The quest for eternal physical beauty has plagued societies for centuries. We live in a society that worships beauty. We are bombarded daily, sometimes even subliminally, by this eternal quest for beauty. Oscar Wilde explored this theme in his book, The Picture Of Dorian Gray. The book was written over 100 years ago but even today the emphasis on beauty and youth in our culture are stronger than ever. Our media always seems to feature young and beautiful people. How often do we see the elderly or fat people featured in advertisements? We have been taught to place more value on physical appearance than on the quality of character. The Picture of Dorian Gray is set during the late nineteenth century in England, a period marked with the exceeding importance of social stature and personal image

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: 19th century england,culture,dorian gray,english novel,great books online,Oscar Wilde,Oscar Wilde,personal image,social stature