The Picture of Dorian Gray in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jun 28, 2020 Ron rated it really liked it

Dorian Gray starts out as a handsome aristocrat who poses for a painter who becomes positively infatuated with his young model. The painter's close friend Lord Henry develops similar feelings for the charming stud, and Dorian himself can see the appeal when Dorian is able to gaze on his beautifully painted self. Dorian prays that he could stay young and pretty like that forever and let the picture age instead, and be careful what you wish for. Morbid events to follow.

There is a gay stereotype of ...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Maggie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, boxall-1001, fantasy, classics, horror, guardian-1000, gothic, irish

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book just didn't draw me in. Perhaps it's because I knew the basic premise of the book before I read it, so the plot didn't hold many surprises for me. However there were some parts that I liked very much – I enjoyed in particular Lord Henry's epigrams, which were paradoxical and politically incorrect, but often embarrassingly true. His cynical views on the hypocrisy of aristocrats continue to hold some truth in today's world, where we so often keep up good appearances as a mask for shadier This book just didn't draw me in. Perhaps it's because I knew the basic premise of the book before I read it, so the plot didn't hold many surprises for me. However there were some parts that I liked very much – I enjoyed in particular Lord Henry's epigrams, which were paradoxical and politically incorrect, but often embarrassingly true. His cynical views on the hypocrisy of aristocrats continue to hold some truth in today's world, where we so often keep up good appearances as a mask for shadier things in our hearts. Much has been made about Wilde's homosexuality and the homoerotic undertones between Dorian Gray, Lord Henry, Basil Hallward, and to a lesser extent other male characters in the novel as well. I won't delve into that subject. But what surprised me was that although booksellers initially refused to stock the book because it was "not made sufficiently clear that the writer does not prefer a course of unnatural iniquity to a life of cleanliness, health, and sanity", I found that the book held powerful lessons on morality.

Firstly, we see the dangers of trying to please the senses without pleasing the conscience. Dorian keeps pursuing new sensations and emotions merely to excite his senses, regardless of whether this pursuit leads to good or evil. This hedonism leads him down a road of evil after evil, with more desires fulfilled and more people compromised. Even his decision to be good at the end is fuelled partly by a desire for a new experience. Yet Dorian is never happy. He constantly struggles with guilt. This is partly due to his hatred of the ugliness of the portrait, but he is also genuinely plagued by his conscience. Because of his guilt he cannot attain the satisfaction he expects, while his soul gets progressively darker. In living for himself, he ironically ends up fighting against his true nature and its promptings.

We also see the emptiness of chasing superficial beauty. One chapter is composed almost entirely of lists of exquisite luxuries like perfume, music and jewelry. Yet there is a sense that Dorian’s obsession with beauty is driven by insatisfaction, that no matter how much fine art he indulges in, he can never be satisfied. He wants greater heights of beauty, and what he gets is never enough. Whether Wilde intended it or not, there is a spiritual message here, that there is only emptiness if we strive for material gains on earth; only the eternal riches that we gain through Christ can ever satisfy us completely.

Related to this is the folly of man’s desires. All of Dorian’s problems stem from his rash wish that the portrait that Basil painted of him would grow old, but that he himself would never age in appearance. Isn’t that what we all want, the freedom of doing whatever we want without facing the consequences of our actions? But when Dorian sees that this freedom leads him to monstrosity, he changes his mind, and one of my favourite quotes from the book follows: “There was purification in punishment. Not ‘Forgive us our sins,’ but ‘Smite us for our iniquities’ should be the prayer of a man to a most just God.” Truly the desires of man’s heart are foolish compared to the wisdom of God!

There were other biblical parallel too, and again I don’t know if these were intended. The portrait reminded me of Jesus: it is perfect, Basil’s finest work of art. Just like how Jesus bore the punishment for our sins, the portrait bears the punishment for Dorian’s sins. And when Dorian destroys the portrait at the end, it becomes clean and beautiful again, just like how Jesus’ death was followed by his resurrection. Another biblical parallel is Lord Henry to the serpent of Genesis. Just like how the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge and thus introduced them to sin, Lord Henry opened Dorian’s eyes to the knowledge of his youth and beauty and thereby introduced him to the world of sin.

I found it interesting too that Wilde seldom stated explicitly what Dorian’s sins are. We know that his closest friends end up either being destroyed or hating him, but we are not told why. We know that he goes to shady houses, but apart from his trip to the opium den, we don’t know what happens in these houses. Many would look at Wilde’s background and assume that homosexuality is involved in these sins, but Wilde’s purpose is revealed in the preface: “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.” The activities that we imagine Dorian to be engaging in are meant to be reflections of our conception of evil.

There are many other interesting themes in this book, including art for the sake of art, appearance versus reality, how life and art influence each other. I won’t pretend to understand all that Wilde tried to convey, but I find him an interesting character.I ...more

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Oct 26, 2015 Cora rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal, kindle, classic, horror, social-commentary, england, art, 1001-books, 19th-century, british

This is the classic novel about a man who wishes that he retain his youth and beauty forever and instead, his portrait changes with age and with vice. When his wish is granted, Dorian Gray is free to live his life of hedonism guided by the influence of a friend that subscribes to the aesthetic philosophy that art and beauty are of paramount importance in the world. That one must experiences all feelings and follow impulses regardless of morals and virtues for the sake of art and beauty. This was ...more

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