Comparing The Picture Of Dorian Gray And Gothic Literature

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gothic Literature The Picture of Dorian Gray is not the typical gothic literature, but this book does include several elements of gothic literature. Although Dorian’s mansion is not spooky, the old, secret schoolroom, where he keeps the portrait, is spooky and is covered in cobwebs, which are gothic elements. There are a couple of scenes in the book where the spooky, gothic literature themes become present. One of the scenes appeared when Dorian visits the opium house. The scene there is a cold rain and street lamps presented an unsettling environment. Early in the book, Dorian decides to sell his soul and he watches the supernatural portrait change as he remains young and beautiful. In spite of Basil’s attempts
to keep Dorian innocent, Lord Henry Wattons represents the Devil and corrupts young Dorian’s pure mind. Many times the characters refer to Lord Henry as Harry or “old Harry,”which are synonyms for the Devil. Harry presents Dorian with a book that changes Dorian and corrupts him. Almost as if the book is magical, the book captivates Dorian and he is not able to stop reading. Dorian becomes evil by first destroying Sibyl and her family. As a result of his corruption, Dorian is the reason Sibyl, Basil, Alan, and James all die. Dorian acts cruelly toward Sibyl and causes her to commit suicide. When Dorian takes Basil to see his “soul,” Dorian feels as if the portrait has a magical presence that is persuading him to kill Basil. Dorian erupts in a sudden, violent nature and murders Basil in the old school room. After murdering Basil, Dorian realizes he needs to dispose of the body and he blackmails Alan into disposing of the body. After Alan completes the task, he commits suicide. One day Dorian was out with Sir Geoffrey Clouston and they saw a hare jump in the thicket. Despite Dorian’s attempt to stop Sir Geoffrey from shooting at the hare in the thicket, Sir Geoffrey killed James on Dorian’s land. Dorian considers James’ killing a bad omen. The climate of the supernatural events takes place when Dorian attempts to destroy the portrait. When Dorian stabs the painting, the knife ends up in Dorian’s heart. The portrait returns to its original state and Dorian becomes old and wrinkled. The Picture of Dorian Gray is not the typical gothic literature, but it does contain some of the same characteristics of gothic literature. There are enough examples of gothic literature in the book to consider The Picture of Dorian Gray gothic literature.