Aestheticism as A Catalyst for Self-Destruction in Frankenstein and Dorian Gray
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Aestheticism as a Catalyst for Self-Destruction in Frankenstein and Dorian Gray
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Aestheticism as A Catalyst for Self-Destruction in Frankenstein and Dorian Gray
In the eighteenth century, gothic fiction emerged and provided classicist authors with the opportunity of escaping from the obligations of rationality and reason. Gruesome details of evil, terror, and death characterized this literature. The authors that explored a plethora of aspects of gothic literature made the protagonist face monsters and created surreal situations, which manifested the latent evil, frailties, and weaknesses of human nature. This study analyzes the classical novels Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde about their evil characters. The evil characters in these novels are notably similar. The novel’s significant connection to aesthetics is analogous since Dorian was beautiful while the monster in Frankenstein was ugly. Dorian and the monster are correspondingly alike to each other even though their appearance is contrasting; their evil behaviors and fate are congruent. While other authors explore aestheticism subtly, Dorian Gray by Wilde and Frankenstein by Shelley explore the consequences of aestheticism and, as such, the dangers of a societal desire for beauty.
Focusing on the main query of whether ugliness can promote evil, the Frankenstein by Shelley tells of the narrative of Frankenstein and his creation. Dr. Frankenstein was an ambitious scientist who sought to decipher the underlying secrets of human life. He reanimates a monster from the remnants of decayed corpses. Even though the creature’s outward ugliness is due to Frankenstein’s lack of aesthetic ideals, the inner ugliness resulted from alienation and rejection from society. The creature blamed the negligent Frankenstein for its ugliness and sets out for vengeance, making it the evil monster in the contemporary conception.
Contrasting, Frankenstein’s query of whether evil promotes ugliness, the central theme in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde, assesses the query of whether beauty promotes evil. Dorian Gray, the novel’s main character, is a beautiful and gorgeous young man considered the embodiment of aesthetics. Fearing to age and lose his beauty, Dorian makes a bargain with a supernatural entity, which helps him confine the effects of age to an oil portrait. As a result, Dorian stays pristine and young while the vicissitudes of age and transgressions transform the oil portrait’s face to that of a horrid individual. Even though the author introduced Dorian as a naïve boy, the influences of Lord Henry, and the freedom that his beauty provided, Dorian becomes a villainous individual like the monster in Frankenstein.
Creators of Evil
As earlier indicated, the plot in both novels focuses on characters that become the creators of depraved characters. Frankenstein creates the monster from corpses and reanimates the monster by utilizing a supernatural discovery. However, the monster’s ugliness makes Frankenstein abandon the creature, which caused it to seek revenge. The monster propounds that the accursed creators formed it so repulsive and turned from it in disgust (Shelley, 2018). On the other hand, Lord Henry creates the wicked Dorian through the convincing power of his pernicious words. For instance, Lord Henry adopted a hedonistic philosophy and lifestyle. He had a maxim that an effective way of getting rid of temptations is by giving in to temptation (Wilde, 1890). Such assertions inspired and motivated Dorian to align his life to this immoral advice. Both novels comprise symbolic devils who are the creator that temps and incentivizes the main characters to become evil.
Aestheticism As Portrayed By Characters
In Plato’s theoretical framework, the beauty mystique indicates that the ugly is evil while the beautiful is good (Synnott, 1993). However, the evaluation of the aesthetic awakening of the evil characters in the novels contrasts this theory. An analysis of the aesthetically elevated but ethically corrupt Dorian and the aesthetically depressed Frankenstein creature, it becomes apparent that aesthetics was a fundamental aspect of their character identity. Unquestionably, the outward appearance was the primary motivator for abhorrent actions and evil behaviors spurred by aesthetics concerns. In other words, the processes of becoming wicked and morally corrupt began when the characters realized the societal perception of their aesthetics, the beauty of Dorian, and the repulsiveness of the monster.
The monster created by Frankenstein was a repulsive and ugly creature. Frankenstein created the creature by mixing corpses and did not consider the beauty of the final scientific product. The monster, which had the intellectual ability similar to a newborn infant, ran away from the disdain of the creator in search of identity and the reason for its existence. The creature indicated that it had no friends, a father that watched its infant days. Besides, it indicated that it had not seen another bearing a resemblance to it or claiming to have intercourse with the monster (Shelley, 2018). The creature sought to search for identity and seek a group or a place that it could aesthetically belong with these queries. In search of identity and belonging, the monster hid in a cabin house where it observed the routines of the welcoming family. Even though the family welcomed the creature, they reject the monster due to its appalling ugliness and abnormal figure. Society humiliated and shooed the monster wherever it went (Shelley, 2018).
In the beginning, the monster was a morally sound and kindred creature, but after observing how an ordinary human being looked like, the creature became conscious of itself and considered its ugliness as the core reason for its lonely existence. With this awareness, the naïve and unguided creature seeks revenge. The monster begins this quest by killing the brother of Frankenstein. You belong then to my enemy to whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim (Shelley, 2018). The aesthetical perception and conception of society set the groundwork for the monster’s evil character. Society’s dejection unraveled the natural capacity for evil actions and motivated evil behaviors. The monster sought to make Frankenstein miserable and sorrowful as it felt.
In contrast to the Frankenstein monster, Dorian was the epitome of extraordinary beauty (Wilde, 1890). Dorian’s physical attributes manifest Wilde’s proclivity to aestheticism, the movement that valued beauty over moral principles. When Dorian viewed his beauty on the oil canvas as he becomes invisible to the cruelty of age, fragile self-confidence, and the fear of losing his exalted aesthetic qualities, he brokers a pact with a supernatural entity. Dorian chose beauty and the pleasure aestheticism provided and sold his soul to depravity. How sad it is! I shall grow old. Nevertheless, this picture will always remain young. If it were the other way, I would give my soul for that!. The use of unnatural aspects makes Dorian realize his wish. Dorian observed the painting tarnish and age with each inequity he committed. The physical appearance and inner nature separated, and the dualism invigorated his motivation to seek pleasures through abhorrent acts. The influenceable personality of Dorian makes him fall culprit to the aesthetical perspectives of Lord Henry, which obscured his moral distinctions.
Even though both the Frankenstein creature and Dorian become wicked individuals, their transformation resulted from the awakening of their aestheticism. The significance of physical appearance lies within societal judgments and perceptions, which applaud beauty, and disregards ugliness. Frankenstein’s creature was once good but became evil due to loneliness and rejection due to its ugliness. On the other hand, Dorian becomes evil due to selfishness and fear linked to his existing beauty. In other words, aestheticism invigorated the existing inherent propensity to become evil and made the characters vulnerable to making immoral decisions.
Self-Destruction
Evil characters in both narratives end with their destruction. After the evil the characters have caused, they understand their wickedness and immoralities and repent through their self-destruction. The self-destruction of the Frankenstein monster and Dorian prevailed as the unifying themes in these narratives. The self-destruction came as a form of suicide, which marked the downfall of these characters.
In context to the monster, the suicide came as penance towards the inequities it committed. After the creature murdered everyone associated with Victor Frankenstein and instigated its creators’ death, the monster lost its purpose to continue living. The lack of purpose is a central theme in the novel, highlighting that the pain and immorality the characters inflicted on others were dependent on no feasible objectives but rather emanated by self-conflicts in the characters. Even though the monster targeted Frankenstein, both the characters find themselves battered with their unyielding desires for vengeance. Assessing the innate monologues of the creatures indicate that the primary reason the creature committed suicide was fear of loneliness. Despite the creature’s desire to kill Frankenstein, it did not consider that even though Frankenstein was a loathsome creator, he was the only individual the monster knew in that aesthetic society. Therefore, the inner conflicts that filled the creatures with rage fade when it completes its mission and the monsters become aimless and choose to end its life. The ugly but kindred monster contravenes the beauty mystique theory and transforms into the evil, and ugly monster society perceives.
Contrarily, the atonement and self-destruction of Dorian resulted due to an indirect process. An assessment of Dorian’s plot of wickedness reveals that he was repentant of his atrocities innumerable times, but the wayward words of Lord Henry motivated him to continue with his despicable actions. The indirectness of Dorian’s suicide resulted due to the utilization of gothic aspects. Dorian becomes decisive that living with a beautiful face was never worth the guilt and fear he suffered. For this reason, Dorian decided to destroy the oil painting bearing the imprints of all his iniquities. The aspect mentioned above was an indirect resolution to kill himself since Dorian considered that many of his transgressions were unforgivable. In the end, Dorian stabbed the portrait, which carried all traces of his immoralities. Ironically, stabbing the painting terminated the deal with the supernatural force and the dualistic nature of the physical body and the body merges. Thus, indirectly, Dorian stabbed himself and died while repenting his transgressions.
Frankenstein monster and Dorian draw notable parallelism since, in the end, both the characters chose suicide as the only approach to salvage their immoral souls. A rumination of the character’s immoral and wicked motives from their creation until self-destruction evokes psychological motivations behind their immoral actions. Even though the monster and Dorian contrast each other in the theme of aesthetics, their downfall and fate coalesce into one death.
Conclusion
Contrary to other writers who explored the concept of aestheticism quite well, Dorian Gray by Wilde and Frankenstein by Shelley explored the consequences of aestheticism and the dangers of a societal desire for beauty. The study concludes that even though both the characters become evil, their wickedness resulted from their societal aesthetic concerns. The monster becomes evil due to his repulsive ugliness, while Dorian became evil due to his unmatched beauty. The characters in both novels are tragedies of failed experiments, an artistic one and a scientific one. The downfall of the characters in both novels resulted due to a process that developed in several stages. At the onset, the creators encourage and influence their creation, which increases the propensity of the characters to undertake immoral actions. Later on, the characters experience an aesthetic awakening that prompts them to commit atrocious actions. The actions sink the characters deeper into immorality, and finally, their transgressions lead to their tragic downfall. The narratives of both novels convey the theme, which criticizes the aesthetic obsession of humans and warns against the dangerous repercussion of lauding beauty over morality. The synthesis of t the monster and Dorian narratives acts as a fundamental medium of social criticism. Consequently, the comparison of the two characters cautions towards aesthetic intolerance.
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