The Picture of Dorian Gray #8: Unlocking the Preface

 “All art is at once surface and symbol.  Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.  Those who read the symbol do so at their peril” (Wilde 2).

            The reader is first introduced to the idea that art is both surface and symbol in the preface, yet the idea is not fully explained until the last chapter of the text.  Wilde claims that there are two aspects to every piece of art, the surface and the symbol.  He also claims that those that attempt to understand the artwork do so with the chance of harm.  Basil’s portrait of Dorian serves these two purposes; on the surface it is just a painting that seems to be aging, but this visible aging symbolizes all of Dorian’s sins.  Although Dorian notices the surface before the symbol, he attempts to read the symbol first which then leads him to go beneath the surface, literally.  It didn’t take long for Dorian to realize that the portrait was displaying his sins so that he could keep his young features, but in the last chapter Dorian attempts to understand the symbol even more.  Dorian begins to wonder if the increase in blood on the portrait means “that he [is] to confess” to his sins (227-228).  As Dorian further understands the symbolism of the portrait he begins to question everything he has done and he blames the portrait for his actions.  He is then led to destroy the portrait.  When Dorian drives the knife through the portrait he is literally going beneath the surface and when he does this he ends up dying because of his relationship with the painting.  Since the portrait is the representation of Dorian’s soul he cannot live without it so when he destroys it he essentially kills himself.  Through his delving into the meaning of the symbol and going beneath the surface Dorian causes himself pain and trouble.  Unlocking the symbol led Dorian to commit such horrid things as the murder of Basil and the blackmail of Alan Campbell, and his attempt to destroy the painting by literally going beneath the surface caused his death, unlocking this part of the preface in the context of the story.