Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey

Angelica Ochoa
York
AP English 2
12 December 2010
Novel Project: The Picture of Dorian Gray

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a young and beautiful man named Dorian Gray who is frightened by the fact that he will eventually lose his good looks and youth as he ages. Dorian Gray is the subject of a painting by an artist, Basil Hallward. Basil introduces Dorian Gray to Lord Henry Wotton, who slowly begins to gain greater influence on Dorian Gray. Lord Henry believes the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfillment of the senses. Once Dorian realizes that his good looks and youth will eventually fade away he decides to pledge his soul to his painting to ensure that the portrait will age and bear the burden of his infamy instead of himself. Shortly after doing so Dorian meets an actress named Sibyl Vane. He falls in love with her and they become engaged. But Sibyl decides to quit acting; because of she believes she cannot pretend to love acting when she loves Dorian so much more. Once Dorian finds that Sibyl has quit acting he breaks the engagement and that night Sibyl hangs herself. After Sibyl’s death, Dorian begins a life of debauchery. Once rumors begin to spread of his infamous acts Basil comes to Dorian to confront him about the rumors. Out of rage Dorian kills Basil and needs help disposing the body. After the murder Dorian is full of guilt and instead of repenting his sins he takes the knife he used to stab Basil and stabs his picture instead. Dorian’s servants find Dorian’s portrait a beautiful picture of a young man and their master’s body lying on the floor. Dorian’s body is an old disfigured man with a knife in his heart.
2. The main characters in this story are Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward, and Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian Gray is an incredibly handsome and wealthy young gentleman whom Basil Hallward paints a picture of. Once Dorian meets Lord Henry he finds that his beauty will eventually fade and pledges his soul to the painting Basil made. He soon begins a life of corruption. Basil Hallward is a painter who is infatuated with Dorian’s extreme beauty. He is the painter that creates Dorian’s painting that ages as Dorian doesn’t. Basil is also a friend to Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry Wotton is a noble witty friend of Basil and later becomes a friend to Dorian as well. He eventually has a huge influence on Dorian and first puts Dorian in the mindset that beauty doesn’t last forever.
3. There are multiples themes in The Picture of Dorian Gray but the most central theme would be physical beauty and narcissism, and how they lead to self destruction. There are numerous situations of Dorian Gray hinting at narcissism. In the second chapter Dorian murmurs “How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June....If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that - for that - I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” (pg28) This is when Dorian realized that his youth, his dazzling beauty, will not last forever. Dorian now realizes that he should treasure his youth more than ever. He also realizes would give up everything to save his youthful beauty, even his soul. However, everything has a price to pay. Another example of Dorian’s narcissism in the book is on page 95 where Dorian blames Sibyl for the reason he ended their engagement. “It was the girl’s fault, not his... he had thought her great. Then she had disappointed him. She had been shallow and unworthy.” (pg95) Dorian’s attitude towards the ending of his relationship with Sibyl shows how overconfident he is in his beauty and because of this overconfidence he loses the woman he loves. The final example of how narcissistic attitude leads to destruction is the ending of the story. In the end of the story Dorian ends up killing himself because of all the horrible things he had done in his life. He stabs himself with the knife he used to kill Basil and once he kills himself he turns old and his picture becomes young again.
4. Oscar Wilde’s writing style in The Picture of Dorian Gray uses a great deal of detail and an abundance of witty dialogue. Wilde uses Lord Henry to provoke humor with his theories on how life should be lived with only pleasure. More often though Wilde uses description to create the mood, tone, and setting of the story. Wilde describes each setting in the story with great detail making clear what he wants the picture of the setting to look like in one’s head. On page 4 Wilde wrote “As the painter looked at the gracious and comely form he had so skillfully mirrored in his art, a smile of pleasure passed across his face, and seemed about to linger there.” In this description Wilde sets the mood, tone, and setting. He also describes each character with great detail. “Lord Henry stroked his pointed brown beard, and tapped the toe of his patent-leather boot with a tasseled ebony cane.” (pg11) Wilde’s description’s of Lord Henry helps the reader create a better idea of what the characters are like and what they look like. Wilde omniscient point of view on the story gives insight to each of the character thoughts and reasoning behind their actions. With this point of view the reader can understand Dorian’s motives behind pledging his soul, breaking his relationship with Sibyl, and ending his life.
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the most intriguing and unique books I have ever read. The storyline of the story is unique itself because I don’t believe I’ve ever read a book about a man pledging his soul to a painting to preserve his youth. Dorian Gray’s character is invigorating. His selfishness made me want to both strangle him and continue reading throughout the entire story. Lord Henry’s wit was striking and offensive but also thought provoking. The slight homosexuality between Basil and Dorian was humorous. Not only was the book full of interesting viewpoints on life and rude behavior it was also enlightening. Although Dorian was selfish and wrong for pledging his soul so that he could stay young his thoughts are understandable. The notion that getting older isn’t as pleasurable as it may seem to others is an idea that I can relate with but I would never sell my soul for it. This book was well worth the read even though the beginning seemed kind of dry to me.