Dorian Gray Satire
Almost immediately after the first publication of Dorian Gray in 1890, Wilde faced a blizzard of hostile and fierce criticism from reviewers and critics in British newspapers and journals. Thus, for instance, considered the Daily Chronicle Dorian Gray to be “a tale spawned from the leprous literature of the French Decadents” while the Scots Observer roundly denounced the story as “discreditable” (Morley 72). Ordinarily, the accusations brought against Wilde and Dorian Gray maintained that the story itself was scandalous and immoral and that it had the potential to corrupt or pervert those who read it.
Despite these and other kinds of moral objections, Wilde was eager to respond to the outrage that his story had provoked. “Each man sees his
own sin in Dorian Gray. What Dorian Gray’s sins are no one knows. He who finds them has brought them,” he insisted (Danson 131). Put another way, Wilde tried to evade responsibility by arguing that it is the reader, the spectator, who “reads the symbol” and to whom responsibility belongs.
Despite these and other kinds of moral objections, Wilde was eager to respond to the outrage that his story had provoked. “Each man sees his
own sin in Dorian Gray. What Dorian Gray’s sins are no one knows. He who finds them has brought them,” he insisted (Danson 131). Put another way, Wilde tried to evade responsibility by arguing that it is the reader, the spectator, who “reads the symbol” and to whom responsibility belongs.