Dorian Grey

Period 1
Honors English 4

Tragedy of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, involves a man who experiences a dreadful downfall. The story is set in London, where an artist named Basil Hallward sees a young, wealthy and beautiful man named Dorian Gray. Basil is so fascinated by him that he creates a portrait of Dorian. Dorian then becomes obsessed with the beauty of himself, which then causes him to by no means lose it. Dorian first realizes that he will lose his beauty when he led Sibyl Vane to commit suicide. After the death of Sibyl, Dorian starts to notice the changing in his portrait. Characters that play roles in Dorian’s downfall would be Basil, Lord Henry and Sibyl Vane. The main conflict in the story is Dorian vs. himself. Dorian had to understand that youth is never lasting but because he did not grasp the concept of what Lord Henry had said, Dorian then met his downfall. Dorian expresses, “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible” (Wilde Ch 2). This quote shows how Dorian believes appearance is everything, that inner beauty does not matter, and that all people see is outer beauty. One action that leads to Dorian’s fate would be the death of Sibyl Vane. After Dorian had seen the portrait and realized his beauty he then became conceited with having whoever he wanted. He was so proud of Sibyl that he wanted show her off to Lord Henry and Basil, her acting performance was poor though. She explains that before she met Dorian and felt true love, she was able to act out other characters and feel their emotions effortlessly. She now knows that those were not real emotions and what she feels towards Dorian are real feelings. Dorian says, “She had no right to kill herself. It was selfish of her” (Wilde Ch 8). This quote shows the start of Dorian’s conciseness, which causes him to not feel for Sibyl’s death. He believed that she embarrassed him in front of his peers, and for Dorian to be beautiful he thought that he needed an all around beautiful mate. The main conflict then leads to the turning point of the story would be when Dorian had finally destroyed his painting by stabbing it with a knife. After he had stabbed the painting a cry and a crash was made and his servants walk in where they see the portrait as it was originally. They then find Dorian on the floor but with age, they then discover a knife struck into his heart, the knife that was also used to kill Basil. Wilde says, “ It had been like conscience to him. Yes, it had been conscience, he would destroy it” (Wilde Ch 20). This quote shows that Dorian finally felt guilt and realized that beauty is not forever. The turning point then falls into the falling action occuring when Dorian is found dead and aged while his painting is back to its original state. It shows the real form of Dorian and what his life should of looked like instead of making it into what it shouldn’t have been. Wilde says, “ They looked at each other, as they walked away, and sneered” (Wilde Ch 20). This quote shows that even the authorities did not give too much thought about Dorian. They went to his house and after no answer they gave no effort to try and figure out what was wrong. In conclusion, the conflict is then resolved by Dorian’s death. There was no other resolution but for Dorian to commit what he did to others to himself. Wilde says, “ it was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was” (Wilde Ch 20). This quote expresses that Dorian’s youth was not the real him. Aging is the realness of a person then their beautiful looks; it took Dorian’s rings for people to figure out that it was him. Once again the only resolution for this story was Dorian’s death.