Critical Lense Essay

Critical Lens Essay “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul” says Lord Henry, in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. This quote essentially describes that one’s mind can only be purified through one’s awareness of one’s surroundings and actions. It also shows that one can only view the world with an open-mind if one’s soul is purified. Purification is the innocence of one’s soul, and the goodness of it. This idea is expressed in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, when Dorian Gray writes Sibyl Vane a letter proposing to marry her. This idea is also seen in Lord of the Flies by William Golding when Ralph and the other boys stranded on the island are found by an English trooper. Firstly, when Ralph and the other boys finally adapt to their environment of the deserted island and work together toward being saved, they start to purify their soul because the boys learn from their horrific actions on the island. For example, Piggy and Simon were two boys who were killed by the other boys. "Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and the savage doubled up." This quote shows how Ralph acted like a monster, the use of alliteration increasing the intensity for the irrational behavior. Because of their rowdy behavior, the boys learned how the deserted island had influenced them to morph from proper English boys to cruel animals. The boys finally realize what the environment of the deserted island has turned them into and can see what their good deed of working together has done for them--being found by the English trooper and saved from becoming any more uncivilized. The boys were once blinded by the idea of survival but once they were found this idea soon disappeared because of the goodness in their Therefore the boys’ senses were cured by their souls and because the boys became aware of their surroundings, their souls in turn become pure. Finally, when Dorian Gray tells