The Picture of Dorian Gray

This edition was published by Vintage in 2007

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Author: Oscar Wilde
First Published: by Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, 1890
Audience: 14+
Rating: 4 stars
About: The character of Dorian Gray is beautiful, youthful and innocent, so much so that Basil Hallward decides to capture his looks in a portrait. Mesmerised by his own reflection, Dorian sells his soul to the Devil, so that his painting will age and change, while Dorian stays young forever.

 "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all." 

What I absolutely love about Oscar Wilde's writing is his humour, wit, and his ability to be beautifully descriptive. Despite its age, I was able to really get into this book, which shows how the language he uses is utterly timeless, probably one of the many reasons why this novel is still so popular.

 Another charm of this novel is its subtlety, a characteristic of the time it is written, which is a huge contrast and break from the explicit nature of most modern books. This is no Fifty Shades of Gray (pun!), even though Dorian is implied to have been having sexual relations with numerous women (and men) through the majority of the story. Wilde describes how "Women who had wildly adored him, and for his sake had braved all social censure and set convention at defiance, were seen to grow pallid with shame or horror if Dorian Gray entered the room." This is as lucid as the descriptions become, and so the main protagonist is always veiled in an air of mystery. His activities seem to the reader to be no more than rumours spread by other characters in the novel, as we are only present with Dorian during his public and apparently moral endeavours, and so we only know the extent of his moral deterioration when the state of the portrait is described. We only witness Dorian's second life when Basil, the painting's creator, feels and sees the full power of Dorian's new darkness, shattering all illusion of him still being a moral and good individual.

When a classic novel such as this has been made into a film, it seems strange not to compare the modern story to the original. It is safe to say that the mysterious edge provided by the novel's narration completely dissolves in the film as everything that is implied, and more, is vividly and explicitly played out onscreen. So much so, that I find it difficult to watch, compared to the book which I found a thoroughly enjoyable read. As nothing is left ambiguous, the image of the painting loses its importance and is only used as a device to induce horror and fear in the audience, something that it does well. However, the original purpose of the painting, I feel, is to provide a canvas where the soul can be laid bare, and for the implications of people's moral actions to be expressed, even if their actions are not widely known. It is meant to show that the individual has a duty to themselves to remain pure to protect their soul, a Christian concept (even though this book was considered to be thoroughly immoral). This is why I prefer the book to the film.

All in all, I feel that The Picture of Dorian Gray is a well-deserved classic. Wilde is a true genius and artist and his philosophical slant on his narration truly captivated me. My one slight criticism is that at times his philosophy overshadowed his story telling, and for this reason I give Dorian Gray 4 stars out of 5.