The Epigrams of Lord Henry

KN Simon

The Epigrams of Lord Henry

Lord Henry’s epigrams are filled with paradox, satire, and humor. However, Wilde was not trying making a creative impression about everything he said in his book. The epigrams convey different messages from morality, religious beliefs, and personal conscience to matters regarding relationships. This paper will explore one of Lord Henry’s epigrams and put it into perspective in real-life situations.

The Epigrams of Lord Henry

In chapter two of the book Wilde says, “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it and your soul grow sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful” (Wilde, 1890, p. 21). In this case, Henry was trying to test morality and innocence in the society. He advocate for one to give in to the demand of temptations since failure to do it will haunt one with imaginations of what could have happened. Despite being a young, innocent man, Lord Henry suggests that Dorian was not innocent as he had a lot of unscrupulous thoughts hidden in that innocence.

Henry try to suggest that innocence and morality is highly revered in the society and one who practices them becomes likeable in the society. Innocence beguiles the society to believe that someone is morally upright; however, underneath that innocence, dormant desires have not emerged (Wilde, 1890, p. 21). Some of the desires are shameful and evil and they are only concealed by the fact that they are within the mind. According to Henry, the search for morality leads one to self-denial but to a sturdier need for what has been deprived of (Wilde, 1890, p. 21). In this case, Dorian alleges that what the mind is thinking is separated from what the body is doing hence the mind can sin and the body be exempted from the sins. Lord Henry suggested, “It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also” (Wilde, 1890, p. 21). This is true since the brain of human being thinks about so many immoral things but the immorality goes unnoticed because the body does not express it. The case is similar with most human beings, when given a chance to review what is in your thoughts you will realize that some of the things you were thinking are shameful and immoral. Lord Henry suggested, “We are punished for our refusal and every impulse we strive to strangle broods in mind and, poisons us” (Wilde, 1890, p. 21). To justify his claim, Lord Henry suggests, “action is a mode of purification” (Wilde, 1890, p. 21). Therefore, according to Lord Henry, it is worth to give in to the demands of the brain since action will disentangle one from the shackles of the desire to do what you have retrained yourself from doing. The claim is authentic since engaging in the action will give you the utility or the satisfaction that you intended to gain. Failure to gain the utility poisons the mind with repeated thoughts and imaginations about what could have happened.

References

Wilde, O., & Bristow, J. (2006). The picture of Dorian Gray. OUP Oxford.

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