The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 11-12

"It was rumored of him once that he was about to join the Roman Catholic communion; and certainly the Roman ritual had always a great attraction for him. The daily sacrifice,more awful really than all the sacrifices of the antique world," (Wilde 135).

The artists and sculptors who crafted Catholic art did not do so so others would worship what the statue looks like, but what the figure represents. Dorian wish join Catholicism because of sheer aesthetic pleasure is almost feral. Wishing to be a part Catholicism automatically evokes the endorsement of the message that it is trying to proclaim. Dorian's whimsy demonstrates his inability to bear true artistic wisdom. Catholic art is based on the advocation of morals, while Dorian embodies the artistic uselessness that Wilde proclaimed in his preface. Dorian's tanning rays of aesthetic acceptance externally beautify the body of Catholicism, unaware of the sheer cancerous malignancy being embedded in the core of its message.



"Dorian had been poisoned by a book. There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful" (Wilde 150).

Art is aesthetic work which exceeds ordinary significance. The intentionality of the artist is factored into the value of art. Lord Henry's book was not given out of the hopes to artistically inspire Dorian but to control him. People may say that it is Dorian who makes the decision to act upon Lord Henry's influences, but it is Lord Henry who realizes the damage that the book will cause Dorian. Lord Henry's values are the hunger that Drives Dorian to indulge himself in every fantasy that his mind fabricates. Humanity extends its hands to accept art. It is the hot whips of evil that that burn art into an elusive vapor that flees from humanity's grip. One cannot appreciate the last glimpse of art as they are distracted by Lord Henry cynically clutching a match.