The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a novel by Oscar Wilde that explores themes of beauty, morality, and the nature of the soul. The story begins in a London studio, where the painter Basil Hallward creates a portrait of a young man named Dorian Gray, who is admired for his extraordinary beauty. Influenced by the hedonistic Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian becomes obsessed with preserving his youth and beauty. He wishes for the portrait to age instead of him, a desire that mysteriously comes true, allowing him to indulge in a life of excess and vice without facing the consequences.
As Dorian pursues a life filled with debauchery and self-gratification, his portrait reflects the degradation of his soul, showing signs of cruelty and corruption. Tragedy strikes when his love, Sibyl Vane, commits suicide after Dorian's cold rejection, leading to a series of events that spiral into guilt, murder, and further moral decline. Throughout the novel, Dorian attempts to reclaim his lost virtue, but his actions only deepen his despair. In a final attempt to rid himself of the evidence of his corrupted soul, he stabs the portrait, which results in his own death, revealing the profound connection between appearance and inner morality. Wilde’s work serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of vanity and moral decay.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
First published: 1890, serial; 1891, book
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy
Time of plot: Late nineteenth century
Locale: England
Principal Characters
Dorian Gray , a young manLord Henry Wotton , his tempterBasil Hallward , an artistSibyl Vane , an actorJames Vane , her brotherLady Agatha , Lord Henry’s philanthropic auntHetty Merton , a country girl who loves Dorian
The Story
One day in his London studio, painter Basil Hallward is putting a few finishing touches on a portrait of his handsome young friend, Dorian Gray. Lord Henry Wotton, a caller, indolently watches the painter at work. When his friend admires the subject of the painting, the artist explains that Dorian is his ideal of youth and that he hopes Lord Henry will never meet him because the older man’s influence will be absolute and evil.
While Hallward and Lord Henry are talking, Dorian arrives at the studio and Hallward, much against his will, is forced to introduce the young man to Lord Henry. Hallward signs the portrait and announces that it is finished. When Lord Henry offers to buy the picture, the painter says it is not his property and that it belongs to Dorian, to whom he is presenting it. After listening to Lord Henry’s witty conversation, Dorian looks at his portrait and grows sad. He will become old and wrinkled, he says, while the picture will remain the same. Instead, he wishes that the portrait may grow old while he remains forever young. He says he would give his soul to keep his youth. There is, however, no overt Faustian bargain struck with Satan. Rather, Dorian’s powerful narcissism is sufficient to magically draw the portrait’s perpetual youth and beauty into himself.
Dorian and Lord Henry become close friends. One of the gifts Lord Henry gives the young man is a book about another young man who attempts to realize in his brief lifetime all the passions of human history. Dorian makes the book a pattern for his own life. In a third-rate theater, he sees a young actor named Sibyl Vane playing the role of Juliet with such sincerity and charm that he falls in love with her on the spot. After he has met her in person, Dorian dreams of taking her away from the cheap theatrical troupe and making her a great actor who will thrill the world.
One night, Dorian takes Lord Henry to watch Sybil’s performance. Tonight, however, she is listless and wooden; she is so uninspired in her acting that the audience hisses at her. Dorian goes to her dressing room after the final curtain. Sibyl explains to him that before meeting him she thought acting her only reality. Now, she says, Dorian’s love has taught her what reality actually is, and she can no longer act. Dorian coldly tells her she has killed his love and that he never intends to see her again.
Later, when Dorian returns to his home, he notices something in his portrait that he has never before seen, a faint line of cruelty about the mouth. Looking at his own features in a mirror, he finds no such line on his own lips. Dorian is disturbed, and he resolves to reform, to see no more of Lord Henry, and to ask Sibyl to forgive him and then marry him. This very night, he writes her a passionate letter, but before he can post the letter, Lord Henry visits in the morning and brings the news that Sibyl had killed herself in her dressing room last night.
After his friend leaves, Dorian decides there is no point to his good resolutions. The portrait will have to bear the burden of his shame. In the evening, he attends the opera with Lord Henry. The following day, when Hallward attempts to reason with him over scandalous reports that are beginning to circulate about his behavior, Dorian expresses no emotion over Sibyl’s suicide. His part in her tragic story will never be revealed, for she knew him only as a Prince Charming. When Hallward asks to see his painting of Dorian, the young man refuses, and in a sudden rage shouts that he never wishes to see the painter again. Later, he hangs the portrait in an old schoolroom upstairs, locks the door, and hides the key where only he can find it.
Rumors about Dorian continue, and the young man becomes suspected of strange vices. Gentlemen walk out of their club rooms when he enters, hosts of balls and parties at country houses invite him less and less, and many of his former friends refuse to acknowledge him when they meet. It is reported that he has been seen in low dives with drunken sailors and thieves. Dorian’s looks do not change, however; only the portrait reflects his life of crime and debauchery. Like the hero of the book that Lord Henry gave him, Dorian spends his life pursuing fresh experiences and new sensations. One interest succeeds the next, and he immerses himself in turn in the study of religious rituals, perfumes, music, and jewels. He frequents opium dens and has sordid affairs with women.
On the eve of Dorian’s thirty-eighth birthday, Hallward visits him again. Although the two have been estranged for years, Hallward comes in a last attempt to persuade Dorian to change his dissolute ways. He is still unable to believe many of the stories he has heard about Dorian. With a bitter laugh, Dorian says that Hallward should see what he has truly become. He takes Hallward to the schoolroom and unveils the portrait. The artist is horrified, for only by the signature can he identify his own handiwork. Dorian, in anger that he has betrayed his true self to his former friend, seizes a knife that lies nearby and stabs Hallward in the neck and back, killing him.
Dorian locks the door behind him and goes down to the drawing room. Because Hallward had intended to leave for Paris that night, Dorian knows the painter will not be missed for some time. He decides that removing the body is not enough. He wants it completely destroyed. Suddenly, he thinks of Alan Campbell, a young chemist who once was his close friend. By threatening the young scientist with exposure of a crime only he knows about, Dorian forces Campbell to destroy Hallward’s body with fire and chemicals. From this night forward, the hands of the portrait show smears of blood.
Late one night, commonly dressed, Dorian leaves an opium den. A drunken woman addresses him as Prince Charming. A sailor who overhears her follows Dorian out. The sailor is James Vane, Sibyl’s brother, who has sworn revenge on the man who betrayed his sister, the man he knows only by the cognomen—Prince Charming—that Sybil gave him. He would have killed Dorian then and there had Dorian not looked so unspoiled and young. Sibyl had committed suicide eighteen years ago, yet the man before James seems no more than twenty years old. When Vane returns to the opium den, the woman tells him that Dorian had ruined her many years ago as well, and that he has not changed in appearance since then.
Some time later, at his country home, Dorian sees James watching him outside a window. Subsequently, during a hunt on the estate, James is shot and killed. His death is believed to be an accident, but Dorian feels his own evil presence is the true cause of the incident. Campbell had committed suicide as well some time earlier under strange circumstances, and Hallward’s disappearance is being investigated. Dorian decides to reform. His first virtuous act is to spare rather than corrupt Hetty Merton, a local girl who is infatuated with him.
Back in London, Dorian goes to the old schoolroom. He examines his painting, hoping that his one good act has mitigated to some degree the horror of the portrait. It has not. He decides to destroy the picture that stands as the awful record of his guilt. Now, the portrait also has an appearance of cunning and triumph. Using the knife with which he had murdered Hallward, Dorian stabs the frightful portrait. The servants in the house hear a horrible cry of agony. When they force open the locked door of the room, they find, hanging on the wall, a fine portrait of their young master. On the floor is a dead body, withered and wrinkled and with a knife in its breast. Only by the rings on his hands do they recognize Dorian, who has killed himself in a desperate attempt to kill his conscience.
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