Dorian Gray
Reading notes on The Picture of Dorian Gray — Wilde's only novel, hedonism, and what it means when your soul decays.
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. — Oscar Wilde
I didn’t really know what to expect when I started reading the picture of Dorian Gray, the name oscar wilde is very popular and even before i knew of the book or any of his works i knew he existed, what i didn't know is that this is wilde’s only full length novel, knowing this i knew i had to read it to understand how such a prominent figure in literature will have written such a novel, wilde was also popular for a certain scandal attached to his life so i was curious to somehow see it in the book, also just the idea of a gothic book about bargaining with the devil was exciting to read.
wilde is clearly a genius, once you start the book you immediately notice why wilde is so highly revered in the literary world, the book’s opening instantly captivated me, featuring long, richly descriptive sentences shaped by wilde’s very expressive vocabulary, the dialogue between our opening characters the artist Basil hallward and nobleman lord henry wotton is one of the best things I've ever read, i read this book in about 3 days in between some other books but every now and then, even after I've completed it i still read that first chapter. wilde has a way with words and describing scenes throughout the book that i really really love, for most of the book especially towards the end i was anxious, a feeling that wilde intentionally had us feel for our main character Dorian gray, something only such author could do.
the plot is mostly around our young main character Dorian gray and our nobleman aesthete lord henry wotton, dorian is described to be a very beautiful man, so beautiful that our nobleman has taken an interest in him, our nobleman consistently urges dorian to realise his youth fully, and explore every avenue of thought and sensation, especially those which society has forbidden.
they first meet when our artist basil hallward who is in love with the beauty of dorian paints a full portrait of him, in just a 5 minute break during this session when dorian and henry have the chance to speak, henry has managed to influence dorian, basil is aware of the type of hedonistic philosophy that henry has and warns dorian multiple times not to listen to henry but dorian refuses, after that conversation dorian sees the full portrait and with the discussion with henry in mind wishes that he doesn't grow old and instead the dorian in the painting does.
his wish is magically manifested and later dorian comes to realise that Basil’s portrait changes to personify the morality of his actions, and for a time Dorian derives a “secret pleasure, at the misshapen shadow that had to bear the burden that should have been his own”
his face stayed young. his soul didn't. the portrait kept the score.
dorian grows to be a sad man and while his beauty remains physically the dorian in the portrait has begun to decay, turn and look evil. dorian grows to be very shallow minded in person, only living for physical sensations, a whole chapter is dedicated to this, he also commits some crimes, drives people to suicide and murders a friend, at the end he seeks for redemption, he considers confessing to all his crimes for a second and i was actually rooting for him at that point but he somehow manages to convince himself out of it, he decides to destroy the painting, the moment of destruction however becomes his own demise as the magical relationship between the portrait and himself is reversed, the servants come into the room and see the portrait intact with a beautiful dorian posing and see an old dead man on the floor with a knife to the heart, they could only recognize it was their master after examining the rings this withered man wore.
If you're not young and pretty, you might as well just die.
the themes in this book i recognised are the obsession with youth and beauty, consequences of pursuit of pleasure, the superficiality of society, consequences of guilt, the book also has many quotable phrases, most said by our man lord henry wotton, my annotations on my copy and not enough, i will do more on my next read, henry said many things but some that stuck with me was There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral—immoral from the scientific point of view. he argues that influencing someone is immoral because it prevents them from thinking their own thoughts or acting on their own passions, essentially turning them into an "echo" of someone else, he also said in chapter 2 of the book: The purpose of life is self-development. To realise one’s natures perfectly. That is what each of us here for. People are afraid themselves now. They have forgotten that the highest of all duties. The duty that one owes to oneself. Think your natural thoughts, or burn with your natural passions. Have virtues that are real to you. Your own sins. Don’t be an actor in a part that isn’t written for you. Let life be your art. Set yourself to music, and your days will be sonnets. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing he argues for individualism and authentic self-expression. It urges living without fear, embracing natural passions, and rejecting societal conformity to avoid a sad existence henry might have said a lot of stupid things but some are very smart.
many lessons can be learnt from reading this book but i believe that wilde is primarily trying to warn us that immoral actions inevitably decay the soul in his own twisted way, dorian believing he has escaped this decay has created a beautiful world for himself at the expense of others. i must confess at first because dorian seemed to be only concerned with things of sensual pleasure such as perfumes, music, jewels, and embroideries excluding all the actual crimes he committed i was confused on how this was a contribution to the decay of his soul, and i think this was one of the biggest lessons i learnt from this book, How Sensory Hedonism Decayed Dorian's Soul ??
The purpose of life is self-development. To realise one’s nature perfectly — Lord Henry Wotton
Dorian’s soul decayed because he started treating life like a spectator sport rather than something he was actually responsible for, by focusing only on sensual pleasure, he broke the link between his self and his actions, he adopted the idea that his only duty was to realize his own self through pleasure (something he definitely picked up from lord henry). this turned his soul into a shell because he ignored the moral consequences of his lifestyle such as how his coldness affected others simply because those consequences didn't show up on his own face, even his attempts to be good were just for pleasure. for example, when he spared a girl’s reputation at the end of the book, he didn't do it out of love, he did it to see if it would make the portrait look better. Because his motive was vanity, not genuine regret, his soul continued to decay.
i keep on thinking about this book and lessons i've learnt from reading it, some might say they recognised the superficiality of society and how it places beauty as number one, some might mention the consequences of bad influence such as lord henry over dorian, some might mention the issue with total devotion to another person such as basil toward dorian to the point that after dorians portrait and dorian refused to pose for basil to paint, his work became terrible afterwards, the messages that spoke to me might not resonate as well with others and vice versa but it's definitely sure that everyone will leave this book with something in hand.