Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapter 16-18

" 'To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul' : [...] "The hideous hunger for opium began to gnaw at him" (Wilde 189-190).

Intoxication often expedites the path to hell especially if one is already treading its way. In the Homer's Odyssey Odysseus encountered a island of lotus eaters where many people fell to its seductive grasp never to leave the island. Opium is a example of a present-day lotus eater. Dorian tries to cure worldly problems. Drugs only blind one to chronic problems, poisoning them. Yet, Dorian surrendered to his poor judgement and wanted an over stimulation of the senses only to meet another broken soul (James Vane) who had almost taken his life. Life is a workout. In order to become stronger, one must climb the stairs of life and not take opium's elevator for weak muscles and a quick high.



" ' I have never searched for happiness. Who wants happiness? I have searched for pleasure. ' " (Wilde 202).

Life is a gift. The bows of life's high points produce a smile of satisfaction when looked upon its aesthetic pleasure. Dorian claims that he replaces happiness with pleasure. Pleasure is immediate gratification and must be repeated. Happiness is a complex conglomerate of emotions converging upon the overarching disposition of one's life. Replacing a long term, deep happiness with short-lived pleasure is like using a relationship with a partner for sexual intercourse rather than mutual growth. One will leave one satisfied for a life-time, while another will satisfy someone for the afternoon and harm them later. Drugs are the step in which Dorian turns to in order to stimulate his pleasure. In the long run, his body will exhibit adverse consequences to his short sighted attempts to remedy life, ultimately expediting his death. The wrapping papers of pleasure are not enough to substantiate the gift of life made whole by the present of happiness beneath the thin layer of pleasure.

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