Essay On in What Specific Ways Do Both George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and Oscar Wilde’s the Picture of Dorian Gray Reflect on the Relationship Between Art’s Power To Create and Its Power To Destroy?

Art pieces have power in the sense that they can influence, actions drama, or suggest and evoke intense feelings and images in the mind of the audiences. Art is therefore capable of creating and or destroying. Art is a representative of reality, and its power lies in its ability to change the vision and the audience’s perspective by creating meaning for them. George Bernard’s Pygmalion and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grays are exceptional works and examples of how art influences society. Art is, therefore, a catalyst, and when blended with imagination, it can create new powerful meaning and influence. Pygmalion is a play that was well written and highly illustrates the power of art. The story is about a young girl whose life transforms. The girl is from a poor background. She is despised because of her looks and language. She is given a chance to change her life, but the outcome is not what she expected. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a great work that describes a young attractive innocent man’s obsession, moral corruption, and ultimate downfall. A young man named Dorian has a portrait of himself painted. He becomes very obsessed with the painting, and it gets uglier and uglier and more aged with time. These two literary texts have the essential task of portraying a message to the audience. So how do these two literary texts reflect on the relationship between the power of the arts to create and its power to destroy?

Art and writing have been intertwined since time immemorial. Even though one can look at art and writing separately, the best literary texts have a way to kindle art and writing naturally. The writing itself can be a piece of artwork when it influences the audience’s imagination. However, a work of art can be a creative jump start for a great novel. Artwork can also work as a structural element in the plot of a literary text or as a research source. Therefore literary texts, in this case, novels, reflect the art’s power to create. For instance, the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde offers a great example of how art can be used as a potent force that creates.

Wildes’s novel is about a young man whose portrait grows old while he remains young. Basil Hallward paints the beautiful picture, but he fears that he has put so much of his soul into that very painting. Dorian is impressively influenced by the painter and becomes obsessed with the painting. As the painting ages, Dorian remains young. He becomes “a face without a heart” Wilde, (2003). Dorian starts seeking pleasure and sensation at any cost, and that leads to his downfall. In the picture of Dorian Gray, the author uses the picture of Dorian as a structural element in the plot. The painting of the picture of Dorian Gray sits at the center of the plot of the book. The portrait is significant because it illustrates the ability of art to create. The picture holds the ugliness, aging, sin, and Dorian’s guilt conscience while Dorian remains young and beautiful. Wildes literary text greatly reflects the power of art in creating because, from the painting, a tremendous, horrific story was written. The portrait and the French novel serve a purpose: the picture painted acts as a road map, leading the young man farther along the path toward immorality and shame.

In the same way in the picture of Dorian Gray, the literary text also shows how art can destroy. The author uses his skills to manipulate and destroy art in their writing. For instance, in the book, Dorian remains young while the portrait of the piece of art gets old and ugly. However, in the end, the author destroyed Dorian while maintaining the work of art that hanged on the wall the portrait was now ” as beautiful as ever,” Wilde, (2003). Arts ability to destroy lied in the hands of the author who manipulates the characters and the themes to create a great story.

On the other hand, Pygmalion also shows how art is a reflection of its power to create. Pygmalion is an ancient classical Greek mythology. Pygmalion was the king of Cyprus who was a sculptor. He carved an ivory statue of a maiden and fell in love with it. The statue was brought to life as an answer to the king’s prayers. George Bernard’s Pygmalion play is a literary text named after the king of Cyprus, and this alone shows the ability of art to create. George Bernard used the Pygmalion as a point of reference. In the Pygmalion Greek mythology, the king of Cyprus had great expectations of the statue he had curved, and therefore he wished and prayed that it would be a woman because he had fallen in love with it. The Aphrodite gods met the high expectations of the king. The high expectations of the king led to the high performance of the god.

George Bernard used the Pygmalion mythology as a creative jumpstart for his literary text. The book by Bernard is excellent in its development as the author illustrates how there was an improvement in Eliza’s performance because Higgins expected her to perform well and achieve. Therefore, the original Pygmalion was used by the author to create his work, which shows how art is compelling in creating and influencing the audience’s perceptions. Elizabeth Doolittle is introduced to the audience by the author when he asserts that “She is not at all a romantic figure” Shaw, (1912). Professor Higgins plays the Pygmalion to Eliza’s life. Higgins uses his passion for phonetics to transform Eliza. Higgins is a bully and cruel treatment towards Eliza even though he has put great expectations on her and expects her to become a duchess. His great expectations lead Eliza to become an independent woman. It is only then that Higgins starts viewing Eliza as a worthy creature. This again reflects on the art’s power to create by manipulating characters and other literary devices.

In the same way, the Arts’ power to destroy is demonstrated by how the author convinces and sways the audience’s perception. Art also can destroy by manipulating and eliminating the perception of the audience. For example, in Eliza’s case, she was portrayed as a nobody because of her appearance but this perception changes in the end when she rises to fight for herself as an independent woman. Drama was used to bring about the changes in the characters. The outcome of Eliza’s training is not what she expected, and she is not only able to change her appearance and speech but also gain confidence in her abilities. The literary text could destroy the perception and the first image of Eliza that the audience had.

References

Shaw, B. (1912). Pygmalion: A Play. Denton & White.

Wilde, O. (2003). The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1891. Ed. Donald L. Lawler. New York and London.