Oshiro 1

Dana Oshiro

Mr. Miles

English 10 Pre-AP P-3

6 October 2017

The Price of Youth and Beauty

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, a recurring theme is the supremacy of youth and beauty,

noting that self-conceit leads to the abandonment of all other things. This idea is present in the

poem “Narcissus and Echo” by Fred Chappell and relates to the novel The Picture of Dorian

Gray by Oscar Wilde. “My only belonging is my beauty” (Chappell 4-5) showcases the pride

Narcissus has in his own beauty such as in Dorian Gray when he says, “If it were I who was to

be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that--for that--I would give

anything” (Wilde 26). Throughout both stories, Narcissus and Dorian abandon all other things:

companionship, love, ethics, reasonings, and, in the end, their souls/lives. Furthermore, in the

pursuit of aestheticism, both abandon and leave interested lovers broken hearted. Echo’s quiet

agony of “ache of unbeing” (Chappell 5-7) juxtaposed to Narcissus’s careless flaunts seen in

“teasing playfully the one being” (Chappell 7) creates a shocked and disgusted tone similar to

Dorian’s dismissal of Sybil Vane in “without your art you are nothing” (Wilde 84). By pursuing

beauty and art rather than people, Dorian becomes cruel, and Narcissus wastes away by the

water. In the search for glamour, Narcissus and Dorian are heartless as they turn their face from

love of others and towards artistry and perfection. Both characters ignore the other impalpable

and joyous experiences in an appalling disregard for Echo and Sybil and attention to

aestheticism. Consequently the devotion to such beauty can only end in an exceedingly high

price: the soul.

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Moreover, society’s superficial nature is apparent in both The Picture of Dorian Gray by

Oscar Wilde and “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Society prizes appearance;

however this concept is atrocious. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, people are constantly praising

Dorian’s beauty seen in “all the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth’s passionate

purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward

worshipped him” (Wilde 17). The society idolizes youth and beauty with a gorgeous exterior,

yet the author’s tone is sarcastic and overdramatic in describing Basil’s affection for Dorian

showing this perception is depthless and small-minded. Society’s adoration for a flawless

appearance is also seen in “We Wear the Mask” when the narrator says, “Nay, let them only see

us, while we wear the mask” (Dunbar 8-9). The afraid tone indicates that the speaker is

frightened by “them”, or otherwise society’s standard in the upkeep of a perfect front. Negative

connotations towards society’s infatuation with an outward appearance present the universal

truth that the surface is not everything. The theme that idolization of beauty and appearance is

ludicrous persists throughout the tales of “Narcissus and Echo” and The Picture of Dorian Gray

and in “We Wear the Mask.” This superficial idea is referred to as negative consistently and

poses the question of whether anything good comes from the reverence of exteriors and beauty.
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Narcissus and Echo by Fred Chappell

We Wear the Mask by Paul Dunbar

Shall the water not remember Ember

my hand’s slow gesture, tracing above of We wear the mask that grins and lies,

its mirror my half-imaginary airy It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

portrait? My only belonging longing, This debt we pay to human guile;

is my beauty, which I take ache With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

away and then return as love of And mouth with myriad subtleties.

of teasing playfully the one being unbeing.

whose gratitude I treasure Is your Why should the world be over-wise,

moves me. I live apart heart In counting all our tears and sighs?

from myself, yet cannot not Nay, let them only see us, while

live apart. In the water’s tone, stone? We wear the mask.

that shining silence, a flower Hour,

whispers my name with such slight light: We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

moment, it seems filament of air, fare To thee from tortured souls arise.

the world become cloudswell. well. We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

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Works Cited

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Barnes & Noble, Inc. , 2015.

Chappell, Fred. “Narcissus and Echo.” Shenandoah Literary,

https://shenandoahliterary.org/blog/2016/03/narcissus-and-echo-by-fred-chappell/.

Accessed 06 October 2017

Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “We Wear the Mask.” Poetry Foundation,

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44203/we-wear-the-mask/. Accessed 06

October 2017