A Psychoanalysis Perspective on the Picture of Dorian Gray

A Psychoanalysis of

"The Picture of Dorian Gray"

1. Departure from Formalism

Literature ceases to be a special way to organize language for aesthetic purposes, and is a pervasive explanation of the human mind. The text is a result of processes in the mind of the author, and functions as a way to uncover his unconscious.

2. General characteristics of Psychoanalysis

Text has an expressive function. Focus on the author. Also called "hermeneutics of distrust" = everything has a hidden meaning. Characters are personas of the author; they are projections, not projectors. Sensuality is an inherent part of human beings.

What to look for in a text:

• Oneiric sequences: weird, strange, obsessive bits of text

• Triangles

• Sexual symbolism

• Metaphors

• Signs of neurosis: unstoppable verbalization, nervous laughter, slips of tongue, muteness

3. About the author

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is Oscar Wilde's only novel. It was surrounded by controversy from the moment of its publication in 1890, and edited and republished in 1891. The novel was criticized for its homoerotic references, its immorality and decadence. Later on in life Wilde was tried and convicted of gross indecency and imprisoned, before dying destitute in Paris in 1900.

4. Characters in the novel

Wilde claimed the characters were different facets of his personality. "Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry is what the world thinks me; Dorian is what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps". If we consider them to be representations of the regions of the mental apparatus, Basil could be associated with the super-ego, Henry with the id, and Dorian with the ego: he is torn between heeding Basil and succumbing to Henry. Also, the character of James Vane can be interpreted as Dorian's guilty conscience.

5. Dorian and the portrait

Besides the obvious interpretation which can be given to the portrait, that of Dorian's conscience, one can also draw parallels to "the mirror stage" synthesized by Jacques Lacan.

The mirror stage is that moment in the development of a child when he first recognizes himself in the mirror. However, it is an error because it is not actually himself in the mirror, but a virtual representation, and this misunderstanding may lead to the alienation of self.

Thus, the moment Dorian first sees his portrait is his "mirror stage"; he stops being naïve, innocent and starts his descent into darkness:

"When he saw it he drew back, and his cheeks flushed for a moment with pleasure. A look of joy came into his eyes, as if he had recognized himself for the first time. He stood there motionless and in wonder […]. The sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation."

A switch of personalities takes place, where the former Dorian passes into the painting, and his painted self transcends into reality.

6. Repression and neurosis

Repression of the conscience, i.e. the super-ego is described by Wilde through Henry:

"We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind and poisons us. […] The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful."

Dorian's crimes are justified by him through denial:

"Don't talk about horrid subjects. If one doesn't talk about a thing, it has never happened. It is simply expression, as Harry says, that gives reality to things."

"The past could always be annihilated. Regret, denial, or forgetfulness could do that."

Repression leads to neurotic symptoms, such Lady Victoria Wotton's nervous laughter and unstoppable verbalization, and Dorian's unconsciously drawing Basil's face, becoming paranoid when Henry asks him about his whereabouts and hysteric laughter on the road to the opium dens.

7. Oneiric sequences

Everything that happens in a dream takes place in the id, in our subconscious, which is why dream-like sequences, reveries are