The Art of Influence

Upon completing The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde predicted that it would “create a sensation” when first appearing in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on June 20th, 1890 (Mason). The ensuing controversy, including claims and libel cases, reflected Victorian England’s anxieties around morality, art, and influence. Situated in the late 1800s, amid the aesthetic movement and the integration of psychology into science, Wilde’s novel functions as both a moral tale and a reflection on art’s role in society. The decadent ethos of the era—a “time of experiment” and pursuit of experience (Holbrook 34)—is embodied in Lord Henry’s philosophy, which urges Dorian to capitalize on his youth and beauty regardless of moral consequence. This pursuit of eternal pleasure ultimately leads to Dorian’s ruin, highlighting Wilde’s critique of Victorian values.

Wilde’s elaborate, lyrical style functions as a vehicle for demonstrating the power of language itself. Dorian’s malleability under Lord Henry’s linguistic influence illustrates the capacity of words to shape both art and morality. In dialogue with Wilde’s essay The Critic as Artist, the novel emphasizes psychology, aesthetics, and the interpretive power of language, positioning the critic—rather than the artwork—as the agent of moral and aesthetic transformation.

The novel engages with contemporary philosophical and scientific theories. In relation to John Stuart Mill’s advocacy for freedom of thought, Wilde explores the tension between the “free exchange of ideas” and the “corruption of youth” (Gagnier 26). Using gothic and supernatural elements, he dramatizes the seductive force of influence. In The Critic as Artist, Wilde claims:

“Aesthetics… are to ethics in the sphere of conscious civilization what, in the sphere of the external world, sexual is to natural selection. Ethics, like natural selection, makes existence possible. Aesthetics, like sexual selection, make life lovely and wonderful, fill it with new forms, and give it progress, and variety, and change” (Critic 202).

This analogy aligns aesthetics with Darwinian principles of individuality and creativity, exemplified in Lord Henry’s persuasive monologues. Basil, the artist, represents ethics: he makes art possible but is temporally constrained, while Henry animates both the painting and Dorian’s life with “progress, and variety, and change” (Gagnier 25). Wilde’s treatment of desire, especially Basil’s attraction to Dorian, challenges Victorian morality by implying homosexual desire, further demonstrating the intertwining of sexuality, aesthetics, and ethics.

The novel stages Wilde’s philosophy on the supremacy of language early on. In the preface, he asserts: “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors” (Wilde 4). Though added after publication, this statement underscores art’s immobility and the perceiver’s role in creating meaning. Lord Henry’s first conversation with Dorian demonstrates this dynamic: Dorian’s perception of Basil’s portrait is transformed by Henry’s reflection on fleeting youth, revealing the power of words to shape aesthetic and moral perception (Wilde 23). Basil notes this effect: it is Henry’s language that informs the meaning of the portrait, reflecting Wilde’s belief that “the writer is the superior artist” (Mendelssohn 153).

Lord Henry embodies the critic who exerts moral and aesthetic influence, claiming that “all influence is immoral” because “to influence a person is to give him one’s soul” (Wilde 18). His speech is alluring, masking the dangers of a life devoted to sensation and hedonism. While Basil’s painting is static, Henry’s language transmits his “soul” into Dorian, shaping both his psyche and the ethical framework—or lack thereof—through which he acts (Wilde 28). The novel suggests that the critic wields transformative power: through language, art, and perception intersect to produce moral consequences (Manganiello 28; Mendelssohn 154).

Lord Henry’s philosophical role exemplifies the separation of aesthetics from ethics. Dorian, molded by Henry’s words, sacrifices moral integrity for eternal beauty. Wilde situates this dynamic within Victorian anxieties over youth, corruption, and moral responsibility:

“There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence… perhaps the most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar as our own…” (Wilde 31).

The sensual diction underscores the pleasure Henry derives from imposing his worldview on another, akin to a painter projecting his vision onto a canvas (Wilde 48). Dorian becomes a living experiment, testing the consequences of divorcing aesthetic experience from ethical accountability. As the portrait rots, the ethical decay is confined to art, while Dorian himself remains outwardly uncorrupted—a visual metaphor for the perils of aestheticism detached from morality.

Wilde further examines language’s power through literature, particularly when Dorian claims that a book “poisoned” him. Henry retorts:

“As for being poisoned by a book, there is no such thing as that. Art has no influence upon action… The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame” (Wilde 172).

Henry denies art’s influence, positioning the critic as the interpreter who shapes meaning. This paradox underscores Wilde’s critique of Victorian society: the same words that appear morally inert wield profound psychological power. In The Critic as Artist, Wilde affirms:

“It is only by language that we rise above [external influences], or above each other” (Critic 127).

Through Dorian’s responses to Henry, Wilde dramatizes the interplay between art, perception, and morality. Dorian treats Sibyl Vane as art, rejecting her once she transcends her role as actress to become a living, moral agent (Wilde 70). This episode mirrors Wilde’s assertion that “movement… can be truly realized by Literature alone” (Critic 134), positioning language as dynamic and life-infused, unlike static visual art.

Wilde’s narrative ultimately critiques Lord Henry’s experiment. Despite his philosophical assertions, Henry is oblivious to the moral consequences of his influence. When confronted with Basil’s murder, he denies responsibility, reflecting the tension between theory and practice (Wilde 169). Dorian, the “final work of art” (Holbrook 103), becomes a tragic illustration of the critic’s power and the dangers of divorcing ethics from aesthetics. Wilde’s preface reinforces this: “all art is useless… it ended in itself, and not any addition of personal power” (Wilde 4; Holbrook 104), emphasizing that language and criticism confer vitality and meaning upon art.

The Picture of Dorian Gray complicates the relationship between life, art, and morality. Wilde demonstrates that language possesses transformative power, capable of shaping both perception and character. Dorian becomes aesthetically perfect yet morally corrupt, a living canvas for Lord Henry’s philosophies. Through the interplay of art, ethics, and critique, Wilde underscores the critic’s responsibility and the influence of words as an art form, leaving a lasting commentary on the dynamics of aestheticism, morality, and human susceptibility.