The movie Dorian Gray was released this year with Ben Barnes playing the protagonist, and what I did eagerly was watch it. Based on the novel by Oscar Wilde published in 1890, it is a fascinating story and it never fails to captivate my heart and mind. I never tire of reading this story again and again, possibly because it deals with the issue of eternal life.
In the story Dorian Gray is ready to give up his soul for eternal youth. In the days when I was a young boy and was afraid of God, the story would have certainly frightened me. Not only would I have been afraid of selling my soul--giving up one's morality makes sense, as the absurd concept of exchanging a soul, which other than something related somehow to one's personality and sense of morality is not some entity proven to exist(physical or otherwise)--but I would have been afraid to ask for the virtue of immortality.
Even in the age of science, I feel a little hesitant about asking for immortality, for there is still a chance that getting immortality could have a curse attached to it. Something could go wrong: the scientists mayn't have done enough tests and there could be some horrible side effects.
That is the reason I enjoy reading this book many times. Think about Gray. He is handsome, and rich: he has all that any man needs to enjoy a good life. But the fact remains that all this enjoyment is temporary. Dorian has all every man wants, but he hasn't the one thing that no man has ever gotten--immortality. Without immortality, all time is borrowed time; time is the master with you as its slave.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a man ready to submit to the Devil to get his immortal life. But that isn't what the story's charm really is all about. The Christian mythology and the sins of Gray are common among men and ultimately uninteresting. The one thing of interest to us in this new century is the contest we have with nature for the secret of immortality. We learn the secrets of nature and devise ways to use nature's power to suit our ends. If we do are jobs right and have manage to assess the risks appropriately, we get what we wish; otherwise, we suffer for our mistakes and end up living with some odd scheme of affairs the rest of our lives the way Dorian's picture aged in lieu of him. This is one story I am sure will possess the power to captivate even in that future where immortality is a commonplace reality. Eternal life--the one great void that needs to be filled in this desert of life.
In the story Dorian Gray is ready to give up his soul for eternal youth. In the days when I was a young boy and was afraid of God, the story would have certainly frightened me. Not only would I have been afraid of selling my soul--giving up one's morality makes sense, as the absurd concept of exchanging a soul, which other than something related somehow to one's personality and sense of morality is not some entity proven to exist(physical or otherwise)--but I would have been afraid to ask for the virtue of immortality.
Even in the age of science, I feel a little hesitant about asking for immortality, for there is still a chance that getting immortality could have a curse attached to it. Something could go wrong: the scientists mayn't have done enough tests and there could be some horrible side effects.
That is the reason I enjoy reading this book many times. Think about Gray. He is handsome, and rich: he has all that any man needs to enjoy a good life. But the fact remains that all this enjoyment is temporary. Dorian has all every man wants, but he hasn't the one thing that no man has ever gotten--immortality. Without immortality, all time is borrowed time; time is the master with you as its slave.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a man ready to submit to the Devil to get his immortal life. But that isn't what the story's charm really is all about. The Christian mythology and the sins of Gray are common among men and ultimately uninteresting. The one thing of interest to us in this new century is the contest we have with nature for the secret of immortality. We learn the secrets of nature and devise ways to use nature's power to suit our ends. If we do are jobs right and have manage to assess the risks appropriately, we get what we wish; otherwise, we suffer for our mistakes and end up living with some odd scheme of affairs the rest of our lives the way Dorian's picture aged in lieu of him. This is one story I am sure will possess the power to captivate even in that future where immortality is a commonplace reality. Eternal life--the one great void that needs to be filled in this desert of life.
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