The Famous Oscar Wilde
Poet, playwright and celebrity
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
Selected Works
Biography
5 Facts
Aestheticism
Themes
Plot
Style
Characters
The story
chapter 1
chapter 11
chapter 2
chapter 12
chapter 13
chapter 3
chapter 14
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 15
chapter 6
chapter 16
chapter 17
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 18
chapter 19
chapter 9
chapter 10
chapter 20
Shortly after his first meeting with Dorian Gray, Lord Henry visits his uncle, Lord Fermor, to ask him about Dorian's past. Upon hearing this, Lord Henry remains even more fascinated by Dorian's personality and is increasingly convinced that he can influence him as he pleases. Shortly afterwards, Lord Henry goes to dinner at the home of his aunt, Lady Agatha, where he meets some members of the London upper class, including Dorian. Lord Henry begins a long speech on the importance, in his opinion, of always seeking pleasure and beauty and not ways to relieve pain, leaving the audience shocked but, at the same time, fascinated. Dorian also remains particularly attracted by his words, so much so that he leaves with him and abandons his plan to visit Basil.
The language is made of brilliant paradoxes, witty dialogue and harmonious diction. The characters' own lines and the opinion that others have about them reveal their personality through a technique that is common in drama. The narration is told by an unobtrusive third person narrator.
Basil therefore introduces Lord Henry to Dorian, and while the young man poses for the artist, he asks his new friend to stay and keep him company. After a while Dorian, tired of sitting there, gets up and goes into the garden, accompanied by Lord Henry, who praises his beauty and invites him to enjoy it, because together with his youth this too will go away. Reflecting on Lord Henry's warning, he realizes that that painting will remain that way as he grows old. Basil, however, does not want this portrait to ruin their friendship and, for this reason, he approaches it to destroy it, but first Dorian stops him, saying that he loves the painting and therefore the painter offers it to him as a gift. In the end Dorian and Lord Henry leave, after having agreed to meet at the theater that evening, despite Basil's disapproval.
That evening, during dinner, Lord Henry announces to Basil Dorian's plan to marry, creating concern on the painter's part for this marriage so beneath his social status. Lord Henry, on the other hand, believes that he is not in a position to express a judgement, but can simply observe the boy's experiences, whatever the consequences would have been. Dorian enters and tells of his new love, excited to see her at the theater, and, in the meantime, he realizes the falsity of Lord Henry's words regarding the virtues of selfishness. The man, however, does not budge and, on the contrary, continues to support his theories. In the end the three head towards the theater where Sibyl was to perform that same evening.
Dorian therefore decides to get help from a framer and his worker to hide the picture. They come to this room which Dorian had not entered for more than four years and which he used as a playroom when he was a child. He believes that there the painting would have been out of sight of all, except his own. Here he finds a note from Lord Henry and a copy of the third edition of the St. James's Gazette containing an article on Sybil's inquiry. After reading the article he concentrates on the yellow book sent to him by Lord Henry and after a deep reading he joins his friend at the club.
A week later, Dorian is, with his guests, in his estate at Selby and talks with Lord Henry, the Duchess of Monmouth, and her husband; they discuss the nature and importance of beauty, but the conversation turns to love; Dorian, after expressing his opinion, leaves the guests. Soon, they hear a groan from the other end of the conservatory and so they get up and find Dorian lying on the floor unconscious. At dinner, Dorian feels a thrill of terror as he remembers that, before fainting, he saw the face of James Vane pressed against the window of the conservatory.
It is the eve of his own thirty-eight birthday, when he is walking home and a man passes him. Dorian recognizes him. It was Basil. At first he pretends not to see him, but then Basil sees him and tells him that it was him he was waiting for. In fact he is about to leave for Paris, where he will stay for six months, but first he wants to talk to him. Once inside, Basil tells him that there are terrible rumors about him in London, which he does not believe because sin is something that writes itself across a man’s face, which does not happen in the case of Dorian. Basil would only like Dorian to deny all the accusations received and to keep his good name. Later he wonders if he really knows the man in front of him, but, in order to answer this question, he should first see his soul. At this statement, Dorian decides to show him the picture, because, even if Basil told the world about what he had seen, no one would believe him and so he would receive the answer he wanted.
For years Dorian could not free himself from the influence of this book and meanwhile in London he becomes the subject of gossip in the clubs. He always has the appearance of one who has not been touched by the world and time and grows with more and more love for his beauty and interest in the corruption of his soul. In these years Dorian understands that the true nature of the senses has never been understood and decides to approach ways of thinking that are different from his own. He knows that the senses, no less than the soul, have their own spiritual mysteries to reveal and for this, he always devotes himself to different activities that satisfy his curiosity. After the age of twenty-five curious stories begin to circulate about him and his influence on people, but this did not touch him because he was hypnotized by his book.
The following morning Basil goes to see Dorian, worried about him, but in reality he finds the young man completely indifferent to what had happened. Basil realizes that something in him has changed and he would like the Dorian he had painted back. He doesn’t understand how it is possible that he has already forgotten everything but he’s certain of Henry’s bad influence. Subsequently Basil turns to Dorian asking him to pose for him again and to show him his portrait, which he considers his best work. Dorian refuses and he says that if he tried to look at it, he would never speak to him again. The painter doesn’t understand what’s the problem and he also proposes to exhibit the portrait in Paris in the autumn. Dorian, terrified, absolutely disagrees and tries to convince Basil not to do it. At the end Basil listens to him and gives up fame because he cares more about Dorian’s friendship. After saying goodbye to the painter, Dorian sighs and decides to hide the painting immediately.
That evening, Dorian goes to a dinner party, invited by Lady Narborough. The woman starts to discuss the sad life of her daughter, who lives in a region of the countryside where they have so much to do but so little to think about. Dorian finds the party very tedious and brightens only when he learns Lord Henry will be in attendance. During dinner, Dorian finds it impossible to eat, and so Lord Henry asks him what is the matter. Lady Narborough suggests that Dorian is in love, though Dorian assures her that she is wrong. The two men discuss a party to be held at Dorian’s country estate, and then Lord Henry casually asks Dorian where he was the night before; Dorian glances at him hurriedly and frowned and he replies getting defensive. He says he is irritable and angry and decides to go home before the party is over.
After a few weeks Dorian goes to see Lord Harry and informs him of his intention to reform and become virtuous, but his friend does not believe him and tries to change the subject: Alan Campbell’s recent suicide and the continued mystery of Basil Hallward’s disappearance. Dorian asks if Lord Henry has ever considered that Basil might have been murdered, but he thinks he had no enemies and therefore doesn't believe he could have been killed. Later, when Dorian tells him that he killed him, Harry doesn't believe him because a crime is too vulgar for a man like Dorian. the conversation moves away from Basil and moves on to some questions addressed to Dorian by Lord Harry that put him in difficulty. At this point Lord Harry wonders how Dorian has managed to remain the same for all these years and what the rest of his life will be like. He commends Dorian’s mode of living and begs him not to spoil it by trying to be virtuous. Dorian is convinced of his decision and begs his friend not to give anyone else that book which had so much engraved on him; finally, before leaving, he agrees with Harry to meet the next day.
As the coach heads toward the opium dens, Dorian recites to himself Lord Henry’s favorite phrase: “To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul.” This because he thinks that he can’t erase his sins but at least forget them. When tue coach stops, he enteres a shabby house where he finds a young man named as Adrian Singleton, whose presence troubles him because he wants to be where no one knows him. When Dorian prepares to leave, a woman addresses him as “the devil’s bargain” and “Prince Charming.” At these words, a sailor leaps to his feet and follows Dorian to the street. After walking a lot he suddenly feels seized from behind and slammed against the wall, with a hand around his neck. Then he sees a gun pointing straight at his head and he recognizes the man as Sybil’s brother, who wants to kill him. Dorian points out to James that eighteen years had passed since his sister’s death and certainly he can not be the man he is looking for because he has a too young face. James lets him go but then he learns from the woman that in all those years Dorian had never changed and therefore he decides to look for him again.
In the second half of the 19 century, the traditional Victorian values of strict morality, respectability and material utility were challenged by a new artistic and literary movement, Aestheticism. It stated that art had nothing to do with morality and did not have to be didactic. Instead, it had to deal with the elevation of taste and the pursuit of beauty, which was the most important element in life. The famous motto, "Art for Art's Sake, meant praising the sensual qualities of art and the sensation of pleasure art could create. This went against the Victorian belief according to which literature and art should provide important ethical rules, such as the correct behaviour to follow. In literature, Walter Pater (1839-1894) is regarded as the main theorist of the Aesthetic Movement in England. He rejected religious faith and said that art was the only means to stop time, the only certainty. He thought life should-be lived in the spirit of art, namely as a work of art, filling each passing moment with intense experience, feeling all kinds of sensations. The artist, who employed the language of the senses, was seen as the transcriber 'not of the world, not of mere fact, but of his sense of it. Pater's works had a deep influence on the poets and writers of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, who claimed that life imitates art and 'performed" this concept presenting himself as the impeccably dressed and mannered dandy figure whose life was as a work of art.
The novel is set in the last decades of the 19th century in London. Basil Hallward, a painter, decides to paint a portrait of a young man, Dorian Gray who, due to the corrupt influence of the witty Lord Henry Wotton starts to live a life full of pleasures. All the sins he commits appear only on the picture and, in addition, he doesn't age but the portrait does. The protagonist also causes some deaths including the painter's. After some time, Dorian seeks for freedom from his internal corruption and stabs the painting. In that moment he dies, becoming old and ugly, and the picture returns to its original appearance.
The next day Dorian wakes up late and receives a series of letters including one from Henry which he puts aside. After getting dressed, he sits at the table for breakfast and then decides to check the painting again, which had made him aware of the harm he had done to Sibyl. Therefore he proposes to ask Sibyl's forgiveness and plans to write her a love letter in which to ask her to marry him. At this moment Lord Henry arrives to console him thinking that he is aware of Sibyl's death of which he had written in the letter but which Dorian had not read. After clarifying Lord Henry informs him that there will also be an inquiry and that he must not be implicated in any way. Dorian doesn't answer for a few moments and is shocked, but after some advice from his friend he comes to the conclusion that Sibyl was just a wonderful tragic figure. In the end he then decides that the painting would be the most magical mirror for him and that he would devote his time to research. Afterwards he goes to the theater and there he spends the evening with Lord Henry as if nothing had happened.
The next morning, Dorian wakes with the touch of his servant. He feels the return of his hatred for Basil but he decides not to think about it. After breakfast, he sends for Alan Campbell, because he needs his help. While waiting for him, Dorian passes the time reading a book of poems and drawing pictures. After a while Campbell arrives, aware that he has been called on a matter of life and death. Dorian confesses to him that there is a dead man locked in a room of his house where no one has access but him and asks him to help him get rid of the body, using his great knowledge of chemistry. Campbell refuses and so Dorian admits that he murdered the man, but the scientist has no interest in becoming involved. Dorian blackmails him, forcing him to accept. The man works until evening and when he leaves, Dorian returns to the room, where he finds a horrible smell of nitric acid but the body is gone.
A month later, while waiting at Lord Henry's house for his guest to arrive, Dorian has a conversation with Victoria, his friend's wife. When Lord Henry returns, Dorian can't wait to tell him about his new love. She is Sibyl Vane, a young actress who admits to having met in the slums and who acts in a small theater in London. Dorian had managed to meet the young woman thanks to the owner of the theater and had been nicknamed by her "Prince Charming" because she had been fascinated by the attentions of such a handsome gentleman. Lord Henry therefore agrees to accompany Dorian the following evening to the theater, together with Basil, to see the young woman perform as the protagonist in Romeo and Juliet. After Dorian leaves, Lord Henry reflects on the man's psychology, having realized his great influence on this young man and, only then, gets dressed to go to dinner. Once back home, he finds a telegram sent by Dorian in which he claims to be engaged.
The following day, Dorian does not leave the house. The thought of being found by James Vane dominates him and so he begins to wonder if this apparition is a figment of his imagination. On the third day after the incident, Dorian ventures to go out. He has breakfast with the duchess, then they stroll together and join a shooting-party. Suddenly, after shooting, a man's cry is heard and they then discover that he has been shot and killed. Dorian shares his fear that this episode is a bad omen with Harry, but his friend comforts him. Subsequently Dorian takes refuge in his room and the head keeper goes here to tell him that the man's identity is unknown. As soon as he learns that the man is an anonymous sailor, Dorian demands to see him. He rides to a farm where the body is being kept and identifies it as that of James Vane. Then he rides home with tears in his eyes, because now he feels safe.
The main characters are: Dorian Gray, Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward. The protagonist, Dorian Gray, is a young man who is considered the ideal of youth, beauty and innocence. After being painted by Basil, he starts not to age and, on the other hand, the painting reflects his immoral and degraded soul. Lord Henry Wotton is a very clever and witty man who can be seen as an amoral aesthete. According to him, the most significant value is youth and he sharply criticises the institutions. His influence on young Dorian is poisonous. The third main character is Basil Hallward, an artist whose best work is Dorian's portrait but his intention is not to exhibit it as he believes it would reveal the secret of his own soul.
That night Dorian returns to the room where the painting is kept, hoping that his good intentions could have brought about some change, but he realizes that this is not the case. He realizes that his attitude was not enough and therefore, furious, he grabs the same knife with which he had killed Basil and thrusts it into the painting to destroy it. Dorian's servants suddenly hear a cry and, entering the room, they see the picture, unharmed, which depicts a young man, while the body of an old man lies dead on the ground with a knife stuck in his heart. It is not until the servants examine the rings on the old man’s hands that they identify him as Dorian Gray.
The main themes are: beauty, morality, youth and the conflict between reality and appearance. In Lord Henry's opinion youth and beauty are the most important values that are evident in Dorian's original portrait. The picture, however, reveals the corrupted side of Dorian's soul and his true personality. The contrast between reality and appearance can be seen in the whole novel and its moral is that man is not in the position to escape reality and isn't able to evade from his sins.
The two enter the room and Dorian, approaching the painting, discovers it. Basil is terrified and disgusted: he seems to recognize his brushwork and the frame, but he doesn't believe what he sees. Dorian reminds him of the wish he expressed and then Basil understands that his friend is actually worse than what others say about him. The painter asks him to pray to dissolve sin, but Dorian, attacked by a feeling of uncontrollable hatred, takes a knife and kills him. After closing the door behind him, he goes down the stairs and leaves the house, pretending he hasn't been there until then. After this he rings the bell, saying that he has forgotten his keys, and for about a quarter of an hour he walks up and down the room, until he takes a book from the shelf to look up the address of a man he needed.
Sibyl is enthusiastic about this new engagement, but neither her mother nor her brother James are equally enthusiastic, who, ready to leave for Australia as a sailor, recommends her mother to watch over the girl. The mother, however, seems to think about Dorian's wealth rather than her daughter's safety. James then takes his sister and together they go for a walk, during which they discuss the future adventures of his brother, who realizes that, perhaps, it is not the right thing to leave his sister at such a time. He later asks her about this new love, warning her that, if he ever hurt her, he would kill him. That same evening, James asks his mother if she was ever married to his father, receiving no for an answer, and then begs her not to let Sibyl follow the same fate. Before leaving, the young man states again that, if his sister ever suffered because of this new love, he would kill him.
The novel begins in the house carefully appointed by Basil Hallward, a well-known artist, where the painter and Lord Henry are seen conversing. The two discuss Basil's latest work, which Henry says absolutely needs to be exhibited. The artist, however, does not agree, because in this portrait, whose subject is a young man with golden hair, he put too much of himself. Lord Henry, however, insists on a better justification and, in the end, Basil tells of his meeting with Dorian Gray, the subject of the painting and his only inspiration. Lord Henry then remembers having heard that name from his aunt and orders Basil to introduce the young man to him, but his friend refuses and actually begs him not to influence him because he is convinced that his company can only ruin him.
Dorian, Lord Henry and Basil meet at the theater to see Sibilla act, but the young woman makes a bad impression, acting in an artificial and unacceptable way. Dorian's friends are disappointed and the audience also loses interest in the show. At the end of the second act Lord Henry and Basil leave and Dorian apologizes to them for having made them waste an evening. His friends invite him to follow them but Dorian decides to stay. At the end of the show he goes backstage and asks Sibilla for an explanation, who seems to be happy with this failure of hers because she understood what love really is and realized that the world she previously believed was real is actually not. Dorian, on the other hand, remains cold and affirms that in this way she has destroyed his love and that now she is nothing for him. Once back home he turns to his painting and realizes that the expression is different and perceives a bit of cruelty that wasn't there before. So he sits down to reflect and immediately remembers the expressed desire for the painting to age in his place and is terrified by it. He realizes that the image, changed or not, is the visible emblem of his conscience and this change was caused by his cruel behavior towards Sibyl. He therefore decides to go back to her to apologize and to undertake to build a pure life together with Sibyl even at the cost of breaking his friendship with Lord Henry.
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He attended the Oxford University where he started to write poems. There he became a follower of the Aesthetic movement and accepted the theory of "Art for Art's Sake" 1881 he started a tour in the United States as a lecturer and published the collection "Poems". In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd. In 1891 he published his only novel "The picture of Dorian Gray". Then he produced a series of comedies such as "Lady Windermere's Fan" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". After, in 1893, he published a ragedy, "Salomé". On the other hand, he was accused of being immoral both for the novel and the tragedy. In 1891 Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas and fell in love with him. The boy's father forced him to a public trial in which he was considered guilty of homosexual practices and put in prison. There he wrote "The Profundis". He was released in 1897, went to France and died in Paris in 1900.
Oscar Wilde
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Transcript
The Famous Oscar Wilde
Poet, playwright and celebrity
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
Selected Works
Biography
5 Facts
Aestheticism
Themes
Plot
Style
Characters
The story
chapter 1
chapter 11
chapter 2
chapter 12
chapter 13
chapter 3
chapter 14
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 15
chapter 6
chapter 16
chapter 17
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 18
chapter 19
chapter 9
chapter 10
chapter 20
Shortly after his first meeting with Dorian Gray, Lord Henry visits his uncle, Lord Fermor, to ask him about Dorian's past. Upon hearing this, Lord Henry remains even more fascinated by Dorian's personality and is increasingly convinced that he can influence him as he pleases. Shortly afterwards, Lord Henry goes to dinner at the home of his aunt, Lady Agatha, where he meets some members of the London upper class, including Dorian. Lord Henry begins a long speech on the importance, in his opinion, of always seeking pleasure and beauty and not ways to relieve pain, leaving the audience shocked but, at the same time, fascinated. Dorian also remains particularly attracted by his words, so much so that he leaves with him and abandons his plan to visit Basil.
The language is made of brilliant paradoxes, witty dialogue and harmonious diction. The characters' own lines and the opinion that others have about them reveal their personality through a technique that is common in drama. The narration is told by an unobtrusive third person narrator.
Basil therefore introduces Lord Henry to Dorian, and while the young man poses for the artist, he asks his new friend to stay and keep him company. After a while Dorian, tired of sitting there, gets up and goes into the garden, accompanied by Lord Henry, who praises his beauty and invites him to enjoy it, because together with his youth this too will go away. Reflecting on Lord Henry's warning, he realizes that that painting will remain that way as he grows old. Basil, however, does not want this portrait to ruin their friendship and, for this reason, he approaches it to destroy it, but first Dorian stops him, saying that he loves the painting and therefore the painter offers it to him as a gift. In the end Dorian and Lord Henry leave, after having agreed to meet at the theater that evening, despite Basil's disapproval.
That evening, during dinner, Lord Henry announces to Basil Dorian's plan to marry, creating concern on the painter's part for this marriage so beneath his social status. Lord Henry, on the other hand, believes that he is not in a position to express a judgement, but can simply observe the boy's experiences, whatever the consequences would have been. Dorian enters and tells of his new love, excited to see her at the theater, and, in the meantime, he realizes the falsity of Lord Henry's words regarding the virtues of selfishness. The man, however, does not budge and, on the contrary, continues to support his theories. In the end the three head towards the theater where Sibyl was to perform that same evening.
Dorian therefore decides to get help from a framer and his worker to hide the picture. They come to this room which Dorian had not entered for more than four years and which he used as a playroom when he was a child. He believes that there the painting would have been out of sight of all, except his own. Here he finds a note from Lord Henry and a copy of the third edition of the St. James's Gazette containing an article on Sybil's inquiry. After reading the article he concentrates on the yellow book sent to him by Lord Henry and after a deep reading he joins his friend at the club.
A week later, Dorian is, with his guests, in his estate at Selby and talks with Lord Henry, the Duchess of Monmouth, and her husband; they discuss the nature and importance of beauty, but the conversation turns to love; Dorian, after expressing his opinion, leaves the guests. Soon, they hear a groan from the other end of the conservatory and so they get up and find Dorian lying on the floor unconscious. At dinner, Dorian feels a thrill of terror as he remembers that, before fainting, he saw the face of James Vane pressed against the window of the conservatory.
It is the eve of his own thirty-eight birthday, when he is walking home and a man passes him. Dorian recognizes him. It was Basil. At first he pretends not to see him, but then Basil sees him and tells him that it was him he was waiting for. In fact he is about to leave for Paris, where he will stay for six months, but first he wants to talk to him. Once inside, Basil tells him that there are terrible rumors about him in London, which he does not believe because sin is something that writes itself across a man’s face, which does not happen in the case of Dorian. Basil would only like Dorian to deny all the accusations received and to keep his good name. Later he wonders if he really knows the man in front of him, but, in order to answer this question, he should first see his soul. At this statement, Dorian decides to show him the picture, because, even if Basil told the world about what he had seen, no one would believe him and so he would receive the answer he wanted.
For years Dorian could not free himself from the influence of this book and meanwhile in London he becomes the subject of gossip in the clubs. He always has the appearance of one who has not been touched by the world and time and grows with more and more love for his beauty and interest in the corruption of his soul. In these years Dorian understands that the true nature of the senses has never been understood and decides to approach ways of thinking that are different from his own. He knows that the senses, no less than the soul, have their own spiritual mysteries to reveal and for this, he always devotes himself to different activities that satisfy his curiosity. After the age of twenty-five curious stories begin to circulate about him and his influence on people, but this did not touch him because he was hypnotized by his book.
The following morning Basil goes to see Dorian, worried about him, but in reality he finds the young man completely indifferent to what had happened. Basil realizes that something in him has changed and he would like the Dorian he had painted back. He doesn’t understand how it is possible that he has already forgotten everything but he’s certain of Henry’s bad influence. Subsequently Basil turns to Dorian asking him to pose for him again and to show him his portrait, which he considers his best work. Dorian refuses and he says that if he tried to look at it, he would never speak to him again. The painter doesn’t understand what’s the problem and he also proposes to exhibit the portrait in Paris in the autumn. Dorian, terrified, absolutely disagrees and tries to convince Basil not to do it. At the end Basil listens to him and gives up fame because he cares more about Dorian’s friendship. After saying goodbye to the painter, Dorian sighs and decides to hide the painting immediately.
That evening, Dorian goes to a dinner party, invited by Lady Narborough. The woman starts to discuss the sad life of her daughter, who lives in a region of the countryside where they have so much to do but so little to think about. Dorian finds the party very tedious and brightens only when he learns Lord Henry will be in attendance. During dinner, Dorian finds it impossible to eat, and so Lord Henry asks him what is the matter. Lady Narborough suggests that Dorian is in love, though Dorian assures her that she is wrong. The two men discuss a party to be held at Dorian’s country estate, and then Lord Henry casually asks Dorian where he was the night before; Dorian glances at him hurriedly and frowned and he replies getting defensive. He says he is irritable and angry and decides to go home before the party is over.
After a few weeks Dorian goes to see Lord Harry and informs him of his intention to reform and become virtuous, but his friend does not believe him and tries to change the subject: Alan Campbell’s recent suicide and the continued mystery of Basil Hallward’s disappearance. Dorian asks if Lord Henry has ever considered that Basil might have been murdered, but he thinks he had no enemies and therefore doesn't believe he could have been killed. Later, when Dorian tells him that he killed him, Harry doesn't believe him because a crime is too vulgar for a man like Dorian. the conversation moves away from Basil and moves on to some questions addressed to Dorian by Lord Harry that put him in difficulty. At this point Lord Harry wonders how Dorian has managed to remain the same for all these years and what the rest of his life will be like. He commends Dorian’s mode of living and begs him not to spoil it by trying to be virtuous. Dorian is convinced of his decision and begs his friend not to give anyone else that book which had so much engraved on him; finally, before leaving, he agrees with Harry to meet the next day.
As the coach heads toward the opium dens, Dorian recites to himself Lord Henry’s favorite phrase: “To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul.” This because he thinks that he can’t erase his sins but at least forget them. When tue coach stops, he enteres a shabby house where he finds a young man named as Adrian Singleton, whose presence troubles him because he wants to be where no one knows him. When Dorian prepares to leave, a woman addresses him as “the devil’s bargain” and “Prince Charming.” At these words, a sailor leaps to his feet and follows Dorian to the street. After walking a lot he suddenly feels seized from behind and slammed against the wall, with a hand around his neck. Then he sees a gun pointing straight at his head and he recognizes the man as Sybil’s brother, who wants to kill him. Dorian points out to James that eighteen years had passed since his sister’s death and certainly he can not be the man he is looking for because he has a too young face. James lets him go but then he learns from the woman that in all those years Dorian had never changed and therefore he decides to look for him again.
In the second half of the 19 century, the traditional Victorian values of strict morality, respectability and material utility were challenged by a new artistic and literary movement, Aestheticism. It stated that art had nothing to do with morality and did not have to be didactic. Instead, it had to deal with the elevation of taste and the pursuit of beauty, which was the most important element in life. The famous motto, "Art for Art's Sake, meant praising the sensual qualities of art and the sensation of pleasure art could create. This went against the Victorian belief according to which literature and art should provide important ethical rules, such as the correct behaviour to follow. In literature, Walter Pater (1839-1894) is regarded as the main theorist of the Aesthetic Movement in England. He rejected religious faith and said that art was the only means to stop time, the only certainty. He thought life should-be lived in the spirit of art, namely as a work of art, filling each passing moment with intense experience, feeling all kinds of sensations. The artist, who employed the language of the senses, was seen as the transcriber 'not of the world, not of mere fact, but of his sense of it. Pater's works had a deep influence on the poets and writers of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, who claimed that life imitates art and 'performed" this concept presenting himself as the impeccably dressed and mannered dandy figure whose life was as a work of art.
The novel is set in the last decades of the 19th century in London. Basil Hallward, a painter, decides to paint a portrait of a young man, Dorian Gray who, due to the corrupt influence of the witty Lord Henry Wotton starts to live a life full of pleasures. All the sins he commits appear only on the picture and, in addition, he doesn't age but the portrait does. The protagonist also causes some deaths including the painter's. After some time, Dorian seeks for freedom from his internal corruption and stabs the painting. In that moment he dies, becoming old and ugly, and the picture returns to its original appearance.
The next day Dorian wakes up late and receives a series of letters including one from Henry which he puts aside. After getting dressed, he sits at the table for breakfast and then decides to check the painting again, which had made him aware of the harm he had done to Sibyl. Therefore he proposes to ask Sibyl's forgiveness and plans to write her a love letter in which to ask her to marry him. At this moment Lord Henry arrives to console him thinking that he is aware of Sibyl's death of which he had written in the letter but which Dorian had not read. After clarifying Lord Henry informs him that there will also be an inquiry and that he must not be implicated in any way. Dorian doesn't answer for a few moments and is shocked, but after some advice from his friend he comes to the conclusion that Sibyl was just a wonderful tragic figure. In the end he then decides that the painting would be the most magical mirror for him and that he would devote his time to research. Afterwards he goes to the theater and there he spends the evening with Lord Henry as if nothing had happened.
The next morning, Dorian wakes with the touch of his servant. He feels the return of his hatred for Basil but he decides not to think about it. After breakfast, he sends for Alan Campbell, because he needs his help. While waiting for him, Dorian passes the time reading a book of poems and drawing pictures. After a while Campbell arrives, aware that he has been called on a matter of life and death. Dorian confesses to him that there is a dead man locked in a room of his house where no one has access but him and asks him to help him get rid of the body, using his great knowledge of chemistry. Campbell refuses and so Dorian admits that he murdered the man, but the scientist has no interest in becoming involved. Dorian blackmails him, forcing him to accept. The man works until evening and when he leaves, Dorian returns to the room, where he finds a horrible smell of nitric acid but the body is gone.
A month later, while waiting at Lord Henry's house for his guest to arrive, Dorian has a conversation with Victoria, his friend's wife. When Lord Henry returns, Dorian can't wait to tell him about his new love. She is Sibyl Vane, a young actress who admits to having met in the slums and who acts in a small theater in London. Dorian had managed to meet the young woman thanks to the owner of the theater and had been nicknamed by her "Prince Charming" because she had been fascinated by the attentions of such a handsome gentleman. Lord Henry therefore agrees to accompany Dorian the following evening to the theater, together with Basil, to see the young woman perform as the protagonist in Romeo and Juliet. After Dorian leaves, Lord Henry reflects on the man's psychology, having realized his great influence on this young man and, only then, gets dressed to go to dinner. Once back home, he finds a telegram sent by Dorian in which he claims to be engaged.
The following day, Dorian does not leave the house. The thought of being found by James Vane dominates him and so he begins to wonder if this apparition is a figment of his imagination. On the third day after the incident, Dorian ventures to go out. He has breakfast with the duchess, then they stroll together and join a shooting-party. Suddenly, after shooting, a man's cry is heard and they then discover that he has been shot and killed. Dorian shares his fear that this episode is a bad omen with Harry, but his friend comforts him. Subsequently Dorian takes refuge in his room and the head keeper goes here to tell him that the man's identity is unknown. As soon as he learns that the man is an anonymous sailor, Dorian demands to see him. He rides to a farm where the body is being kept and identifies it as that of James Vane. Then he rides home with tears in his eyes, because now he feels safe.
The main characters are: Dorian Gray, Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward. The protagonist, Dorian Gray, is a young man who is considered the ideal of youth, beauty and innocence. After being painted by Basil, he starts not to age and, on the other hand, the painting reflects his immoral and degraded soul. Lord Henry Wotton is a very clever and witty man who can be seen as an amoral aesthete. According to him, the most significant value is youth and he sharply criticises the institutions. His influence on young Dorian is poisonous. The third main character is Basil Hallward, an artist whose best work is Dorian's portrait but his intention is not to exhibit it as he believes it would reveal the secret of his own soul.
That night Dorian returns to the room where the painting is kept, hoping that his good intentions could have brought about some change, but he realizes that this is not the case. He realizes that his attitude was not enough and therefore, furious, he grabs the same knife with which he had killed Basil and thrusts it into the painting to destroy it. Dorian's servants suddenly hear a cry and, entering the room, they see the picture, unharmed, which depicts a young man, while the body of an old man lies dead on the ground with a knife stuck in his heart. It is not until the servants examine the rings on the old man’s hands that they identify him as Dorian Gray.
The main themes are: beauty, morality, youth and the conflict between reality and appearance. In Lord Henry's opinion youth and beauty are the most important values that are evident in Dorian's original portrait. The picture, however, reveals the corrupted side of Dorian's soul and his true personality. The contrast between reality and appearance can be seen in the whole novel and its moral is that man is not in the position to escape reality and isn't able to evade from his sins.
The two enter the room and Dorian, approaching the painting, discovers it. Basil is terrified and disgusted: he seems to recognize his brushwork and the frame, but he doesn't believe what he sees. Dorian reminds him of the wish he expressed and then Basil understands that his friend is actually worse than what others say about him. The painter asks him to pray to dissolve sin, but Dorian, attacked by a feeling of uncontrollable hatred, takes a knife and kills him. After closing the door behind him, he goes down the stairs and leaves the house, pretending he hasn't been there until then. After this he rings the bell, saying that he has forgotten his keys, and for about a quarter of an hour he walks up and down the room, until he takes a book from the shelf to look up the address of a man he needed.
Sibyl is enthusiastic about this new engagement, but neither her mother nor her brother James are equally enthusiastic, who, ready to leave for Australia as a sailor, recommends her mother to watch over the girl. The mother, however, seems to think about Dorian's wealth rather than her daughter's safety. James then takes his sister and together they go for a walk, during which they discuss the future adventures of his brother, who realizes that, perhaps, it is not the right thing to leave his sister at such a time. He later asks her about this new love, warning her that, if he ever hurt her, he would kill him. That same evening, James asks his mother if she was ever married to his father, receiving no for an answer, and then begs her not to let Sibyl follow the same fate. Before leaving, the young man states again that, if his sister ever suffered because of this new love, he would kill him.
The novel begins in the house carefully appointed by Basil Hallward, a well-known artist, where the painter and Lord Henry are seen conversing. The two discuss Basil's latest work, which Henry says absolutely needs to be exhibited. The artist, however, does not agree, because in this portrait, whose subject is a young man with golden hair, he put too much of himself. Lord Henry, however, insists on a better justification and, in the end, Basil tells of his meeting with Dorian Gray, the subject of the painting and his only inspiration. Lord Henry then remembers having heard that name from his aunt and orders Basil to introduce the young man to him, but his friend refuses and actually begs him not to influence him because he is convinced that his company can only ruin him.
Dorian, Lord Henry and Basil meet at the theater to see Sibilla act, but the young woman makes a bad impression, acting in an artificial and unacceptable way. Dorian's friends are disappointed and the audience also loses interest in the show. At the end of the second act Lord Henry and Basil leave and Dorian apologizes to them for having made them waste an evening. His friends invite him to follow them but Dorian decides to stay. At the end of the show he goes backstage and asks Sibilla for an explanation, who seems to be happy with this failure of hers because she understood what love really is and realized that the world she previously believed was real is actually not. Dorian, on the other hand, remains cold and affirms that in this way she has destroyed his love and that now she is nothing for him. Once back home he turns to his painting and realizes that the expression is different and perceives a bit of cruelty that wasn't there before. So he sits down to reflect and immediately remembers the expressed desire for the painting to age in his place and is terrified by it. He realizes that the image, changed or not, is the visible emblem of his conscience and this change was caused by his cruel behavior towards Sibyl. He therefore decides to go back to her to apologize and to undertake to build a pure life together with Sibyl even at the cost of breaking his friendship with Lord Henry.
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He attended the Oxford University where he started to write poems. There he became a follower of the Aesthetic movement and accepted the theory of "Art for Art's Sake" 1881 he started a tour in the United States as a lecturer and published the collection "Poems". In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd. In 1891 he published his only novel "The picture of Dorian Gray". Then he produced a series of comedies such as "Lady Windermere's Fan" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". After, in 1893, he published a ragedy, "Salomé". On the other hand, he was accused of being immoral both for the novel and the tragedy. In 1891 Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas and fell in love with him. The boy's father forced him to a public trial in which he was considered guilty of homosexual practices and put in prison. There he wrote "The Profundis". He was released in 1897, went to France and died in Paris in 1900.