The Picture of Dorian Gray

This would have to be one of the greatest books I have ever read. It is written with such beauty that I cannot find words to describe it. Oscar Wilde was indeed, as Stephen Fry called him, "a lord of language." But it is not merely a grand Victorian prose that makes this book beautiful. The true beauty of the book lies in various subjects it deals with. Wilde deals with all issues that affected late Victorian society: Lords, Democracy, Beauty, Ugliness, Love, Drugs, East-End's filth, Women, Sex, Religion and what-not.

One cannot help but get a feeling that Wilde speaks vicariously through Lord Henry, an erudite man, who has an opinion on everything and everyone.

I would especially recommend this "Oxford Classics" edition because of the formidable introduction on the life, loves and works of a great "lord of language."

"[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

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a story of decadence, privilege, and the human soul. Dorian Gray, a wealthy and exceedingly handsome man, lives in late-Victorian London. While having his portrait painted, he impulsively wishes that the portrait bear the burden of Dorian's sins and the aging Dorian desperately wishes to avoid. When he realizes that his wish has come true, Dorian begins a descent into pleasure and decadence that has horrific consequences. His story is ultimately a human one, for who among us hasn't wished to be able to act without the cost of repercussions?

I'd forgotten just how much I loved this novel. Wilde's wit is superb, and super-sharp. His ability to make snide social commentary was lost on his time (and indeed, got him in a whole lot of trouble), but it makes me smile.

On the surface, this is the story of a man who trades his soul in order to make a painting suffer all the effects of sin and aging for him, that he never loses the blush or beauty of youth. As he delves further and further into sin and degradation, taking the young and innocent down into the dirt with him, the painting grows more grotesque, and he watches his own sins stain its surface.

The 'homosexual content' that so landed Wilde in trouble is such a deft and light touch that at times you have to really hunt for it, but there's a testament there to just how far we've come (and how far we have to go).

Enjoyable, dark, spoiled, ruined, hopeful, interesting... oh, I love this book.