dorian is mostly effectively influenced by Henry, although this is not because Dorian has some predeterminate inside his soul which sways him towards Henry’s debauchery. In reality, Henry was merely the first person who was able to persuade Dorian to any one way. The most expansive example would be Dorian’s reaction to seeing his portrait changed for the first time. When the portrait shifted slightly, it was as the result of Dorian being cruel to Sybil Vane, a girl he had broken the promise to marry, but upon seeing the malice drawn upon the lips of his portrait made Dorian “conscious how unjust, how cruel, he had been to Sibyl Vane” (113). Dorian realizes there that his portrait will show the changes inside of his soul and had vowed to allow the portrait to “be a guide to him through life, would be to him what holiness is to some, and conscience to others, and the fear of God to us all” (113). Through Basil’s painting, he is able to understand his wrongdoing and decides to atone for his actions. Though, his attitude changes when Henry comes around later in the day and reveals Sibyl has killed herself. Understandably Dorian is distraught, saying, “So I have murdered Sibyl Vane” (117) and then asks Henry, “what shall I do” (117) to which Henry replies with a myriad of ways to keep Dorian above blame. Henry is focused on Dorian’s place in society saying, “one should never make one’s debut with a scandal” (116). Henry does not care that a young woman has meet her death, and he is convincing Dorian he shouldn’t care either. Instead, he repurposes Dorian’s feelings of responsibility towards Sibyl’s death to a mere artistic fancy, reveling at how “a tragedy that possesses artistic elements of beauty crosses” (119) Dorian’s life. This line gives Dorian an excuse to let go of his guilt in exchange for a love of manipulating others. After Henry leaves, Basil comes to Dorian with another interpretation of the young girl’s death, which is at an extreme difference to Henry’s reaction. For one, Basil wonders at Dorian’s audacity to attend the opera the same day he hears of Sibyl’s suicide, as he speaks “slowly, and with a strained touch of pain in his voice” (127). Basil recognizes a change in Dorian, lamenting, “I want the Dorian Gray I used to paint” (128). The Dorian Gray which Basil used to paint has been forever changed by Henry’s meddling. The blank canvas has started to be filled with Henry’s thoughts and passions.
Another important aspect are the tools the Henry and Basil each provide for Dorian, both attempting to color the canvas to their own particular liking. It’s interesting to see what each one deploys to try and sway Dorian to their paths of good or evil. Basil gifts Dorian the infamous picture which leads to his demise, though the original premise was not to bear Dorian’s soul, but rather Basil’s. In the first scene in the studio Basil reveals to Henry that the picture he was painting was too personal for exhibition, as he explains, “I have put too much of myself into it” (12). Basil’s appreciation for Dorian goes deeper than his good looks, it’s an appreciation for everything Dorian could represent, all the goodness that a human could possibly hold, albeit this potential is told by Dorian’s good looks. On the other hand, there’s an instance when Dorian takes up an “oval glass framed in ivory Cupids, one of Lord Henry’s many presents to him” (107). Lord Henry showers Dorian with many gifts, although they aren’t as deeply personal as Basil’s, in fact they are somewhat artificial. A mirror only sees the outward appearance of a person, but tells nothing of their soul, only their outward reflection back to them. Basil’s appreciation for Dorian is soul-deep, while Henry’s is only skin-deep. Furthermore, Basil says an important line at the beginning of the novel which is: “The world is wide, and has many marvelous people in it” (24). This line is warning and begging Henry not to use his cynicism to infect Dorian. Later in the novel, Henry gives Dorian a book which provides a passage into “the sins of the world…things that he had dimly dreamed of were suddenly made real to him” (146). The book represents Henry’s view of the world, which is full of ugliness and brutality. This is at an extreme difference to Basil’s views, as is told by his earlier line. Basil would like Dorian to understand the world as marvelous while Henry wishes him to see it full of sins. Henry’s sway is more potent and persistent than Basil’s, and that is how he wins Dorian in the end.
The preface to the novel was only attached to it after the entire work had been published, and in its depths holds the keys to understanding Wilde’s interpretation of the human soul and how it starts as a blank canvas. In the preface, Wilde states, “there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book” (7). Here, a point is being made regarding the fact that books, as they are art, cannot be good or evil, and any semblance of either is simply a title to which the reader has put upon to explain themselves and their own soul. What one chooses to see in art is a reflection of how they view themselves inside. He goes on to state “vice and virtue are to the artist instruments of an art” (7) meaning any of that good and evil one would like to assign to art is inconsequential as it is only a means to an end. In this way, when Wilde states on the last line, “all art is quite useless” (8) meaning it is only through being admired that it can find any regard to meaning. Dorian is quite useless, as he is a piece of art, his looks leave him to only be admired. When discussing whether Dorian has always been an evil person, it is forgotten that art cannot be moral or immoral, it can only be viewed by others to be one thing or another. Dorian’s actions and behaviors throughout the novel are mostly excused because of his beauty, if he were not beautiful he would not be admired, but then he would have to be useful.
In regards to Hobbes and Rosseau, the complexity of The Picture of Dorian Gray would not be allowed to be accurately explored through their philosophies as their frames of thought are too narrow for the depth of discovery needed to understand Dorian Gray. Instead, the use of Locke’s tabula rasa to acknowledge Dorian foremost as a blank canvas is a much truer guide to view Wilde’s work and thoughts of human nature. Through Dorian’s outward, sensory experiences he is swayed towards good or evil. This journey is accompanied by two men, Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward. When the two first know the boy, Dorian is young but doesn’t understand the depths of life. Through Lord Henry’s manipulation Dorian is swayed to live his life in debauchery which includes drug addiction, sex, and murder. There is no inner chord is Dorian’s body which yearns for this ugliness, rather it is only Henry knowing which finger to lay upon the most impressionable chord in Dorian’s heart. If Basil had been as skilled in the human heart as Henry had been, Dorian’s life may have turned out much differently than it had. All in all, the human soul is a blank slate from conception, once born it is only a matter of time until outside influences seize upon it to sway it one way or another, but in the end, it doesn’t make a difference as it is only how the viewer chooses to interpret those influences.