The Picture of Dorian Gray
Summary
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
Setting
Victorian London
Main Characters
Dorian Gray: An aristocratic, beautiful young man, the muse of Basil Hallward.
Basil Hallward: A talented, yet conventional artist who is obsessed with Dorian Gray.
Lord Henry Wotton: Friend of Basil Hallward, a charming and witty self-proclaimed hedonist.
Sibyl Vane: An actress in London’s East End, and Dorian’s first love.
Summary
Basil has just completed his first honest portrait of Dorian Gray, but the painting disappoints him as he thinks it reveals too much of his feelings for Dorian. When Dorian arrives at the studio, Basil reluctantly introduces him to Lord Henry.
Lord Henry upsets Dorian with a speech about the transient nature of beauty and youth, causing Dorian to worry that his own looks are fading already. Dorian curses the portrait, as he believes it will serve as a reminder of the beauty he will have lost one day, and he pledges his soul if the painting could bear the burden of age and infamy, allowing him to stay young forever.
Over the next few weeks, Lord Henry’s influence over Dorian grows stronger as the youth strives to live a life dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure. He falls in love with Sibyl Vane and adores her acting. Overcome by her love for Dorian, Sibyl decides she can no longer act as she cannot pretend to love on the stage now that she has experienced the real thing. When Sibyl’s ability to act diminishes, Dorian breaks his engagement with her. He returns home to find that his face in the portrait has changed: it now sneers. Fearing that his pledge has come true, he decides to make amends with Sibyl the next day. However, before he can do so, Lord Henry brings news that she has killed herself. Lord Henry convinces Dorian to see her death as an artistic triumph and think no more about it. Dorian hides the portrait in his attic where no one else can see its transformation.
Dorian spends the next eighteen years devoting his life to pleasure, with no regard for conventional norms or the consequences of his actions. Dorian’s scandalous exploits earn him a reputation in polite society; yet he is still accepted as he has remained young and beautiful. The figure in the painting, however, has grown hideous. One night Basil arrives at Dorian’s house to confront him about his actions. They argue, and Dorian eventually shows Basil the portrait. A horrified Basil begs Dorian to repent, but Dorian claims it is too late and kills Basil in a fit of rage.
Dorian resolves to amend his life but cannot change the portrait. In anger, Dorian picks up a knife to destroy the painting. His servants hear a crash. When they arrive, the portrait shows the young, handsome Dorian, and on the floor lies the body of their master – an old man, disfigured and wrinkled, with a knife plunged into his heart.
Wilde remarked that The Picture of Dorian Gray contained much of himself. In the artist Basil, he saw his own perception of himself, while in the scandalous Lord Henry he portrayed “what the world thinks me” and Dorian Gray was “what I would like to be”. Wilde’s sexuality was the topic of much discussion, and his unapologetic stance defied Victorian society’s expectations.
Four years after The Picture of Dorian Gray was published, Wilde was convicted of homosexual acts and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. After his release in 1897 he lived in exile in France, where he spent his final years. In 2017 Oscar Wilde was posthumously pardoned under the “Alan Turing Law”, for acts no longer considered offences.
In this passage (censored by the publisher) the artist, Basil, tells his friend Lord Henry of his feelings for the subject of his current portrait, Dorian Gray.
Copy of gem from antiquity depicting Antinous
London, 18th century
“What the face of Antinous was to late Greek sculpture… the face of Dorian Gray will some day be to me” says the artist, Basil Hallward. As a homosexual icon, the 2nd century youth Antinous inspired late 19th century writers who variously celebrated his homosexuality or depicted it as the corrupting influence of his older lover, the emperor Hadrian. In Western culture, Antinous became a coded symbol of homosexuality, used to signal love between men, in a society that deemed such love criminal.
Read yourself
You can read the book online here or listen on spotify here.
The real Dorian Gray?
Learn more about John Gray, the suggested inspiration for the character of Dorian Gray in this video from Historic Environment Scotland and Keava McMillan, Lecturere in Gender History at the University of Glasgow.
