Salman 1

Compare and Contrast Essay

Rawan Jamal

Mrs. Timm

12A

March 28, 2013

 Salman 2

Rawan Jamal

Mrs. Timm

12A

March 28, 2013

Compare and Contrast Outline

I. Introduction

A. The picture of Dorian Gray

1. Graphic Novel

2. Literary Novel

B. After reading the graphic novel as well as the literary novel, it is now easy to

compare and contrast.

II. Similarities

A. Characters

B. Plot

C. Themes

D. Setting

III. Differences

A. Scenes

B. Dialogue

C. Viewpoint

IV. Left Out

A. Chapters

1. Six
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2. Nine

3. Eleven

4. Seventeen

B. Preface

C. Combined Chapters

1. Twelve

2. Thirteen

V. Conclusion
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Rawan Jamal

Mrs. Timm

12A

March 28, 2013

Compare and Contrast Essay

The picture of Dorian Gray is about a brilliantly beautiful, impressionable, and wealthy young

gentleman named Dorian who wishes to stay young forever. A well-known artist called Basil

Hallward drew a portrait of Dorian Gray. This portrait bears Dorian's sins while he does not get

affected. Dorian's soul is trapped in the painting. The more dreadful his behavior becomes; the

worse his picture looks. The story has two versions, the literary novel and the graphic novel.

There are differences and similarities in the two novels. Some chapters are left out in the graphic

novel as well. The literary novel is more detailed. It has a lot of information and it encourages

the readers to use their imagination while reading the story. It shows how the events happened

and many other details. Whereas the graphic novel, is less detailed. It is more interesting than the

literary novel since it has pictures. The graphic novel is made up of dialogues which make it

easier for the reader to understand the story. After reading the graphic novel as well as the

literary novel, it is now easy to compare and contrast.

The graphic novel and the literary novel have many similarities. Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward,

Lord Henry, Sibyl Vane and Alan Campbell are the unchanged characters in the two novels. The

protagonist of the story is Dorian Gray. He cares about youth and beauty more than anything

else. He wants to stay young forever desperately. Dorian chose to sell his soul to the devil for

beauty. "For that, I would give everything. There is nothing in the world I would not give I

would give my soul for that!"(G, 15) Basil Hallward is a talented artist who cares about Dorian a
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lot. Before he meets Dorian, the way he used to paint was totally different. He started to draw

with feelings ever since he met Dorian. Apparently, he becomes obsessed with Dorian. Basil

wanted to protect Dorian's soul. He introduced Dorian to his close friend, Lord Henry Wotton,

even though he believed that Lord Henry would be a bad influence on the handsome, young

Dorian. Lord Henry is the antagonist. His characteristics are almost like Dorian. He usually

criticizes the moralism and hypocrisy of the Victorian society. His theories aim to destroy the

understandings of truth purposely. Dorian fell in love with an actress called Sibyl Vane. Sibyl

Vane performs in a theatre in London. She loved Dorian so much and refers to him as "Prince

charming". "You look more like a prince. I must call you a prince charming." (G, 31) Dorian

really loved her act. Sibyl decided to quit acting because she was truly in love with Dorian and

she cannot pretend to love on stage due to this reason. The choice of quitting acting made Dorian

leave Sibyl. This shows that he loved her act more than her personality. Sibyl died when he left

her. Dorian got over her death without difficulty. The similarity in the plot is that whenever

Dorian makes a mistake, the portrait, which represents his soul, bears the burden of age and

notoriety. However, Dorian's physical appearance remains unaffected. The picture gets worse

whenever Dorian's behavior gets hideous. There are also similar themes in the two novels. The

themes are the purpose of art, the supremacy of youth and beauty, the superficial nature of

society and the negative consequences of influence. The purpose of art is to have no purpose. It

is useless. There were two works of art in the novel. They are Basil's painting and the yellow

book that Lord Henry gave Dorian. These two works of art had a meaning. Basil's painting

reveals Dorian's soul which is full of sins and hatred. It shows him how terrible his mistakes are.

The yellow book acts a map which leads Dorian farther along the path of notoriety. However the

author, Oscar Wilde, wrote this quote at the beginning of the novel. "All art is quite useless"
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Oscar Wilde (G, 1). But, those two works of art showed the readers the opposite. The purpose of

supremacy of youth and beauty means that the only purpose of art is to offer beauty. The

supremacy of beauty happens throughout the novel. Since beauty and youth was extremely

precious in their culture, Dorian was truly valuable in their society. On the other hand, Dorian's

reputation became terrible due to his sins, which makes him worthless. People began to talk

about Dorian in a bad way. Basil tried to inform and warn Dorian by telling him, "Dorian, I think

it is right you should know that the most dreadful things are being said against you in London!"

(G, 61) However, it was Dorian's choice to commit the sins, which means that he should bear the

consequences. He gives nothing less than his soul to the devil in order to stay young and

handsome forever. The superficial nature of society means that their society cares mostly about

physical appearances. Beauty matters the most in their society. They care less about the good

hearted people. All they care about is whether the person is handsome or not. Dorian has the

freedom to throw away his morals now without being criticized. The last theme is the negative

consequences of influence. This theme means that the painting and the yellow book have

negative influences on Dorian. Dorian's behavior got worse and worse due to these two works of

art. Dorian idolized Lord Henry and the yellow book even though they were the bad influences

on him. He controlled Basil because Basil admired him. That is the reason why Dorian had the

bravery to kill Basil. Basil sacrificed everything for Dorian, but Dorian killed him because the

ugly painting stresses him out. He believes that everything is Basil's fault because he drew the

portrait which represented his soul. This shows that the endurance of one's self, whether it is a

person or a work of art, leads to another person's destruction. The similarities of the setting are

that both novels took place in the 1980's, the 20th century. They both took place in London,

England. Eventually, the resolution of the novel was when Dorian killed himself. Dorian wanted
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to start a new page in his life and leave his past behind him. He wanted to get rid of all his

previous sins. So, he decided to stab the painting. Dorian's soul was trapped in the painting

which led to his death. However, the portrait returned to its original form.

Apart from the similarities, the graphic and literary novels have some differences. The

differences are the scenes, dialogues and the viewpoints. The differences in the scenes are that

Dorian Gray is portrayed as a handsome young man with golden blonde hair in the literary novel,

whereas the artist of the graphic novel conveyed him as a brunette. Although this is a mere

difference, the artist of the graphic novel in fact contradicted the image that Wilde was

attempting to represent, as well as stole the audience's use of imagination. The readers of the

literary novel use their imagination while reading the book. They are able to imagine the scenes

accurately as the story is described in details. The artist of the graphic novel does not introduce

the scenes. It merely shows emotions through facial expressions. On the other hand, the literary

novel offers an extensive introduction to all scenes as well as deeply describes all feelings

portrayed by the characters. The graphic novel is a much condensed novel. Alan Campbell

committed suicide in the literary novel. He shot himself in the laboratory. "Alan Campbell had

shot himself one night in his laboratory, but had not revealed the secret that he had been forced

to know." (L, 105) The artist of the graphic novel did not mention anything about Alan

Campbell's suicide. He skipped the part of Alan's suicide. This shows that the graphic novel was

written briefly. This makes it confusing for the reader to understand the scenes in sequence. It

makes the reader miss some details of the story chapters. The artist of the graphic novel might

think that it is not important for the reader to know some information, but it makes an immense

difference to the reader.

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There are also some differences in the dialogues of the two novels. The dialogues in the

literary novel are extended. It explains everything precisely. The characters make very lengthy

speeches in the literary novel. The artist of the graphic novel abbreviated the dialogues since

there are pictures that explain some things that are unnecessary to be included in the dialogue.

The dialogues in the graphic novel show the main point of the conversation. The narration in the

literary novel is much more detailed than the graphic novel as well.

There were some left out chapters in the graphic novel. Chapters six, nine, eleven and

seventeen are left out. The parts that are left out are not really significant to the artist of the

graphic novel. He believes that unnecessary details would make the reader lose interest in the

novel. But, those details make a vast difference. Some pictures in the graphic novel clarify the

left out parts. They symbolize the left out parts that are in the literary novel but not in the graphic

novel. The preface was also left out in the graphic novel. It mainly explains the beauty of art.

Chapter twelve and thirteen were combined in the graphic novel, whereas they are separate

chapters in the literary novel.

To sum up, I believe that both, the graphic novel and the literary novel, have some advantages

and disadvantages. In my point of view, I think that the graphic novel is more interesting since it

has pictures as well as dialogues. The pictures help the reader to understand the events easily.

The dialogues are short in the graphic novel which makes the book less boring, unlike the

literary novel. Reading unnecessary parts a lot makes the reader lose interest. Conversely, the

negative aspect of the graphic novel is that some scenes are left out, which makes the story

bewildering to understand. The advantages of the literary novel are that it allows the reader to

use their imagination. It also makes it less confusing for the reader to understand because it
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describes everything in details. The drawback of the literary novel is that it may bore the reader

since it is extremely detailed. However, both novels are interesting.

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Work cited page

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Dell Pub., 1968. Print.

Culbard, Ian, Ian Edginton, and Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray: A

Graphic Novel. New York: Sterling Pub., 2008. Print