The Picture of Dorian Gray is a fantastic and incredible novel written by a truly incredible writer, Oscar Wilde. After reading this, it became my favorite work of his.
"Some things are more precious because they don't last long".
The novel focuses on the life of young Dorian Gray. A famous artist named Basil Hallward, meets and becomes obsessed with Dorian because he is impossibly beautiful. Dorian becomes his muse and is soon introduced to Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotton.
Lord Henry's approach to life, which is primarily hedonistic, is appealing to Dorian. He explains to Dorian that the only thing important in life is beauty. And while Dorian is beautiful now and obsessed about by the painter, his beauty will fade.
Dorian becomes consumed by this thought and vows that he would sell his soul if he could stay beautiful and young forever, and the painting done of him by Basil becomes old instead.
Be careful what you wish for...
"There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about"
As Dorian continues to age, his outer beauty stays in tact, which is noticed by all. But what goes unnoticed since it is Dorian who owns the portrait of himself, as he continues to pursue a life filled with moral depravity, uncaring for others, even committing crimes against others, his soul becomes dark, disfigured, and ugly. The portrait becomes a window to seeing into his soul, and each sin has destroyed any beauty that might have once been there.
There is obviously a great deal more to the story but I hate to give everything away. I had been a big fan of Oscar Wilde previously but took awhile until I finally read this novel. It is so sad to watch as Dorian falls into this lifestyle because I can't help but want to blame Lord Henry for corrupting him first. But the truth is it is difficult to tell if this was to be his path all along.
"You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit"
Dorian only worries about himself and what he wants. His selfishness knows no bounds as he even hurts those around him with little regard. He keeps the painting in hiding so that people will not see the reflection of his soul but he knows what it truly looks like. When he finally does seem to feel some remorse he attempts to be good. But even then it is to preserve his portrait in hopes it will change back. It is still vanity that drives him, thus making the painting worse and worse.
The reason I loved this story so much was first that it was such a unique look at how we view others. It is not true that all beautiful people are beautiful on the inside and all ugly people are ugly on the inside. It comes down to character and our souls. In this novel, we are actually able to see the portrait of the soul. It was his decisions and the way he lived his life that determined the portraits fate. He became hung up on the wrong kind of beauty.
Second, the ending was incredible. I feel like I should have seen it coming but I was so deeply immersed in the story I didn't. It was such a creative end to a creative story that it was shocking and unbelievable and fantastic. That I simply can't give away and I hope everyone reads it because it is definitely a gothic novel that everyone can enjoy.
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