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A review by felicitasviviancoco
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed reading this. It's obviously very well written and I kept telling my friends about it.
The scene where Dorian kills Basil was so terrible and good at the same time. After the murder, the body is never called "Basil". The narration kept referring to it as 'the thing' which really shows the mental distancing of the reality that he killed his friend.
However I really didn't like the way the women were portrayed. The women were just props for the men to interact with or to give some extra information sometimes. With the stylistic choice to switch perspectives, we could also have seen a more nuanced depiction of Sibyl for example. I know it's important to look at a story within its historical context but especially in comparison with Frankenstein (which was published around 60 years earlier) 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' gave me the impression of a book written by a gay man FOR other men.
I'm also undecided concerning the moral message of the story. On one hand the message is pretty clear: immoral actions lead to harm around and within the 'sinner'. Maybe you can escape your moral failings for a short time, but eventually they will come back to you and maybe even spread. but then, the story isn't truly consistent with it's messaging. Dorian dies without anyone learning of his sins and his terrible actions will go undiscovered. He doesn't even want to kill himself. It happens on accident!! This really annoyed me. We got 3-4 pages of ramblings about gem stones and then Dorian gets do die within half a page!?!
But maybe that is the grim message of the story in the end. No matter how bad your actions are and how many people got hurt, sometimes the 'bad guys' get to die without ever having to stand up for their crimes.
tl;dr: Frankenstein is better. Still happy I read this classic novel but won't reread.
However I really didn't like the way the women were portrayed. The women were just props for the men to interact with or to give some extra information sometimes. With the stylistic choice to switch perspectives, we could also have seen a more nuanced depiction of Sibyl for example. I know it's important to look at a story within its historical context but especially in comparison with Frankenstein (which was published around 60 years earlier) 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' gave me the impression of a book written by a gay man FOR other men.
I'm also undecided concerning the moral message of the story. On one hand the message is pretty clear: immoral actions lead to harm around and within the 'sinner'. Maybe you can escape your moral failings for a short time, but eventually they will come back to you and maybe even spread. but then, the story isn't truly consistent with it's messaging.
But maybe that is the grim message of the story in the end. No matter how bad your actions are and how many people got hurt, sometimes the 'bad guys' get to die without ever having to stand up for their crimes.
tl;dr: Frankenstein is better. Still happy I read this classic novel but won't reread.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Death, Drug use, Suicide