The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Hello! My name is Sarah and I’m here to discuss my favorite book, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde.

Before I get into the novel itself, I’m just going to touch on its history. “The Picture of Dorian Gray” was Wilde’s first and only novel. It was originally published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890. Even then, the book had gone under a heavy editing process, but still proved to be too much for readers at the time. It was fully published in 1891 by Ward, Lock and Company, after Wilde was forced to edit even more. Wilde also added an additional six chapters to his novel at that time.

At the time, readers claimed the book was “poisonous” and “immoral.” Some claimed that the book contained homosexual themes. For sure, the book pushed asceticism, a movement that Wilde was an active part of (placing value of ascetic things over value of moral and social things).

In the prologue of the novel, Wilde wrote: “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.” And this book definitely fell into the “well-written” category.

The Work Itself:

The Picture of Dorian Gray begins when young Dorian is sweet, innocent and very naive. He sat for his friend Basil, who was painting a portrait of him. The portrait was very important to the artist, as – for a reason he could not explain – Dorian had a wonderful ability to make the art more beautiful. At the final painting session, Basil was visited by his friend Lord Henry. Lord Henry was famous for his witty and rather immoral theories of life. When Henry met Dorian, he immediately began to have influence over him. He told Dorian that youth and beauty were the only things worth having at that it is important to live life only for pleasure. He also said that the only way to triumph over a sin is to act on it, that keeping it only in your mind will eat away at you.

Dorian believed everything Lord Henry had told him and, when he saw the painting for the first time, basically sold his soul so the painting would age instead of him.

As Dorian gets older, never showing any sign of aging, he becomes more and more corrupted by Lord Henry’s ideas. Also, he finds that his face remains unscarred from committed sins, always leaving his appearance as innocent as a child. At one point, Dorian falls in love with a young actress and becomes engaged to her. Then one night, she disappoints him with her performance and he calls everything off. That is the night that Dorian first notices a difference in the painting. His face appears more evil. He feels guilt and tells himself that he will repent and make everything better in the morning. He also hides the painting in a retired room upstairs.

Henry shows up the next day to bring the news of her suicide… and also convinces Dorian that the situation is nothing more than a romantic experience. At this point, Lord Henry also leaves Dorian a book to read – the book that might have been responsible for Lord Henry’s own corruption. Wilde refers to this book as “poisonous.”

From that point on, Dorian continues to live his life, gradually becoming more and more corrupt. In the very end, he decided to destroy the painting, taking a knife to the canvas. Hours later, Dorian is found old and mangled on the floor, the painting just as beautiful as it Dorian had been the day he sat for Basil.

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Perhaps the main reason this book was so often referred to as “immoral” is the fact that Wilde is not obvious about… well, anything. For example, someone could read this book and think very highly of Lord Henry’s ideas. The book never specifies what is good and what isn’t good. It’s up to the reader to decide that either Dorian has been corrupted or if he is simply enjoying a pleasure-full life.

The book never goes into detail regarding the sins Dorian had committed, although it is safe to assume that they were of the sexual persuasion. Ok, the book does go into some detail. At one point Dorian leaves town for drugs… also, there is that one part when he murders Basil after showing him the painting…

The homosexual theme was very very minimal in the book. I think Wilde, who was a homosexual himself, hinted that Basil might have had more than a friendly attraction to Dorian. Also, to get rid of Basil’s body, Dorian calls an old friend to help him out. Supposedly, he and Alan Campbell had been very close friends for a while before something happened (the book never specifies) that causes Alan to retreat from society and society to fear Dorian. When Dorian asks Alan to use science to destroy all evidence of Basil’s murder, he has to blackmail Alan before he will agree to help. The book never says how, only that Dorian wrote something on a slip of parchment and showed it to Alan. Some “literary geniuses” propose that it was an “indecent sexual activity” that had occurred between the two.

In my opinion, this book is very relevant today – and always will be. Look at the lengths people are willing to go just to remain young. With plastic surgery and special creams, I’d say this book is almost more relevant in the 21st century than it was in the late 19th century. The world values beauty above a lot of things – and probably always will.

What did that belief do to Dorian? Was his horrific end proof that he should have let himself age properly? Or was it simply another romantic experience in his spectacular life? Did he learn his lesson? Would he have taken it all back if given the chance? Or was he just tired of his adventures and ready to retire from them?

There are lessons to be learned in this book, but it is left to the reader completely to decipher them, as Wilde’s constant paradoxes and unbiased voice doesn’t help in the slightest to reveal the moral message. There is a moral message, if you want there to be one. You just might have to make it up.