The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Saturday, 26 August 2023

9.01
This story is about a young man called Dorian Gray about 25 years old set in London. We can tell that
he is a man of immensely good looks, a shy demeanour, and a curiosity about the world and its inner
workings i.e. why people work how they do. The young man makes acquaintance with a painter
called Basil Howard. The painter is smitten by the young man, to say the least. He heaps praise upon
the boy and seeks to be around him and exert his influence upon him.

One day, Basil introduces Dorian to his friend Lord Henry. Lord Henry isn't like anyone Dorian has
met before. He seems amoral, unafraid of saying controversial opinions that may be frowned on by
the rest of society as long as he believes them to be true. He treats love like an unnecessary ick and
morality a cumbersome matter not worth much of his time. Dorian is fascinated and attracted to
Lord Henry's personality and views on next to everything. During this time, Dorian is having a
portrait of him done by Basil the painter. When the painter is done with the portrait, he shows it to
Dorian and Lord Henry. Dorian loves the portrait so much he gets upset that he'll end up growing old
while the painting maintains its good looks. He wishes if only it would be the other way around.

After the incident, Dorian goes out at night to watch a play in town and falls in love with a beautiful
18-year-old woman who plays the lead actress in most of the staged plays, especially Shakespearean
plays. She is a good actress and lives with her mother. Her name is Sybil Vane. Sybil Vane is from the
peasant class. She has a brother called James Vane who is bound to sail out to Australia to seek out
new treasures and lands. He hates the aristocracy and is 16 years old at the time he is bound to
leave and finds out about the gentleman who is supposedly in love with his sister and sends her
flowers. His real father(as well as Sibyl's) was also a gentleman who got his mother pregnant but
never married her and died later but left them none of his possessions to help with raising them.

She lives with her mother and acts in the staged plays by the Jew called Mr. Isaac. She falls in love
with Dorian Gray and refers to him as 'Prince Charming'. She doesn't know his real name only that he
is a gentleman, loves her in turn, and would like to marry her. Dorian talks to his friends Basil
Hallward and Lord Henry about the actress he has fallen in love with. He decides he'll take them to
watch her during one of her plays. In the play, She plays the role of Juliette in Shakespeare's play
Romeo and Juliet. Sybil plays abysmally, much to the horror and embarrassment of Dorian Gray and
most of the audience tightly packed to watch the play and to the ridicule of Lord Henry who holds no
high regard for women or any fascinating talent/skill they may possess. Dorian gets deeply agitated
by the play and waits after its completion to go behind the curtains to demand from Sybil why she
played so terribly tonight.

She explains to him that through his love, she has come to see the sham in the plays she plays. She is
not Juliet and the man playing Romeo is not him. The moon on set as well as everything else is not
real and the words she is supposed to say as Juliet is not what she would like to say. His love has
cleared her vision. The love they share is the greatest art that matters to her compared to everything
else including the false sham of a play that she plays on stage. For this, she can choose to play or not
to play but for their love has no control over how she feels.
Dorian is not impressed. He states that she has killed his love for her. The curiosity, the mystery, and
the allure of her are all gone from him. He gets up and declares his disinterest in her, much to Sibyl's
displeasure, and leaves.

This is where things begin to take a downward spiral. Sibyl commits suicide by poison on the night
Dorian breaks up with her. On the following day before Dorian knew of her death, he planned to
apologize to her, but Lord Henry informs him of her untimely passing. Dorian falls into a state of
despair for he feels he caused her death but Lord Henry coaxes him out of it claiming that it is a most
romantic ending for Sybil Vane and that he had no imminent control over any of her actions. Dorian
therefore, despite seeing the change in appearance of his portrait and intuitively knowing what it
meant, absolves himself of the guilt and decides to move on with his life. Lord Henry also gives
Dorian a yellow book whose tales highly influence and warp Dorian's character.

[When Dorian tells Lord Henry of the negative effect the yellow book had on him, Lord Henry laughs
and claims that the book had nothing to do with his character and actions only that the book
wheedled traits that were already in him that begs the question of how far can external influence
interfere with our true character? But then isn't our character essentially made of external
influence? A collage of other people's views, opinions, and biases we develop in an attempt to fit in?
Are we individuals or the people we're around, the things we watch and read? If so it is utterly
disappointing, isn't it? That we'll never be who we are rather a variation of someone else or a
variation of what someone else thinks we should be]

Dorian takes to having promiscuous relations and taking advantage of those around him. He never
really gets to hang out with Basil Howard for a while. Rumours about his true nature and relations
with other people are rampant but not much happens about it since he belongs to the upper class of
society and inherited a large amount of inherited fortune from his grandfather aside from all that,
he's got his good looks going on for him.

[Which leads me to another question despite our normal attraction to aesthetics and beauty, how
much or to what extent can we allow it to impede our sense of right or wrong? Is justice susceptible
to good looks? No, it's not, it's those assigned with the task of administering justice that are
susceptible to the charm. Lowkey wish I was a psychopath :]

As Dorian's soul goes through corruption, so does the appearance of his portrait. It gets so bad that
Dorian takes it to a room upstairs that previously belonged to his grandfather (whom he detested)
that's currently unoccupied for fear of his servants seeing it or anyone else. The portrait's presence
around him is also like his conscience constantly nagging him, incessantly reminding him of his
decisions and the true nature of his character despite other people's heaps of praise about his looks
or whatever narrative he may have constructed to soothe himself.

One evening Basil goes out looking for Dorian before he can take his midnight train to Paris and
meets him on his way home from the club. Basil then proceeds to ask Dorian about the rumours he's
been hearing about him and beseech him to deny them. Dorian, is agitated at Basil's inquisition and
therefore invites him upstairs to see "the work of his hands". Basil after seeing the portrait's current
state, almost collapses, to say the least. Basil asks Dorian to atone for his sins to the Lord and Dorian
abruptly decides to stab him for his constant whining and does it. He proceeds to cover up the
murder and blackmail his former acquaintance Alan, a scientist, into getting rid of the body.

Gray, when overwhelmed by all of his actions, visits an opium den to try and forget his "woes".
There he finds Alan and decides to find another den since Alan reminds him too much of what he's
trying to forget. On his way there James Vane, Sybil's brother, attacks him. Upon inquiry, he reveals
that he has come to revenge his sister's death. James had heard one of the women in the bar call
Gray "prince-charming" which was the pet name of the gentleman who caused his sister's death.
Gray barely escapes by asking James to hold the light to his face and see that if he were the
gentleman James thinks he is he is bound to be older than he is since it all took place 18 years ago.
James falls for the trick.
A woman from the den, however, tells James that the man he let go really is the perpetrator only
that he doesn't get old. James then gets on Dorian's trail.
Dorian goes to a resort with his friends Lord Henry and the Duchess etcetera but senses that
someone is following him. Mr George, a friend of theirs also at the resort, ends up shooting a man
while aiming for a hare during a shooting session. Dorian later confirms his fears that James had
been following him at the resort but is relieved that he's dead. He then decides to reform himself.
He makes the daughter of a Hermit fall in love with her then leaves her for her good. He tells Lord
Henry about this and he is not impressed. He tells him that what he did, did no good for the girl he
left rather he simply left another heartbroken in his wake.

[ Dorian asks Henry whether he'd believe him if he told him that he'd killed their friend Basil but
Henry dismisses this, and claims murder is too heinous a crime for him. Why doesn't Henry believe
Dorian could have done something like that despite all the rumours concerning Dorian's character
that Henry has definitely heard of? ]

Dorian is upset with this and decides to go home and check whether the portrait has changed its
appearance and reverted to a better-looking portrait of himself just as his character has. He goes to
find that it has not changed rather there seems to be blood on his hands probably due to Alan's
recent suicide and his role in it and a hypocritical smile upon the portrait's face to reflect his
'apparent change of character'.

He therefore decides to simply stab through it. Besides, what's the portrait to him rather than a
constant menace gnawing at his thoughts and life, stopping him from getting better? He is a new
man now, a clean slate, ready to become a better person and do good in the world.

He stabs the portrait and a loud cry is heard from the room upstairs. The servants, upon coming up,
find a hideous aged man on the floor, with a knife in his chest. Who was the man? Not Dorian, the
young handsome master of the house surely? But upon inspection of the rings on his fingers, they
realize the defuncts' identity, while the portrait shows the face of a young handsome Mr. Dorian
Gray.