Oscar
Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian
Gray is a classic of English literature.
I’m writing a review of it because I want some horror
to feature on Halloween.
Dorian Gray is, in my mind, a
weird tale. Wilde
produces a sense of creepiness that begins even in the seemingly light and
hopeful first chapter. The title portrait is a supernatural
object that horrifies and fascinates Gray. He is
preserved in youth
and beauty,
and possibly even saved from the consequences of evil deeds, but the
portrait become a mirror to his dark and sinful soul, something
that eventually becomes too horrible for him to endure.
In addition to being a weird tale, it is a moral tale. Gray
has beauty, wealth,
and status,
but he gives himself over to any kind of wickedness if their might be pleasure in it.
At first, it is the infatuation of a hollow love for the
actress Sibyl
Vane. When she disappoints him on the stage by failing to present an ideal
picture of love because acting it seems shallow compared to her real passion,
he rejects her. Her suicide nearly
turns him off the path he is pursuing, but when the thrill of the moment passed,
he nearly forgot her. The sins of youth and ignorance turn more willful as he
falls into using drugs
and prostitutes.
Eventually he murders
a man. The book hints at other wrongdoing, possibly homosexuality, affairs with
married
women,
seduction
for the sake of its own pleasure, gossip, excessive
drink, greed,
blasphemy and leading others into all
these things.
The book could be a social commentary
on the upper
class of his time. With all the advantages they had, they were still corrupt. A
fortunate life is not a sign of a good person. As with Job, poverty and
hardship are not indications of an evil life.
Some think Wilde is exploring own life in the book. One can read hints
of homosexuality in Basil Hallward’s
feelings toward Gray (Basil paints the portrait), and in Gray’s feelings toward
Lord
Henry Wotton. Possibly Wilde was critiquing his own aestheticism, finding
that it did not necessarily lead to a higher morality, but could as easily lead
one to an immoral, selfish, and consuming pleasure-seeking.
In the book, Wilde never comes out and says what his intentions are, if
he has any at all in terms of exploring himself, his society, or notions of
beauty, art and morality. It seems clear, though, the Wilde suggests a person
cannot be separated from his deeds and his consequences as Gray is with the aid
of his magical
painting. A man, his deeds, and their consequences may not be the same thing,
but they are linked in a powerful way. When Gray tries to destroy the painting
that bears the ugliness of his soul, he plunges the knife into his own heart.
Though some have accused Wilde of writing an immoral book, one could as
easily argue that he wrote a very moral book. Gray is sympathetic to a degree,
but he is an evildoer destroyed by the evil he did. The reader can contemplate
issues of art, beauty, and morality for himself. Along the way, he can enjoy a
creepy thrill.
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