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A review by night3aven
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
- The Picture of Dorian Gray - review
Oscar Wilde's "Portrait of Dorian Gray" is without doubt an important piece in the history of literature, which reflects on important themes and poses cunning questions through a skillful and peculiar writing style - although the aestheticism may at times feel rather overwhelming -.
Wilde's style is interesting and really well structured, able to give a strong pathos to his best scenes but still at times losing itself a bit in long and not always enjoyable description. It contains many metaphors and rethorical artifices, which often make the story seem more epic and majestic, even though he seems to fall into a sort of excessive purple prose at times, but the morbid attraction of it, very much alike Dorian himself, make us constantly follow Wilde's prose.
Now onto the themes: already since the first pages, the characters' dialogues are full of philosophical ideas and theories which may sometimes seem rather overwhelming. The main themes of the novel though, once individuated, are definitely explored in depth and truly enjoyable.
Beauty is probably the main theme of the novel, the question around which the whole narrative evolves. However, beauty is not always just beauty but it is seen in its many iterations. In fact, firstly Henry and then Dorian do say that their love for beauty corresponds to a love of artifice, that is always seen as something better than reality. They become both so dependant on their ennui that they spend most of their times as rich men without ever doing anything if not thinking and elaborating odd ideas which do not have any practical value and which, even if they just float in the air as ideals, are considered truer than life itself. The tragic consequences of this mindset can be seen immediately; for example, in the Sybil Vane subplot: Dorian firmly affirms that he is in love with her, but she just loves her acting capabilities and the characters she plays; and then, as Sybil loses her acting abilities because she falls in love with Dorian's beauty - yet again we see the superficiality of the characters -, Dorian starts to not love her anymore and hate begins to grow in him. Dorian was in love with the artifice of theater and - even if initially he's not fully conscious of this - valued it more than human emotions, while Sybil - as soon as she discovered love - started considering it better than the art she was performing, becoming thus unable to act.
Sybil loved Dorian because she met him as a spectator to her plays, but Dorian's very love for theatre and artifice made him unable to love Sybil. In the same way, Dorian loved Sybil because she met her as an actress, but Sybil's true love for him made him unable to really love her more than the art she performs. Dorian loved the image of Sybil more than the girl herself, alike a poet in front of a muse, and, as the novel will then show us, Dorian is a totally superficial man who is and will always be unable to love, much because of his egotism and love for mere appearances (and also because of Lord Henry's strong influence on him: his addiction to beauty is one of the ways in which he convinces Dorian to stay attached to his youth and to search beauty over everything). The tragic death of Sybil Vane isn't in fact mourned by Henry, who then immediately influences Dorian. The artificiality of it is soon considered by them like a sort of show and the ideal of love and emotion is put on a pedestal - over the true emotion -, the true people and the true feelings and the true events do not matter to them, who seem to perceive them as unreal - or at least less real than their ideas -.
Interesting questions rise soon: what does one value more or what should one value more, true love or the beauty of art. And then in connection to the mentioned scene: how quickly can love turn into hate? Is love really a kind and pure feeling or is it just desire, just manipulation, just an ideal?
This brings us to what is probably the true main theme of the novel: influence.
Influence, seen as the power one has over one another plays a pivotal role in the narrative and is presented either through looks (Dorian on Basil) or through words and mind (Lord Henry on Dorian)
In fact, even if we may perceive Lord Henry as an arrogant and unlikable character, who's constantly dominant with Dorian and wants to influence him, his obsession for him, his egotism and strong belief in his own theories, make him succeed in doing so. His ideas are just words floating, convoluted thoughts which are completely useless, but the form in which they are put is perceived by Dorian as beautiful and attracting and he is thus conditioned by them.
Dorian's beauty is a magnet for the people around him, in the same way in which Dorian himself is moved to obey to Henry, as if he was almost hypnotized by his words.
Again, we see a strong connection between themes: love and intelligence aren't just seen as capabilities or qualities, but they are fully used as mean of power and manipulation and this can be said both for Lord Henry and Dorian.
It is interesting to notice though that, in an attempt to show the behaviour of Lord Henry and other intellectuals, which is purely arrogant, stupid, self-righteous, non-sensical and absolutely unrealistic and unreasonable, Wilde does criticize even the behaviour of that part of society to which he himself belongs. Its strong prejudices can for example be seen in the discussion on America vs. England, which shows us the conservatory spirit of English people and the fake superiority that the English rich men and dandys believe to have.
Then, even if "All art is useless", there also seems to be a moral component in Wilde's work, especially if we analyse the final part of the bookand Dorian's descent into evilness:
There were moments when he looked on evil as simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful
In fact, Dorian soon become a master of debaucheries and fully learns how to use his wealth and looks to manipulate everyone around him, while the painting becomes a reflection of temptation and conscience and also serves as a reminder of his moral downfall.
Dorian showing the painting to Basil is a sign of mockery, a laugh in front of the creator that loves him and a symbol of the creation living on itself, without any care for why or when it was that he was born and became that which he is today.
We are initially moved to think, if we consider Dorian's words, that the dimension in which he operates is not ethical but not even immoral, it seems to be one of absolute amorality. But the man is consumed by sin and by the influence of the painting so much, as the days go on, that he even murders Basil. From this moment on there is also pure evil inside of him, just like he says to Basil soon before killing him:
Beauty is probably the main theme of the novel, the question around which the whole narrative evolves. However, beauty is not always just beauty but it is seen in its many iterations. In fact, firstly Henry and then Dorian do say that their love for beauty corresponds to a love of artifice, that is always seen as something better than reality. They become both so dependant on their ennui that they spend most of their times as rich men without ever doing anything if not thinking and elaborating odd ideas which do not have any practical value and which, even if they just float in the air as ideals, are considered truer than life itself. The tragic consequences of this mindset can be seen immediately
Sybil loved Dorian because she met him as a spectator to her plays, but Dorian's very love for theatre and artifice made him unable to love Sybil. In the same way, Dorian loved Sybil because she met her as an actress, but Sybil's true love for him made him unable to really love her more than the art she performs. Dorian loved the image of Sybil more than the girl herself, alike a poet in front of a muse, and, as the novel will then show us, Dorian is a totally superficial man who is and will always be unable to love, much because of his egotism and love for mere appearances (and also because of Lord Henry's strong influence on him: his addiction to beauty is one of the ways in which he convinces Dorian to stay attached to his youth and to search beauty over everything). The tragic death of Sybil Vane isn't in fact mourned by Henry, who then immediately influences Dorian. The artificiality of it is soon considered by them like a sort of show and the ideal of love and emotion is put on a pedestal - over the true emotion -, the true people and the true feelings and the true events do not matter to them, who seem to perceive them as unreal - or at least less real than their ideas -.
Interesting questions rise soon: what does one value more or what should one value more, true love or the beauty of art. And then in connection to the mentioned scene: how quickly can love turn into hate? Is love really a kind and pure feeling or is it just desire, just manipulation, just an ideal?
This brings us to what is probably the true main theme of the novel: influence.
Influence, seen as the power one has over one another plays a pivotal role in the narrative and is presented either through looks (Dorian on Basil) or through words and mind (Lord Henry on Dorian)
In fact, even if we may perceive Lord Henry as an arrogant and unlikable character, who's constantly dominant with Dorian and wants to influence him, his obsession for him, his egotism and strong belief in his own theories, make him succeed in doing so. His ideas are just words floating, convoluted thoughts which are completely useless, but the form in which they are put is perceived by Dorian as beautiful and attracting and he is thus conditioned by them.
Dorian's beauty is a magnet for the people around him, in the same way in which Dorian himself is moved to obey to Henry, as if he was almost hypnotized by his words.
Again, we see a strong connection between themes: love and intelligence aren't just seen as capabilities or qualities, but they are fully used as mean of power and manipulation and this can be said both for Lord Henry and Dorian.
It is interesting to notice though that, in an attempt to show the behaviour of Lord Henry and other intellectuals, which is purely arrogant, stupid, self-righteous, non-sensical and absolutely unrealistic and unreasonable, Wilde does criticize even the behaviour of that part of society to which he himself belongs. Its strong prejudices can for example be seen in the discussion on America vs. England, which shows us the conservatory spirit of English people and the fake superiority that the English rich men and dandys believe to have.
Then, even if "All art is useless", there also seems to be a moral component in Wilde's work, especially if we analyse the final part of the book
There were moments when he looked on evil as simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful
In fact, Dorian soon become a master of debaucheries and fully learns how to use his wealth and looks to manipulate everyone around him, while the painting becomes a reflection of temptation and conscience and also serves as a reminder of his moral downfall.
Dorian showing the painting to Basil is a sign of mockery, a laugh in front of the creator that loves him and a symbol of the creation living on itself, without any care for why or when it was that he was born and became that which he is today.
We are initially moved to think, if we consider Dorian's words, that the dimension in which he operates is not ethical but not even immoral, it seems to be one of absolute amorality. But the man is consumed by sin and by the influence of the painting so much, as the days go on, that he even murders Basil. From this moment on there is also pure evil inside of him, just like he says to Basil soon before killing him:
Each of us have Heaven and Hell in him, Basil
Even the long descriptions of all his "experiments" and obsessions, which may definitely feel boring and elements of pure aestheticism, serve as a mean to yet again underline Dorian's superficiality.
Again, notice how, to save himself from James Vane murdering him (truly an unexpected moment which definitely surprised me, nice job!) Dorian uses his eternal beauty to manipulate him and convince him he's not the man he is searching for (the sort of jumpscare of James Vane watching Dorian from the window is also an incredibly interesting element and entertaining element that adds tension, so chapeau to Wilde for inserting this in the plot).
The cosmic karma seems to fail, at least until the ending of the book, in front of Dorian's artificial beauty, that with its hidden use of evil is able to manipulate the people and events around him.
Dorian's feelings of fear towards the end of the novel offer us also a really well-executed psychological frame of him: the paranoia that someone may see the painting is clear in him, as it is the sense of guilt:
The cosmic karma seems to fail, at least until the ending of the book, in front of Dorian's artificial beauty, that with its hidden use of evil is able to manipulate the people and events around him.
Dorian's feelings of fear towards the end of the novel offer us also a really well-executed psychological frame of him: the paranoia that someone may see the painting is clear in him, as it is the sense of guilt:
Was is really true that one could never change?
Everyone of us does have secret passions and desires that we are sometimes brought to hide, yet how much are we willing to do to maintain them secret and how much regard do we have for our own reputation and for other's opinion?
It is in this sense that in the ending, in a final act of both mockery and justice, the painting becomes beautiful as soon as Dorian dies: art remains intact through ages. It is men that fall into downgrade and ruin.
All in all, though it still may feel a bit ''aesthetic" and bizarre in its ideas and executions, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a noteworthy piece of writing which deserves to be read and which will surely make the reader reflect and face him with many different questions. It deserves to stand amongst the most important books of history if not for its style and way it is put, at least for the strong and almost unforeseen influence the book played on everyone as soon as it was published, evoking any sort of possible reactions.
Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
What of Art?
-It is a malady.
--Love?
-An Illusion.
--Religion?
-The fashionable substitute for Belief.
--You are a sceptic.
-Never! Scepticism is the beginning of Faith.
--What are you?
-To define is to limit.