The painting’s change in beauty to reflect Dorian’s corrupted soul sets up the focus of his duality. For instance, the painting of Dorian Gray has its own location in the house, the attic. As well as the setting of the West and East End, Wilde explores the setting in Dorian’s own home. This reinforces the culture surrounding hedonism in the 19th century. The contrast between Dorian and Henry’s setting and the rest of London showcases their selfish and corrupt obsession with only their own desires and pleasures. The other parts of London are completely separate physically and culturally. At this point, the reader has only been introduced to the West side of London with their rules and riches. The placing of the ‘distant organ’ separates the characters from the hectic London life. Furthermore, Wilde uses the simile ‘the dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ’. Professor Joseph McLaughlin, called them ‘sumptuously oriental interiors’ which I believe reflects the indulgent nature of the upper class well. There are descriptions of ‘Persian saddlebags’ and ‘long tussore-silk curtains’ highlighting the upper class’ pleasure in beautiful objects, therefore, showing how the aesthetic movement impacted peoples’ homes. In Basil’s studio, we are first introduced to the luxury of the bourgeois class. The differences in the locations highlight the upper-class wealth and working-class poverty. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde sets up the contrasting locations of the wealthy West End and decaying East End. The idea of decadence is defined by the OED as ‘the process of falling away or declining (from a prior state of excellence, vitality, prosperity, etc.) decay impaired or deteriorated condition.’ The duality of his soul is what leads to his demise. The East End represents Dorian’s corrupted soul and his decadence. The West End represent aestheticism, riches, the establishment and aristocratic society. The East End is a place Dorian can search for new, challenging sensuous experiences and to break away from the limitations from the bourgeois society. Dualism is ‘the condition or state of being dual or consisting of two parts.’ Wilde uses London to represent the decadence, hedonism, sexual promiscuity and shocking violence throughout the novel. The divide between the ‘the east and west which was being perpetrated through poetry and novels’ reflects the duality in Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) explores the divide in London in the 19th Century.
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