Analysis of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde
, The picture of Dorian Gray is a gothic novel written by Oscar Wilde. It was first published in
1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Without Wilde’s knowledge, his editor
removed about 500 words from the book fearing that the story was indecent. Even despite that
censorship a lot of the British reviewers still deemed the book outrageous. A slightly less
censored version was released in 1891, but the full book, in the way Oscar Wilde had initially
written it, wasn’t published until 2011.
Oscar Wilde was a novelist, playwright, poet and critic from Ireland. The picture of Dorian
Gray was the only novel he ever wrote, besides that he wrote nine plays and a bunch of poems
and short stories. Oscar Wilde was a noticeable character in the Aesthetic movement which
valued aesthetic over moral themes. On top of his literary accomplishments, he’s also well
known for his flamboyant outfits and affairs with men. He was jailed for his homosexual
relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, a young poet and aristocrat.
Dorian Gray is an incredibly handsome and charming young man. A portrait of him is
painted by Basil Hallward. When Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton he gets heavily
influenced by the man. Dorian becomes so jealous of the everlasting youth and beauty of the
picture that is painted of him, he decides he will now experience as many things as possible
before he gets old and loses all of his charms, this includes immoral and sinful acts.
Lord Henry Wotton is a close friend of Basil Hallward. In most, if not all of the scenes he's
in, he speaks in long paragraphs with difficult words about art and life. His main philosophy
is that art and life are far more important than any morality. As the story progresses Dorian
Gray seems to mimic how Lord Henry talks, taking his philosophies far too serious perhaps.
Basil Hallward is a painter who falls in love with Dorian Gray’s beauty and innocence. He
feels he must be around Dorian at all times. He makes countless paintings of Dorian when he
finally finishes the perfect one, he is overwhelmed with emotion and thinks he has put too
much of himself in the picture. Lord Henry Wotton tells him that it is the finest work of
modern art. After this picture his art goes downhill and is average at best, nothing will ever
influence his abilities in art as Dorian Gray once did. It is tragic that he eventually gets killed
by that man, who is responsible for his one true success.
Sybil Vane is a young actress with whom Dorian Gray falls in love. She comes from a poor
family and has to act in a shabby theatre to provide for her mom and brother. Dorian Gray
falls in love with the way she flawlessly performs Juliet one night and Imogen the next. Once
she gets engaged to Dorian her acting falters. She feels like now that she’s felt true real-life
love, she doesn’t have to live via the women she is during her plays anymore. Dorian
immediately breaks up with her, saying that there is nothing interesting about her anymore, as
she no longer has her art. She is devastated and, very Juliet-like, kills herself.
Sybil’s brother: James Vane is a rough sailor, bound for Australia. Above all, he seeks to
protect his sister, and when he hears about Sybil dating Dorian, he is hesitant to leave for
Australia. He goes anyway but swears that he will kill anyone who ever hurts his sister. So,
when he hears about Sybil’s death he sets out to hunt down and kill Dorian Gray.
Mrs Vane is James’ and Sybil’s mother. She herself was once an actress but now she barely
even gets out of bed. The owner of the theatre helps her pay her debts in exchange for Sybil’s
acting. When she hears of her daughter dating Dorian Gray, she is completely blinded by the
wealth he has and is unable to make any characteristic judgments about him.
When Dorian Gray needs to get rid of Basil Hallward’s body after violently murdering him,
he calls for an old friend. Alan Campbell. He is a scientist that knew Dorian Gray intimately
once, but now like many others has grown to despise him. When first asked he says he doesn’t
