Should we despise Dorian for being shallow?
By: Elsa Andersson
In the book A Picture of Dorian Gray the main character Dorian has a tragic flaw, vanity. As the story progresses, he becomes more and more vain. His friend Henry deserves part of the blame for this as Henry first awakens Dorian´s vanity. He emphasized to Dorian that beauty is the most important endowment one can have in this world. Can we really despise Dorian because of his vanity? As a matter of fact vanity has become increasingly common throughout the last decades. Frankly we should blame ourselves for this development. As society focuses ever more sharply on beauty and appearance rather than achievements and virtue, substance is leached from our discourse and shallowness reigns supreme. Our society rewards shallowness and vanity to such a degree that we surpass Dorian in shallowness and vanity.
Social networks ignite vanity. Facebook and Twitter both encourage us to focus on the superficial and the fleeting. Trying to have a nice profile picture and receiving as many “likes” as possible is a phenomenon that has escalated. One could ask why these things are important but the only real answer is that we humans want to feel appreciated. In the modern materialistic world looks and status are becoming more important. Many have up to 100 profile pictures and some may even be more revealing than may be appropriate. This vanity, the fixation on our bodies, is so important that sometimes it becomes more important than ethical behavior. Social networks play an important role in encouraging vanity in today’s society.
Advertisement is a key ingredient in fostering vanity and shallowness. Many companies want us to feel insecure and they appeal to our vanity. Some companies have long forgotten what ethical behavior is. Money is nowadays more important than making sure future generations´ health is good. Many companies have advertisements that are designed to make teenagers insecure and lower their self-esteem. Making the viewer self-conscious and insecure is an essential selling technique. First the advertisement claims that the viewer suffers some terrible affliction—most often affecting how the viewer looks. Then the advertisement shows a solution to the problem, which “happens” to be the product. This may sound ridiculous but for many teenagers and even older people this works. The viewers feel insecure and buy the product. In addition, advertisers manipulate and lure the customer by having slightly inappropriate themes such as sex and alcohol which are chosen to attract customers and sell products. Advertisers know that they can increase sales by playing to young people’s insecurity and vanity.
Some might argue that even in a society which spotlights beauty and superficial characteristics, an individual has the choice to ignore society’s values and to avoid shallowness and vanity. This is to some extent true. We do decide whether we should give in to vanity or not. However, calling it a choice is rather hypocritical. The children who grow up today have not lived in any other world than the hyper-materialistic world that we live in. Therefore calling it a choice is naïve and incorrect. Children learn from their parents and the environment. Their natural ability to adapt is essential and they mimic the behavior of their parents and their friends. Therefore, if their parents and friends are raised to be shallow and if everyone around them is vain they will most likely become shallow and vain. In addition everywhere they look, tempting advertisements and commercials are celebrating attractive appearance. Since children mimic the behavior of the people around them, they will become vain even if they don’t intend to.
It is we humans who forge our own society and this is causing an increasing amount of vanity. Contributing factors are social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, advertisements and the people around us and our parents. Thus, if we ask ourselves whether we should despise Dorian Gray there is only one answer. No, we cannot despise Dorian Gray because deep inside of us we all have an inner Dorian Gray whose vanity and shallowness have fostered by the values of our modern world.
In the book A Picture of Dorian Gray the main character Dorian has a tragic flaw, vanity. As the story progresses, he becomes more and more vain. His friend Henry deserves part of the blame for this as Henry first awakens Dorian´s vanity. He emphasized to Dorian that beauty is the most important endowment one can have in this world. Can we really despise Dorian because of his vanity? As a matter of fact vanity has become increasingly common throughout the last decades. Frankly we should blame ourselves for this development. As society focuses ever more sharply on beauty and appearance rather than achievements and virtue, substance is leached from our discourse and shallowness reigns supreme. Our society rewards shallowness and vanity to such a degree that we surpass Dorian in shallowness and vanity.
Social networks ignite vanity. Facebook and Twitter both encourage us to focus on the superficial and the fleeting. Trying to have a nice profile picture and receiving as many “likes” as possible is a phenomenon that has escalated. One could ask why these things are important but the only real answer is that we humans want to feel appreciated. In the modern materialistic world looks and status are becoming more important. Many have up to 100 profile pictures and some may even be more revealing than may be appropriate. This vanity, the fixation on our bodies, is so important that sometimes it becomes more important than ethical behavior. Social networks play an important role in encouraging vanity in today’s society.
Advertisement is a key ingredient in fostering vanity and shallowness. Many companies want us to feel insecure and they appeal to our vanity. Some companies have long forgotten what ethical behavior is. Money is nowadays more important than making sure future generations´ health is good. Many companies have advertisements that are designed to make teenagers insecure and lower their self-esteem. Making the viewer self-conscious and insecure is an essential selling technique. First the advertisement claims that the viewer suffers some terrible affliction—most often affecting how the viewer looks. Then the advertisement shows a solution to the problem, which “happens” to be the product. This may sound ridiculous but for many teenagers and even older people this works. The viewers feel insecure and buy the product. In addition, advertisers manipulate and lure the customer by having slightly inappropriate themes such as sex and alcohol which are chosen to attract customers and sell products. Advertisers know that they can increase sales by playing to young people’s insecurity and vanity.
Some might argue that even in a society which spotlights beauty and superficial characteristics, an individual has the choice to ignore society’s values and to avoid shallowness and vanity. This is to some extent true. We do decide whether we should give in to vanity or not. However, calling it a choice is rather hypocritical. The children who grow up today have not lived in any other world than the hyper-materialistic world that we live in. Therefore calling it a choice is naïve and incorrect. Children learn from their parents and the environment. Their natural ability to adapt is essential and they mimic the behavior of their parents and their friends. Therefore, if their parents and friends are raised to be shallow and if everyone around them is vain they will most likely become shallow and vain. In addition everywhere they look, tempting advertisements and commercials are celebrating attractive appearance. Since children mimic the behavior of the people around them, they will become vain even if they don’t intend to.
It is we humans who forge our own society and this is causing an increasing amount of vanity. Contributing factors are social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, advertisements and the people around us and our parents. Thus, if we ask ourselves whether we should despise Dorian Gray there is only one answer. No, we cannot despise Dorian Gray because deep inside of us we all have an inner Dorian Gray whose vanity and shallowness have fostered by the values of our modern world.