Have you ever wondered about the psychology behind charming Mr. Gray’s spiral into decrepit, soul-staining ruin? An article entitled “Two Types of Psychopath” published online by Psychology Today asserts that Dorian was a narcissist, but I personally think that like any well-written madman, he didn’t start out that way.
At the beginning of the novel, he seems as innocent as a flower, but embodies Narcissus by the end. A large part of his descent into Greek tragedy is the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, a narcissist himself. This relationship, a toxic loop despite the affection between the two characters, is central to the novel’s theme of decay caused by sin. However, the nature of the characters’ corruption also offers a study into the psyche of psychopaths. In the aforementioned article, author Neel Burton, M.D. claims, “Lord Henry’s narcissism is insightful and often quite charming and no doubt similar to that of his creator and alter ego, Oscar Wilde.”
When I read this in the article, I was taken aback. This claim caught me off guard because I recall reading Lord Henry’s “comforting” words to Dorian following Sibyl’s death and wrinkling my nose at the audacious and disgusting self-absorbed message Henry asserts as he states, “‘Things like [a lover’s suicide] make a man fashionable in Paris. But in London people are so prejudiced. Here, one should never make one’s debut with a scandal'” (Wilde 94). He continues with this horrifying rhetoric as Henry claims, “‘If you had married the girl, you would have been wretched… you must think of that lonely death in the tawdry dressing room simply as a strange lurid fragment from some Jacobean tragedy'” (Wilde 98-99). Henry sees Sibyl as entirely subhuman, and limits the lives of others to what they offer one’s ego. Throughout the novel, I interpreted Lord Henry as less of Wilde’s literal voice than an exaggerated interpretation of his personal wickedness, the same concupiscence all humans possess used to comment on society through hyperbole, irony, or litotes as the author intended. While I believe Wilde was likely a vain man, I did not acquire an impression of him as psychotic, which had to have been his state of mind if he shared the literal sentiments of Lord Henry Wotton. As stated by Burton, “The hallmark of narcissistic personality disorder is [that]… In severe cases, [they] may be envious, lacking in empathy, and ready to exploit others in the pursuit of lofty ambitions.”
Burton continues to examine the difference between “successful” and “unsuccessful” psychopaths using Wilde’s characters as prime examples. Successful psychopaths, like Lord Henry, “matched unsuccessful ones in all respects but one: conscientiousness.” Unsuccessful psychopaths are characterized as “impulsive and irresponsible”, much like Dorian Gray following the death of Sibyl as his debauchery caused “those who had been most intimate with him appeared, after a time, to shun him” (Wilde 135). The imprudence of his behavior is projected to be the reason behind Dorian’s self-inflicted demise and Lord Henry’s abstinence from such action the cause of his survival. This theory is seemingly accurate, although I would argue that Dorian slipped into unsuccessful psychopathy. Wilde claims “[Dorian’s] great wealth was a certain element of security” (136), as well as his “charming boyish smile” (135). What I find most haunting is Dorian’s fascination with the portrait: he “would sit in front of the picture… smiling with secret pleasure at the misshapen shadow that had to bear the burden that should have been his own” (Wilde 134). In my opinion, this is the true unveiling of his psychopathy as such disorder is most infamously revealed by an utter lack of guilt and conscience, instead causing the subject to regard their actions with sick fascination.
Work Cited
Beckson, Karl. “Oscar Wilde.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 5 Feb. 2019, http://www.britannica.com/biography/Oscar-Wilde.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Aestheticism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 26 Oct. 2018, http://www.britannica.com/art/Aestheticism.
Burton, Neel. “The Two Types of Psychopath.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, http://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/hide-and-seek/201901/the-two-types-psychopath.
Person. “15 Pieces Of Style Advice From Oscar Wilde.” ShortList, ShortList, 5 May 2014, http://www.shortlist.com/style/15-pieces-of-style-advice-from-oscar-wilde/32919.
Romantic Circles, Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu/sites/default/RCOldSite/www/rchs/reader/tabbey.html.
Seymour, Miranda. “Constance: The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs Oscar Wilde by Franny Moyle – Review.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 June 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/24/constance-mrs-wilde-franny-moyle-review.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1890. Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2015.
Wordsworth, William. “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798 by William Wordsworth.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45527/lines-composed-a-few-miles-above-tintern-abbey-on-revisiting-the-banks-of-the-wye-during-a-tour-july-13-1798.
The Picture of Dorian Gray 