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Compare and Contrast Essay
Nasser Abdulla
Mrs. Timm
12G
March 28, 2013
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Nasser Abdulla
Mrs. Timm
12G
March 28, 2013
Outline
I.
The Pictures of Dorian Gray
A. Introduction
1. Literary Novel
2. Graphic Novel
B. Thesis Statement; after reading both novels, it was easy to compare and contrast
them.
II.
Similarities
A. Plot
B. Character
C. Theme
D. Setting
E. Resolution
III.
Difference
A. Dialogue
B. Scene
IV.
Left out
A. Chapters
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B. Symbols
V.
Conclusion
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Nasser Abdulla
Mrs. Timm
12G
March 28, 2013
The Pictures of Dorian Gray is a book written by Oscar Wilde which features a young
man who is drawn into its shallow society. There are two books for this novel, a literary book
and a graphic book. Dorian is a young man, who’s youth and beauty is what everyone wants so
badly. His self confidence increases when people tell how they envy his youth and beauty, which
leads him into doing bad actions. He wishes to stay young and handsome forever. The graphic
novel contains pictures of the events that happened. It is essentially made up of dialogues
between characters, unlike the literary novel. The literary novel is a more extended version of the
story. It shows the character’s emotion and ways of thinking. It is more appealing because it is in
detail. It also shows the thoughts of the characters, but the graphic novel saves the time to
imagine events as they are drawn right in front of you. After reading both novels, it was easy to
compare and contrast them. “I set my soul through in the invisible, some letter of that after-life to
spell: and by and by the soul return’d to me and answer’d: I myself am heaven and hell.” (Omar
Khayyam)
The Pictures of Dorian Gray is about a young man who wants to remain the same age
without aging and becoming old. He wants to stay young and handsome through-out the years.
His vanity interferes which leads him into making a wish that ruins his life. He practically sells
himself to the devil, and hence his soul becomes trapped in a painting that was painted by a
friend of his. With every sin Dorian commits, the painting becomes revolting which shows the
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truth personality of Dorian under that beauty of his. It shows the soul beneath being the young,
beautiful and rich man that was everything a woman wanted, and the men envied. “I prayed for
beauty and youth, and but for those two things my life might have been free from stain.” (G,
114)
The characters in this story each has major impact on Dorian’s behavior. They all affect
his behavior in negative ways which makes him the person he is. Three characters influence
Dorian in this book. At first, there is Basil. Basil is one of Dorian’s first friends. A talented artist
who is inspired by Dorian. Basil cares for Dorian a lot and wants to lead him in the right
direction. He knows how lost Dorian is as he is very young and is not capable of handling
responsibilities. Basil painted the picture which brought all this misery upon Dorian. Basil knows
how the society is and how Dorian will easily get sucked into this hell hole of a society. Basil is
also the Dorian’s rival because Dorian keeps blaming him for tarnishing his life. Dorian is
certain that Basil is the main reason behind his actions, even when he did all those bad things by
himself. Basil is the one who increased Dorian’s vanity in him. His arrogance is a result of how
Basil praised him to be. Finally, Dorian gets fed up of him and the worst happens.
Despite how much Basil cared for Dorian, Dorian made another friend. Lord Henry is a
very interesting character. He is a very powerful man in society and he becomes fascinated by
Dorian, he also finds Dorian very appealing. As soon as Lord Henry sees the picture of Dorian
painted by Basil, he finds it very attractive and decides to meet Dorian. That foreshadows how
Lord Henry wants to become a part of Dorian’s life. When he becomes a major part of his life,
he tries to control every aspect of it. Even his personal life. When Dorian decided to get married,
Lord Henry interfered a lot and tried to stop his marriage. Although Lord Henry wanted to
control Dorian’s life, he truly cared for him and wanted the best for him. He raised his self
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confidence and egotism. Basil tries to advise not to trust Lord Henry, but Dorian becomes grows
fond of him. He is strongly affected by what Lord Henry thinks of him. “Basil, this is
extraordinary! I must see Dorian Gray” (L, 13)
A turning point in the story and Dorian’s life is when Sybil Vane entered. Sybil Vane is a
young actress with a lot of potential. Dorian was captured by her acting, not by her personality.
He wanted to marry her because of her acting and because she started a life within the people
who saw her act. Perhaps Dorian fell in love with her acting, but she fell in love with him. She is
the reason for Dorian’s first sin, as Dorian leaves her after seeing her obliterate her career. He
decides to leave her after realizing that he does not truly love her. She commits suicide after
being abandoned by her love. That results in the crisis of the story. Because of his rejection to
her and her suicide, Dorian’s pictures starts to become tainted and it shows his true personality
behind that beauty of his. The inner truth within him.
This story shows how shallows and superficial London society is. It shows what the
people of London’s main concern and it was not the personality of the person. All the people
cared about what the money he got, and the looks of the person. That is one of the reasons why
Dorian became affected of what the people thought. They desired what he had of youth and
beauty. Every woman wanted him and every man was jealous of him. It was a society in which
being rich, young and handsome was all that mattered. This novel shows that in society it is not
whether the person is good hearted, but rather when he is handsome and rich. Dorian experiences
the freedom of abandoning his morals without condemnation.
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London in the 20th century is where this novel took place. It was a time of balls and
parties. London was very shallow and apparent back then. All they cared about was looks and
money.
Following events, Dorian lead a life of depression and miseries. He committed many sins
and resulted in being the worst person in London. After selling his soul to the devil and being the
main reason for the murder of a young girl along with one of his close friends. The painting
becomes tarnished completely. The painting enclosed his soul. Dorian does not want to blame
himself for his actions and wants to be done with all this. He decides to stab the painting while
also blaming Basil. He wants to set himself free. When doing that, the painting echoes on
himself and then his true individuality appears. He becomes the person he was supposed to be a
long time ago. Beneath he deviance.
Just like any story with two books, there are many differences between them. The
dialogue is different, and also some of the scenes. The graphic novel is full of dialogues and it
shows the expanded dialogue of the story. Unlike the literary novel, which shows a brief
dialogue and not as extended as the graphic novel. It mostly shows the thoughts and surrounding
of the characters.
Many chapters are left out between both books. In addition to symbols. Chapters 6, 9, 11,
17 are left out. Maybe because they are pointless and redundant or because they might be a cause
for a longer book which makes the reader loses interest in the book. There are many symbols in
the story; some of these symbols are that James Vane symbolizes Dorian’s conscience. When
James Vane dies, Dorian’s conscience dies along with him. No one knows the truth behind
Sybil’s death and now Dorian is free to do anything because James is not around anymore. After
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Dorian misleads James into believing that Dorian is not the person who is behind Sybil’s death,
even when he is, he leaves to the countryside. James follows Dorian there and that represents the
fact that his conscience follows him everywhere. White usually connotes innocence and
blankness, as it does when Dorian is first introduced. He was a young and innocent man with no
sins to commit and not enough experience in life. But the days of Dorian’s innocence are over. It
is a quality he now eschews, and, tellingly, when he orders flowers, he demands “as few white
ones as possible.” (G, 118)
In general, when comparing and contrasting these two novels, some events remained the
same but other changed depending on the books. The setting, plot and theme along with the
characters remained the same. The basic events of the story remained as they where, but few
events changed in the story. Some things were moved around. The graphic novel spares the
readers imagination, not like the literary novel. The moral behind the story stay the same.