In this essay the representation of the city according to the Fin de siècle writing style will be explored. This essay will analyze The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and a selection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Both books represent the city differently in some aspects and share similarities in others. Point One: Dirty Dorian Gray is set in the late 19th century, in the midst of the decadent art movement, meaning that Dorian would have been a fictional contemporary of Wilde. Although the Victorian period was plagued by conservative views, Wilde used Dorian to express the indulgent double standards of the city's elite. Dorian sees between the two ends of the social scale. But despite Dorian's disapproval/disgust, he continues to visit the "narrow and gloomy" (Wilde,182) streets of the eastern end. As Richard Elman agrees, "between these two worlds, no decent or comfortable middle class, no quiet family life, no dormitory section in the wild vision of the big city" (p51). Dorian seems ignorant of the plight of the less fortunate people around him. He uses this depressing environment as an escape, despite it being unavoidable for the poor people living in the area, where opium dens, prostitution and filth are a reality. (Elman,154)P2-Sherlock Holmes-copper beech trees)An alternative view of the ability to disguise is that it is difficult to realize that Holmes is also one of these disguised people. Holmes is a rational man in his work, but outside of it he is a drug addict, who "keeps his tobacco in places as eccentric as the toe of a Persian slipper" (19th Century Suspense, 93). In a city of thousands of people, Sherlock can easily move in and out of society. Holmes is aware that large amounts of crime happen everywhere... middle of paper... food, which means a lot of things, get overlooked. The city environment allows him to seem as if he functions like any other member of a decent society. As this essay has shown, both texts use a variety of methods to show the opinions of the time and the author. Wilde uses his character to represent the double standards and decadence of the time. While Doyle's likeness uses Sherlock and Watson as moral compasses. Although at first glance both Dorian and Sherlock seem opposites, they share similarities; the city is seen by the authors as a corruptible force. Some people object to this, like Holmes and Watson, but others can't or won't, like in the case of Dorian. Ultimately, the city changes its inhabitants, whether they like it or not. Works Cited http://www.angelfire.com/ok5/perceivers/images/Scandal.pdf http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1661/1661 -h/1661-h.htm#1