The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Summary: A sub-Faustian tale of self-love and self-obssession
Review: Though it's rather slow to get going in the initial chapters, Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray" builds up into a splendidly effective piece, written in highly polished prose. Dorian Gray, who is suggestively described as "charming" and "beautiful" ... is painted by his friend and admirer, Basil Hallward. Dorian, a self-centered social luminary whose character is reminiscent of Narcissus, makes a bizarre sub-Faustian wish which tragically comes true: that his beautiful portrait may age, while he retains his youthful looks. The conclusion is disastrous, the culmination of a narrative containing elements of murder, suicide, blackmail, a confrontation in a grimy alley and an episode in an opium den. The characters are very well sketched out, particularly the triad of Dorian, Basil and the intellectual cynic, Lord Henry, Dorian's mentor and the mouthpiece of some of Wilde's most cutting amoral opinions. The style is, typically, marvellous, characterised by brilliant exchanges and aphoristic gaiety. Wilde lacerates English bourgeois culture, the conceptions of sin and virtue and the attitudes towards art of his time with tremendous aplomb. Some of his quips are patently snide, sometimes mysogynistic, as in: "Woman represents the triumph of matter over mind, while man represents the triumph of mind over morals." Oh, isn't that just despicable?! I love it!

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Summary: this book
Review: this book was really really twisted, our sophmore class had to read it for school, and almost everyone hated it

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Summary: Review for Dorian Gray
Review: Dorian Gray is somewhat shy, but fairly talkative. In certain parts of the book he starts to show a nervous side of himself. He does this because he is witnessing that a certain picture of someone is changing before his very eyes. Whose picture you're asking, what do think that I'm going to tell you! Stop asking, and read the book already. Anyway, the setting of this book is taking place around the Victorian Times in England. In England there is an art studio in which Basil Hallward, the artist that paints a certain picture, works and spends most of his time. The problem in the story all started when Dorian spoke a "request." He "requested" that, "Why can't this picture age instead of myself?" Dorian will be scared of what happens after the next few months. One person enjoyed reading the book, and thought that it was great reading. This person loved how the author used vivid details in all his characters, especially Dorian Gray. They also saw the movie starring George Sanders and Hurd Hatfield, which they thought was also very good !

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Summary: One of the cleverest books ever written
Review: This book is sooo good, I think no jaded reader can deserve that title without having read this book. Dorian Gray, an astonishingly beautiful young aristocrat, receives the gift of eternal youth in the form of a painting one of his friends has made of him. Later, prompted by another friend, the divine dissolute Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian gradually falls into a dissipate lifestyle and the eerie painting shows both the ravages of age and the advance of Dorian's moral decay, while he retains his breathtaking looks. As Dorian becomes more and more obsessed with the painting's worsening appearance, the changes in his once sweet and naive personality are explained in the story, and Dorian lives in fear of the painting being exposed to the world, therefore showing him beyond any doubt as the sleazy creep he is, until it comes to a point when the gift he prized so much ends up turning against him. Dorian Gray is one of the least likable characters I have seen on print, but I really liked his wicked friend Lord Wotton, who in the story is the one in charge of leading Dorian astray and dishing criticism after witty criticism of nineteenth century English society. I later learned this particular character was a sort of mockery of Oscar Wilde himself. A mellower version of this character can be found in another of Wilde's works, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, my second favorite story by this author.

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Summary: Compelling
Review: I enjoyed reading the book, and thought that it was a great allegory. I loved how Wilde used vivid details in all his characters, especially in the life of Dorian Gray! I also saw the movie starring George Sanders and Hurd Hatfield, which I thought was really good also!

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Summary: Disgraceful
Review: Please refer to page 212 of the Baronet Books version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The editing error "Did you saw a sailor?"There is another editing error that occurs when the character Alan Campbell comes to see Dorian. A letter is presented to Alan and the reader has no idea what this is about. I am going to try to find another version of this classic. This book was terrible.

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Summary: a tale of moral decadence
Review: It is a tale of moral decadence and debauchery. Dorian seems consumed in his self portarit, his love for himself is so big that he cannot see beyond his image and when his true image dawns on him he dies. However i did not give him five stars because of the way the plot moves. It is a little bit slow and only at the end you feel it taking full force. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. LUIS MENDEZ [e-mail]

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Summary: Oscar was wild with imagination when he wrote this.
Review: Wow! This book knocked me out of my seat. It's relentless from beginning to end. All throughout you want to rush through the pages to see how the story concludes. What will happen to Dorian? What will become of the hideous painting?

The book's three main characters are Basil Hallward, the painter; Dorian Gray, the paintee; and Lord Henry, the intellectual mind behind Dorian Gray. It seems as if all of Dorian Gray's evils are inspired by his sidekick, Lord Henry. So, throughout the story, the reader is left asking: "Is this guy a villain?" As to the answer to that question, it still remains uncertain to me.

And the ending - oh! - flawless, impeccable, divine! I dare not give it away, for you must venture into those pages to find out where all the events lead to. The last page of the book is truly the climax. You'll be left shivering with sweat trickling down your forehead just to see what happens.

"Of all people in the world the English have the least sense of the beauty of literature," Lord Henry claims in one part of the story. Nay, they don't, I must say - for it was an Englishman that produced this book!

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Summary: A timeless treasure
Review: To my mind, this is one of the best works in all of English literature. Oscar Wilde is a artist who uses the page as his canvas and the written word as his paint. His wit cuts at the human condition like a scalpel with depth and precision. Dorian Gray is his finest work.

This is a Faustian tale of a man who utters an oath offering his soul for the youth portrayed in a painting of him, if only it would age instead of he. He discovers that the wish has been granted, only he gets more than he requested, as the painting shows not only the marks of age, but also the marks upon his soul as he slips into a hedonistic and odious life.

I have read a lot of criticism of this book by modern and especially young readers as being slow and boring. This is much like the criticism of a beer guzzler describing a fine wine. "Forget the bouquet and refined taste, just give me my buzz." This story, and the subtle philosophies contained within, need to be sipped deliberately and relished. There is page after page of astute insight into the paradoxes and ironies of society and the mysteries of being human. To be bored with this is to be insensate to life's depth and meaning.

Many have also criticized the book as espousing hedonism and attacking Victorian society especially at the time it was written. Such critics wrongly assume that Lord Henry is Wilde's mouthpiece for a fatalistic and cynical philosophy. Actually, the exact opposite is true. The cynic is the one being satirized, not society.

Lord Henry uses paradoxical aphorisms to bolster his sardonic view. However, they are specious and self validating arguments that look at the small truths about the world and draw the wrong conclusion. Rather than assume that these eccentricities and foibles are things that we can and should rise above, he draws the conclusion that we should embrace and accept our instinctive weaknesses. He ignores the higher truths and points out instead how the capitulation to our own desires sets us free. Wilde's refutation of this philosophical connivance comes in the person of Dorian Gray.

Dorian was Lord Henry's protégé. He was living the life that Harry espoused (but ironically didn't live himself). And what was the result of Dorian's decadence? He lived a life of torment and self loathing. He agonized over the hideous marks on his soul as catalogued by the portrait with each dastardly deed. Wilde is telling us that this is what such self indulgence and cynicism about life and society brings. His message is that a civilized society, with all its inconsistencies, paradoxes and ironies, is preferable and superior to living like an animal. By smiting Dorian, he is really smiting Lord Henry and everything he advocates. He is making a case for the soul over the body; intellect over instinct.

This is an exquisite and thought provoking treasure that is every bit as relevant now as it was almost a century ago when it was written. I have read it a number of times through the years and I never tire of it. As I have gotten older and more experienced, its truths have become more vivid and resonant. If you've never read it, pick it up and savor it. Don't rush through it for the plot. Ponder it as you read. If you have already read it, put it away and try it again in five or ten years. You may discover new meaning, and much that you missed. That's the beauty of a timeless novel. Its wisdom will wait patiently until you've had time to catch up.

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Summary: A haunting tale!
Review: The picture of Dorian Gray is a very macabre tale, about a man whom sells his soul, so that he will stay young and the picture of himself grow old. Wilde's character development is astounding and his writing style is brilliant. Definitely, a classic work, that ought to be read by anyone remotely interested in good literature.