PoDG End of the Book

1.) "Yet it was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement. There was a God who called upon men to tell their sins to earth as well as to heaven. Nothing that he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin" (Wilde 228).

Throughout the entire novel, we see Dorian has concealed his sin from the world. No one knew of his monstrous portrait, and the few who did ended up dead. We see that for most of the novel, Dorian is perfectly fine with keeping his sin private, much like Abigail was in The Crucible. The difference between Dorian and Abigail, and even distinguishing between Proctor as well, as that, like Proctor, Dorian acknowledges his sin, but, different from Proctor, Dorian can actually see the consequences of his sin plainly before his eyes. Still, he chooses to ignore it. It is not harming him, so why should it matter? Toward the end, however, he starts to feel the repercussions of his actions. He makes the choice to do good, in hopes that the portrait would reverse itself. He actively wants to do the right thing. Despite the fact that he had ignored everything for the entire book, in the end he knows what to do. He knows he should confess, but he is simply unable to. No one would believe his story. It is far too preposterous. The important fact is that he knows and wants to both do good and confess. He simply does not have the means in which to do so. He may not actually confess or make his sin public, but the mere mindset of wanting to do so has to count for something.

2.) "As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter's work, and all that that meant. It would kill the past, and when that was dead he would be free. It would kill this monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings he would be at peace" (229).

We see that Dorian has succeeded in killing himself and ending his misery. He knows that his actions do not affect him, but that they affect the portrait instead. Anything he might do to himself would probably just alter the portrait in some way and leave him unharmed. Suicide is a sin, therefore trying to kill himself would simply mar the portrait even more. The only way to kill himself is to kill the portrait. That is where his soul lies, and to finally release it, Dorian must destroy the cage that keeps it. His soul is now free to affect Dorian as it would have if he had not sold it away. This does two things. The portrait is free of Dorian's wretched soul, leaving it pure and perfect, just as it was meant to be. Dorian, however, must now take back the burden of his soul, and all the baggage that comes with it. The portrait's soul was dead long before Dorian took it back, and so Dorian was killed from the sheer severity of sin his soul had endured over all these years. So, Dorian is dead and the portrait is back to normal, but what of Dorian still? Was his end good or bad? Did he get the redemption he wanted, or was he cursed to eternal damnation. I believe the book tells us he was redeemed. Dorian sees his portrait and says that, "when that was dead he would be free," (229) and that, "without its hideous warnings he would be at peace" (229). The portrait is dead, and Dorian must no longer endure its hideous warnings. Therefore, he is free and at peace. Dorian may not have had to withstand the punishment from his actions, but his soul did. When it was reunited with him, Dorian took in all of the punishment that he had been pushing off. Dorian believed that, "There was purification in punishment" (226) and that, "Not 'Forgive us our sins' but 'Smite us for our iniquities' should be the prayer of man to a most just God" (226). Through punishment, the soul can be purified. Forgiveness leaves us with no idea of how our sin has affected us, but punishment justly redirects the sin back onto us. Dorian had endured some punishment near the end of his life, such as the burden he felt of his sins and the desire to be freed from his curse. His true punishment came when he was reunited with his soul. Through that punishment, Dorian was purified. Through his desire to be free and to do good, Dorian was redeemed.