The Time through The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: social mirrors

Abstract

This article is the final result of a course held in the master's degree and aims to discuss how the constitution of time in the Oscar Wilde's The picture of Dorian Gray. Since the temporal passage occurs in an unusual way, being presented by the gradual aging of the self represented in the picture of Dorian Gray, while the character remains young and beautiful. This causes a change in the temporal paradigms that allows us to have a look at the consolidation and development of the character's consciousness and personality, as well as the social critiques that can be raised in this literary context. Given the conservative and hypocritical society in which the character resides, creating a contrast between his actions considered undue and the socially propagated moral values. A duality between appearance and true practices, culminating in a reflection on the social conservative construction that becomes problematic. These questions can be raised from the behavior of the protagonist character, in a metaphorical way, together with the time that allows the evidence of these questions. To do so, conceptions about time will be presented and discussed, as well as basic concepts derived from utopian studies will be explored in order to see more clearly the social structure, as well as a brief mention of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, which extends this proposed reading.