Our "heroes" personify the moral ideal, embodying aesthetic forms that shape our self-conceptions and give expression to the desires that drive us. But heroism doesn't arrive fully formed. So how does heroism come to be? If heroes are symbols of our moral ideals and aspirations, how much of that symbolism is about what virtue is supposed to look like? How does our valuation of beauty mold what we believe is "heroism"? And when does ego tip into vanity — into obsession with the performance of self? 

Using The Picture of Dorian Gray, we'll sit with the gap between the image of what we should be and the reality of what we are, questioning how beauty, perfection, and heroism shape the self. The soul, too.

Text: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

Date: Tuesday, July 14th at 7pm

Location: Madison Square Park with Katie and Connor

If you are interested in attending this Study, email strotherschool@sustainedattention.net