This paper offers a psychoanalytic intertextual analysis of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and William Wordsworth's "Resolution and Independence," arguing that each protagonist manifests the Ideal-I described in Jacques Lacan's mirror stage theory. Drawing on psychoanalytic literary criticism, the paper examines how both Dorian Gray and Wordsworth's unnamed narrator idealize their youthful selves, reject the aging process, and ultimately suffer because they cannot reconcile their idealized self-image with reality. The analysis demonstrates that the core conflict in each work is driven by an unresolvable tension between an idealized identity formed in youth and the inevitable advance of adulthood.
The paper exemplifies theoretically informed close reading: it introduces a specific psychoanalytic concept (the Ideal-I from Lacan's mirror stage), defines it with reference to secondary scholarship, and then applies it systematically to both primary texts. This technique shows how a single theoretical lens can illuminate thematic connections across works of different genres and forms.
The paper opens by establishing the shared thematic concern of youth in both works and introducing the psychoanalytic framework. It then defines Lacan's mirror stage theory before devoting parallel sections to each protagonist. Two further sections examine the consequences of the characters' idealization before the conclusion synthesizes the argument. This symmetrical structure reflects the comparative methodology at the heart of the analysis.
There are numerous similarities between Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and William Wordsworth's "Resolution and Independence." Despite the fact that the former is a novel and the latter a poem, both were composed by English authors in the nineteenth century and are preoccupied with the singular theme of youth. This theme becomes even more vivid when these works are examined through the psychoanalytic lens of literary criticism, in which one largely identifies psychoanalytic concepts associated with the characters or authors of literary works (Brooks 334). Adopting this stance for both texts reveals that the protagonist in each manifests the Ideal-I described in Lacan's mirror stage theory. A comparative analysis of these works demonstrates that each respective protagonist attempts to stave off the process of aging by clinging to his youth.
The central conflict in each work revolves around an adopted version of Lacan's mirror stage theory and the Ideal-I, which was substantiated in part on the works of Kohler (Billig 1). According to Lacan, this stage occurs when an individual is less than two years old — and typically older than six months — and first sees himself or herself in a mirror. Such a sight is viewed by the individual as the ideal image of that person, which leaves considerable room for incongruence and even conflict when variation arises between that idealized image and the actual identity the individual comes to adopt.
Although neither character in Wordsworth's or Wilde's works is depicted from such an early age, there is a definite identification with an idealized version of each character's youth evinced early in both texts. Moreover, a great deal of discord and drama occurs because neither character can live up to that idealized image. In Gray's case, he commits a gruesome murder, and the cover-up it entails, and — empowered by his apparent impunity — leads a life of profligacy that causes him moral torment. In the case of the unnamed narrator in Wordsworth's poem, the vicissitudes inherent in adulthood — stress, worry, impending mortality — generate conflict. Such anxiety and the cognitive processes that accompany it are well suited to psychoanalytic criticism (Delahoyde). The source of those conflicts, however, is the difficulty each character faces in reconciling the Ideal-I of Lacan's mirror stage theory with his true self, and that difficulty drives both men to cling to their youth.
It is quite clear that Gray manifests the Ideal-I in Wilde's novel by attempting to embrace his youth and deny impending adulthood. Wilde bestows upon the young man a youthful disposition and uncanny beauty that typifies the cusp of manhood on which he teeters at the outset of the work. Gray eventually becomes convinced, through the influence of Lord Henry, that his beauty and youthful nature will fade with age. He grows obsessed with holding onto his youth, an obsession crystallized by a portrait in which his youthful beauty is in full bloom. In a fit of passion, the young man cries: "I shall grow old and horrible and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young… If only it were the other way! If it was I to be always young, and the picture to grow old!" (Wilde 28).
This quotation reveals Gray's pathology about his appearance and his broader outlook on life. He equates aging with intense negativity, allowing no room for the grace, poise, experience, and other attributes that are commonly viewed as positive dimensions of growing older. Moreover, this passage reveals that his Ideal-I did not take shape in infancy but at the specific moment he sat for this portrait. He views the painting as an idealization that nature and aging will inevitably destroy. Faced with such a perspective, he makes it clear that he would rather remain young and as effervescent as he appears in the picture. This desire to remain forever young is his manifestation of the Ideal-I in Lacan's mirror stage theory.
If either Gray or Wordsworth's narrator were able to come to terms with the fact that they could not live up to their idealized youthful selves, they would not have manifested their respective Ideal-I by trying to stay young. Their preoccupation with youth is merely a fallible attempt to disavow nature and the aging process. Gray manages to do so for a time, yet suffers all the more for it. The narrator in Wordsworth's poem fares little better. Taken together, both works suggest that the compulsion to preserve an idealized self-image — rather than reconciling it with the reality of time's passage — is ultimately self-defeating, a conclusion that Lacan's theoretical framework helps to illuminate with particular clarity.
Billig, Michael. "Lacan's Misuse of Psychology Evidence, Rhetoric and the Mirror Stage." Theory, Culture and Society. 23(4), 1–26. 2006. Print.
Brooks, Peter. "The Idea of a Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism." Critical Inquiry. 13(2), 334–348. 1987. Print.
Delahoyde, Michael. "Psychoanalytic Criticism." Introduction to Literature. Web. No date.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New Jersey: Waterloo Press, 1983. Print.
Wordsworth, William. "Resolution and Independence." PoemHunter.com. 2003. Web.
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