"[W]hat does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose …
his own soul?'" (Chapter XIX)
The Picture of Dorian Gray was entertaining to read and had an
unexpected ending. The prose was beautiful, and there were many
references to roses. The idea of this story is very creative and I
was surprised that the story was this interesting. The only problem
I had was that there were too many conversations to demonstrate
Lord Henry's thoughts.
One day, Basil Hallward, an artist, sees Dorian Gray at a gathering
and feels instantly connected to him. Basil feels that Dorian can
inspire his work to be tremendous.
Basil befriends Dorian, and asks him to come to his studio so that
Dorian can get his picture painted. Dorian is beautiful and young,
and Basil always tells him that.
Soon after, however, Basil hints to his friend, Lord Henry, about
his strange meeting with and interest in Dorian Gray. And that
Dorian has inspired him, and his paintings to be the best that he
has ever painted.
Hearing that Dorian is untainted, Lord Henry wants to show Dorian
the world, and to help Dorian experience new thoughts and emotions.
Although Basil wants to keep Dorian to himself, because he knows
the mind games that Lord Henry plays with all of his friends, Henry
ends up meeting Dorian by accident, when Dorian comes to the
studio. That is how innocent Dorian's life changes.
Later, Lord Henry tells Dorian that he can have everything he wants
in his youth, because of his appearance, but that beauty won't last
forever. Dorian becomes upset, and after Basil is finished painting
picture of him, Dorian wishes that he could look like the Dorian in
the picture forever, and that the Dorian in the picture would age
instead him.
See the wicked evils that Dorian commits to alter the face in the
picture. Read the thoughts and ideas Lord Henry plants into
Dorian's mind, like a devil whispering into his victim's
ears.
The following are a few lines I enjoyed:
"The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the
advantage of science is that it is not emotional." (Chapter
III)
"Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men
gave to their mistakes." (Chapter IV)
"It often happened that when we thought we were experimenting on
others we were really experimenting on ourselves." (Chapter
IV)
"... who were extremely old-fashioned people and did not realize
that we live in an age when unnecessary things are our only
necessities…" (Chapter VIII)
"So I have murdered … her as surely as if I had cut her little
throat with a knife. Yet the roses are not less lovely for that.
The birds sing just as happily in my garden." (Chapter VIII)
"'To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means
of the soul!'" (Chapter XVI)
"It is said that passion makes one think in a circle."(Chapter
XVI)
"Knowledge would be fatal. It is the uncertainty that charms one. A
mist makes things wonderful." (Chapter XVIII)
"Crime belongs exclusively to the lower orders … I should fancy
that crime was to them what art is to us, simply a method of
procuring extraordinary sensations." (Chapter XIX)
4/5