Symbols (Grade 12 NSC Matric English HL): Revision Notes
Symbols
Understanding symbolism in literature
In literature, symbols are powerful tools that authors use to represent deeper ideas, themes, or qualities beyond their literal meaning. Oscar Wilde employs several key symbols throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray to enhance the novel's exploration of beauty, corruption, and moral decay.
Wilde's masterful use of symbolism adds layers of meaning to the narrative, allowing readers to explore themes of aestheticism, moral corruption, and the relationship between art and life on multiple levels.
The portrait (painting)
The portrait stands as the most significant symbol in the entire novel. This magical painting serves as a visual representation of Dorian's soul and moral condition.
Key functions of the portrait:
- Mirrors Dorian's corruption: As Dorian commits increasingly immoral acts, the painting becomes progressively more hideous and distorted
- Shows his true self: While Dorian remains physically beautiful, the portrait reveals his spiritual decay
- Creates psychological torment: The painting becomes a source of growing anxiety and paranoia for Dorian
The portrait's transformation is directly connected to Dorian's choices to prioritise pleasure and desire over morality. Each time he harms someone - whether through blackmail, manipulation, or cruelty - the portrait becomes more grotesque. Ironically, Dorian fears the physical ugliness of the painting more than he fears the rumours about his behaviour, highlighting his obsession with surface appearances.
The portrait functions as Dorian's external conscience - the physical manifestation of his moral decay that he cannot escape or hide from, no matter how beautiful he remains on the outside.
The yellow book
This mysterious text, believed to be À rebours (Against the Grain) by Joris-Karl Huysmans, serves as a catalyst for Dorian's moral downfall.
Significance of the yellow book:
- Corrupting influence: Lord Henry gives this book to Dorian after Sibyl's death, and it contributes to his descent into decadence
- Physical description: The book is "bound in yellow paper, the cover slightly torn and the edges soiled" (Chapter 10, page 143)
- Possessive behaviour: Dorian later asks Lord Henry never to lend the book to anyone else, showing how deeply it has affected him
The book represents dangerous knowledge and the power of literature to influence and corrupt impressionable minds.
À rebours was a real novel that celebrated aesthetic decadence and the pursuit of artificial pleasures over natural ones - themes that directly parallel Dorian's own journey into moral corruption.
Flowers
Throughout the novel, flowers appear as symbols of transient beauty and aesthetic pleasure.
What flowers represent:
- Fleeting nature of beauty: Flowers bloom briefly and then fade, mirroring Dorian's fear of ageing
- Wealth and privilege: The abundance of flowers in Dorian's homes demonstrates his financial ability to surround himself with beautiful but temporary things
- Aesthetic ideals: Flowers reflect Dorian's pursuit of beauty for its own sake
- Reminder of mortality: Their brief lifespan constantly reminds us of what Dorian desperately wishes to avoid
The symbolic use of flowers emphasises the novel's central tension between the desire for eternal beauty and the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death.
Furniture and fabrics
The luxurious objects that surround Dorian create an important contrast between external beauty and internal ugliness.
Role of material luxury:
- Aesthetic comfort: Dorian's expensive furniture, fabrics, and tapestries create a beautiful environment that supports his comfortable lifestyle
- Moral contrast: The beauty of his physical surroundings stands in stark opposition to the moral depravity of his actions
- Class privilege: These luxury items highlight how wealth allows Dorian to maintain his facade
Textual Example: Luxury Amid Cruelty
After destroying Sibyl emotionally, Dorian wakes to find his valet serving tea "on a small tray of old Sèvres china and (draws) back the olive-satin curtains, with their shimmering blue lining..." (Chapter 8, page 109).
This scene emphasises how luxury cushions him from the consequences of his cruelty - beautiful objects surround him even as his soul grows increasingly ugly.
Red and white
These contrasting colours carry traditional symbolic meanings that Wilde uses effectively throughout the novel.
Colour symbolism:
- White = Purity and innocence: Sibyl Vane's dead body is described as "white," suggesting she retained her moral purity despite her tragic end
- Red = Blood and violence: Dorian begins to notice blood-like marks appearing on his portrait, symbolising the violence and harm he causes to others
This colour contrast reinforces the novel's central theme of the battle between innocence and corruption. White represents what Dorian has lost, while red represents what he has gained through his immoral choices.
Key Symbolic Elements to Remember:
- The portrait is the central symbol - it physically represents Dorian's moral corruption and serves as his conscience
- The yellow book acts as a corrupting influence that accelerates Dorian's moral decline after Sibyl's death
- Flowers symbolise transient beauty and remind us of Dorian's desperate wish to remain forever young
- Luxury items create ironic contrast between Dorian's beautiful surroundings and his ugly actions
- Colours carry traditional meanings - white represents retained purity (Sibyl) while red suggests blood and violence (the portrait's transformation)