Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray

 

Book information

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Author: Oscar Wilde

Genre: (Gothic) Horror, Fantasy & Classics

Where to buy: Penguin Random House, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself.

The novel focus around the themes of beauty, youth, boyhood, purity, obsession, desires (such as Hedonism), corruption, vanity, soul and body, the influence of art, spiritual sensory experience vs pleasurable experience and internal vs external influence.

Mirrors but also the portrait itself symbolises inner vs outer beauty and also leaves room for self-reflection.

Whereas the portrait in the story is a central role to showcast the soul and its decay through sinful acts.

Later on, the books that are mentioned are representing the harmful knowledge and inspirations one may take from literature.

The symbols for this story are easy to find and to emphasise with. It helped me understand the themes of the book better and also to discover themes I haven't picked up until certain symbols appeared while reading. The mirror one and the portrait are my favourites, not only for being the most central ones, but for being so cleverly placed into this novel.

The most important characters are Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. 

My personal favourite is Basil Hallward for having such a strong connection to his own artwork and not being externally influenced, for instance by social norms. He was always sincere and appeared to be a moral guide for Dorian Gray. I didn't like his obsessive side and believing in good no matter what. He also appeared a bit naive through his perspective on life but who am I to judge? I'm quite a naive individual too. That's probably one of the reasons why I liked Basil so much. His inspirational flows and his generally more emotional side was very beautiful to read about.

‘I don’t know what you mean, Basil,’ he exclaimed, turning round. ‘I don’t know what you want. What do you want?’

‘I want the Dorian Gray I used to paint,’ said the artist sadly.

Now after having read it twice and also watched the 1945 film adaption (which did a great job in adapting the book contents) I can confidently say that this book wanted to convey the message how one shouldn't sacrifice one's own morals for eternal youth and beauty. It warns by showing the consequences of indulging in pleasure, corruption and vanity by the decay and self-destruction of oneself. Art, soul, body but also the life in the Victorian society are major key themes. It was eerie to see how much one can be externally influenced and how it changed one also internally and the (lifelong) impact on it. Seeing not only the spiritual decay but also the decay of one's own beauty was interesting too. All of this makes me wonder if being rotten inside still makes one beautiful and attractive as long as they have a nice smile or silky hair. When is one beautiful enough? What is even considered beautiful? I believe one should appreciate what one has and not make a deal with the devil. It will only lead into despair and self-destruction.

‘[...]I worshipped you too much. I am punished for it. You worshipped yourself too much. We are both punished.’

 5/5

Reasoning: It's one of my favourite classical horror stories. In fact, I read it now twice and I'm still beautifully enchanted from it. The themes evolving around this book is a main reason why I hold this book so dearly to me. Would definitely recommend this to somebody who wants to read something scary in this season!