One's reputation and image in the public eye is still important in today's world. Nothing, however, compares to British society's obsession to social reputation and other superficial concerns of centuries past. The British novel of the past attests to this fact:
Eliza Haywood- 18th century
Eliza Haywood in her novel Betsy Thoughtless strayed away from the Jane Austen type narrative that concentrated on courtship rituals and rather presented marriage for what it was- hard work. Her protagonist, of course, is not a young beautiful thing but Betsy- an older, cynical woman that sees things for what they are. She is in a miserable marriage and can only be comforted by women who themselves are subject to conformity of the sex gender system of the time and can only give such advice as enduring, and being careful to not ruin the marriage. This shift in focus, and thus use of portraiture, is due to marriage and not courtship becoming the main topic of interest in 18th century society.
In the 18th century century particularly women started concentrating on not only getting male's attention but keeping his attention. If a male were to stray it was thus the woman's fault which truly represents the sexist attitude of Haywood's day. All of a woman's actions including who her friends were, how she acted in public, and what she spent her time doing or her own money on were only reflections of her husband's character, or were supposed to be anyhow. Betsy was warned:
"...A young lady more endangered her reputation by an acquaintance of one woman of ill fame, than by receiving the visits of twenty men, though professed libertines".
Oscar Wilde- 19th century
In Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray the writer creates a world were aestheticism reigns supreme. It is a world much like our modern day environment- image is everything. It is inevitable that because humans are unable to judge someone's character, they will use their physical appearance to take a guess. This inevitably means that Dorian, a selfish, murderous man is seen as a good person simply because he is good looking:
"You are made to be good-you look so good".
This is why Lord Henry, who draws a portrait of Dorian, inevitably sees and judges Dorian the same way someone views a jewel, rare tapestries, or beautiful music- his beauty is ephemeral and can only be caught in his painting, much like Hollywood captures woman in their late teens and early twenties in modern cinema. It is important to note however that Wilde does not condemn humans for being so vain and pretentious- he believes we can't help it and have to pay a large price for this aesthetic weakness. This is inevitably proved when he kills his handsome protagonist off.
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde and "Betsy Thoughtless" by Eliza Haywood use the technique of portraiture, as well as the motif of portraiture, to depict societies from two different centuries whose love for surfaces has not dwindled in the slightest.
Texts Discussed:
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
Signet Classic, 1995
ISBN: 0451526015, 9780451526014
The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless
Eliza Haywood
Broadway View Press, 1998
ISBN: 1551111470, 9781551111476
