“If I could stay young and make the picture grow old! For that, I would give everything! I would give my soul for that!”

Wishes are part of the unconscious, along with dreams, slips of the tongue, and the like. These are desires that are not consciously known to a person, yet they can become powerful forces that, if left unattended, control one’s behavior to some extent. This is what the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is all about, along with the many truths it reveals about beauty, age, wealth, and the illusions surrounding human pleasures and hedonistic ideas.

The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in 1890 in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine and was later published as a novel in 1891. The novel depicts the reality that human beings must face the inevitable decay of the body. In simpler terms, beauty is not eternal.

The novel has three main characters: Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the portrait of Dorian Gray; Dorian Gray, a wealthy and handsome young man; and Lord Henry Wotton, a hedonistic aristocrat. The characters ultimately face tragic consequences.

Dorian Gray, having lived his life according to hedonistic ideas, allowed his rational mind to become increasingly distorted. He came to believe that life should be enjoyed and that the human body, mind, and soul should experience every worldly pleasure possible. When he discovered that his wish had come true, that he would remain youthful forever while his portrait would bear the consequences of his actions, he abused his precious innocence and became increasingly reckless.

Haunted by his sins, he committed murder and eventually attempted to destroy the portrait that bore his true identity. In that attempt, his servants heard a crash and entered the room, only to find the beautiful portrait of Dorian Gray and an ugly old man lying dead on the floor with a knife in his chest.

Through a psychoanalytic lens, one can recognize the inevitable task of balancing the three divisions of the psyche: the id, the ego, and the superego. One can also see the consequences of allowing the unconscious to override rationality.

First, the id is represented, to some extent, by the character of Lord Henry Wotton. The id is one of the three divisions of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory. It is completely unconscious and serves as the source of psychic energy derived from instinctual needs, desires, and pleasures.

“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 someone else’s music, an actor in a part that has not been written for him.”

This passage reflects Lord Henry’s belief in the power of influence. Ironically, although he criticizes the act of influencing others, he becomes the very person who exerts a powerful influence over Dorian. Through his ideas, he awakens desires within Dorian that eventually consume him.

“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly, that is what each of us is here for.”

From these lines, Lord Henry emerges as a powerful and dangerous influence on Dorian. He believes in self-development, but his idea of self-development is detached from conventional morality. For him, the purpose of life is to pursue and realize one’s own nature completely. Pleasure, experience, and personal fulfillment become more important than moral restraint.

Another example can be found in his attitude toward Dorian’s relationship with Sibyl Vane:

“I think the novelty of the emotion must have given you a thrill of real pleasure.”

The lines reveal the hedonistic beliefs that Lord Henry lives by and attempts to impart to the innocent young Dorian Gray. His philosophy encourages Dorian to see life as an endless pursuit of pleasure and experience, regardless of the consequences. Through this influence, Dorian gradually allows desire to overpower morality.

In psychoanalytic terms, Lord Henry can therefore be seen as an external force that encourages the impulses associated with the id. He represents instinct, desire, pleasure, and the rejection of restraint. However, he does not merely represent the id. Rather, he awakens and strengthens the part of Dorian that seeks immediate pleasure without considering its consequences.

This makes The Picture of Dorian Gray more than a story about a beautiful young man who remains eternally youthful. It is also a story about desire, influence, morality, and the dangerous consequences of allowing one’s deepest wishes to control one’s life.

Dorian’s tragedy began with a wish. But perhaps the more frightening question is this: What happens when the wishes we do not fully understand are finally given the power to come true?

Picture from: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/23488-dorian-gray

People, money, objects, art, and anything else are merely tools of pleasure to him. If something ceases to entertain him, he immediately abandons it and loses interest in it altogether. The only exception to this pattern of abandonment is Dorian Gray himself, whom Lord Henry continues to teach that the most important goal in life is the pursuit of pleasure and happiness, regardless of the cost.

Second, the superego is portrayed by the character of Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the portrait of the young and handsome Dorian Gray. In psychoanalytic theory, the superego is partly conscious and represents parental conscience and the rules of society. It functions through a system of moral attitudes, conscience, guilt, and the internalized distinction between right and wrong.

Toward the end of the novel, Basil Hallward discovers the truth about the portrait and realizes how deeply Dorian’s soul has been corrupted by his sinful actions and his life of hedonism. He then tells Dorian:

“Pray, Dorian, pray. What is it that one was taught to say in one’s boyhood? Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our sins. Wash away our iniquities. Let us say that together. The prayer of your pride has been answered. The prayer of your repentance will be answered also. I worshipped you too much. I am punished for it. You worshipped yourself too much. We are both punished.”

From these lines, Basil clearly wants Dorian to repent for his sins and cleanse his soul. Thus, he reveals his moral attitude and his belief that wrongdoing can be forgiven through penitence and self-realization. Another line that demonstrates Basil’s sense of guilt and conscience is:

“It is never too late, Dorian. Let us kneel down and try if we can remember a prayer. Isn’t there a verse somewhere, though your sins be as scarlet, yet I will make them as white as snow?”

Basil Hallward, who is strongly associated with the moral impulses of the superego, believes that human beings possess an innate capacity for goodness. Ultimately, because of his optimism and his high-minded character, which upholds the values of beauty, truth, and love, he pays the highest price: his life.

Dorian Gray becomes enraged by Basil Hallward’s attempts to persuade him to turn away from his sinful life and worldly pleasures. Unable to confront the truth about himself, Dorian kills Basil by stabbing him.

Third, the ego is initially depicted in the character of Dorian Gray. In psychoanalytic theory, the ego serves as the organized and conscious mediator between the individual and reality, functioning in both perception and adaptation to the demands of the real world.

Dorian is initially portrayed as having a simple and beautiful nature. Basil Hallward tells Lord Henry:

“Your aunt was quite right in what she said of him. Don’t spoil him for me. Don’t try to influence him. Your influence would be bad. The world is wide, and has many marvelous people in it. Don’t take away from me the one person that makes life absolutely lovely to me, and that gives to my art whatever wonder or charm it possesses. Mind, Harry, I trust you.”

The lines uttered by Basil Hallward suggest that Dorian is decent and upright and that his innocence should not be corrupted by Lord Henry’s influence.

Another description of Dorian is given by Lord Henry Wotton:

“Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candor of youth was there, as well as all youth’s passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world.”

This description highlights Dorian’s youth, beauty, innocence, and purity. Before his corruption, he appears untouched by the moral and psychological ugliness of the world around him.

On the other hand, Dorian Gray also portrays an inability to balance his psyche and his state of mind. He allows the id to override his moral restraint, and consequently, his unconscious desires gradually consume his rational, innocent, and youthful self.

“His eye fell on the yellow book that Lord Henry had sent him. It was the strangest book he had ever read. It seemed to him that in exquisite raiment, and to the delicate sound of flutes, the sins of the world were passing in dumb show before him. Things that he had dimly dreamed of were suddenly made real to him. Things of which he had never dreamed were gradually revealed.”

These lines demonstrate how Dorian’s perspective on life begins to change. The book exposes him to ideas and desires that eventually weaken his moral foundation. He allows his unconscious desires to gain control over his actions, despite the innocence and purity that initially characterize him.

Therefore, through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray demonstrates the importance of balancing the three divisions of the psyche: the id, the ego, and the superego. The novel can be interpreted as a reminder that human beings must learn to manage their desires, morality, and relationship with reality. When one division becomes dominant over the others, the consequences can be destructive.

The novel also reminds readers that the human body inevitably undergoes decay. Beauty and youth do not last forever, and the pursuit of eternal youth can become dangerous when it becomes an obsession. How one cares for the body is an investment, but physical beauty should never become the sole measure of a person’s worth.

Human beings have only one life and one body. Therefore, one must learn to appreciate how wonderfully one has been created without becoming enslaved by vanity, vice, or temptation. The desire for pleasure is not necessarily destructive, but an uncontrolled desire for pleasure can harm both oneself and the people around them.

When moral depravity takes hold, a person may sink into a life of moral, physiological, mental, social, and spiritual destruction. One should always consider the importance of good deeds and the truth that nothing lasts forever, especially human beauty.

Do not waste your life insatiably pursuing sexual pleasure, knowledge, wealth, or attention. An excessive and uncontrolled desire for any of these things can destroy you or the people around you. Eventually, you may realize, too late, that the choices you have made and the life you have been living were wrong.

Remember, time wasted is lost forever.