Dorian Gray

      Everyone knows that one person who is gorgeous and well dressed but tends the personality of a pencil . High school is filled with these two-toned teenagers.  Just like high school, the story of Dorian Gray captures the power that is held within fashion and good looks.  You can be a total jerk but if you look good, it's acceptable.
     Dorian Gray has a portrait painted of himself that he curses.  He curses this portrait to age just like he would but instead of him getting older, he stays young and beautiful while his portrait, overtime, gets old and ugly. He knows he is attractive  and he uses this to get away with anything. Dorian falls in love with this Girl named Sibyl who is an actress.  Dorian loves the way she acts and performs. Her love for Dorian is so strong, she feels the need to quit acting to spend more time loving Dorian. Dorian thinks he is some hot you know what and breaks off his engagement after she quits for him.  Sibyl eventual kills herself and Dorian goes cray cray. Dorian becomes even more narcissistic, selfish, sinful, corrupt and hypocritical. Dorian eventually kills Sibyls sister and the artist of his portrait. At the end of the book, he is filled with guilt and ends up killing himself.  After he kills himself he turns ugly and old looking while his portrait turns young and beautiful.
      This story goes on to prove the point that fashion and appearance holds a lot of power over personality. Although Dorian was a terrible person, his peers accepted him into the community because of his clothing and looks. Dorian used the power he gained over time to his advantage to work his way out of trouble.
    This myth shows the superficial side of fashion. Power in this sense, is not a good thing. Mr. Fashionista, Dorian, is using his power in a negative way. The power he gains is through his fashion and appearance. His morals are almost non-existant but it does not matter. Over time though, his method catches up to him and he dies as ugly as his personality.
     This story holds a major conflict that is present in society today.  People are so focused on looking good and spending money on clothing that they lose sight of the expression side of fashion. This is a common theme with in the high school community.  Looking good is better than doing "good" in the community. As sad as it is, many of the students that are not as fashion forward but put a lot of time into school and clubs, are less accepted than those ones that dress to impress. Although this high schoolers look nice, they do not do much for the school community. This is just like Dorian.  He does nothing beneficial to society or his community but his peers do not seem to care.


Ethical Questions:

• Why does the value of fashion weigh more than the value of a good personality?
• Since Dorian is considered attractive and fashionable, and his community does allow him to have the power he does due to his appearance, does that give him the right to use his power in the negative way that he does?