Dorian Gray and the present-day beauty ideal.
“I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life. We are not sent into the world to air our moral prejudices. I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do.” – Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray (New York 2011) 71.
To remain young and beautiful forever: is there anyone who hasn’t wondered if there is a way to do just that? To not grow old, to not bear the marks of the life you live, have lived. What if you could simply live the life you wished, without having to pay the consequences? What if your life didn’t have to have meaning, could be completely wasted away, as long as it’s been a beautiful life?
Beauty is an integrated part of our society: it is literally everywhere. It’s in the commercials, in theatres, the media, it is everywhere. However, there is a danger to all this. Just as in Dorian Gray, where the aesthetic lifestyle is at the heart of the book, the modern day beauty industry rules a large part of our lives: “follow the ideals, the norms, and you’ll have an amazing life if you do”. Both Dorian and a lot of men and women in our society today followed those ideals, but at what cost? The thesis I will present in this article is the following: “Striving towards the big beauty ideas as Dorian Gray strived towards the perfect aesthetic life, without moral regards or boundaries, causes the seeker to neglect themselves and risk emerging more ugly then before their search began”. I will present this thesis by comparing The Picture of Dorian Gray to the present day beauty-industry and the consequences that the ideals have on the society.