The Picture of Dorian Gray is a masterpiece by Oscar Wilde about a narcissistic young man named Dorian and his self-portrait. He wanted his physical appearance not to age so he exchanged his ‘soul’ so he would stay young forever, but his portrait aged and became ugly to reflect the destruction of his soul.
First Lines:
The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
Chpter I – II Introduced the character of Dorian Gray from two points of view, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. In his studio, painter Basil Hallward is painting a portrait of a very handsome young man who he really admires, Dorian Gray. Lord Henry, his friend was very curious about the young man in the portrait, so he asked Basil to meet him.
‘Dorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious sensation of terror came over me.’ ( Basil Hallward, chapter I, pg. 14)
‘He is all my art to me now,’ (Basil Hallward, chapter I, pg. 19)
Lord Henry looked at him. Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth’s passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him. (Lord Henry’s mind, Chapter II, pg. 27)
‘An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them. We live in anage when men treat art as if it were meant to be a form of autobiography. We have lost the abstract sense of beauty. Some day I will show the world what it is; and for that reason the world shall never see my portrait of Dorian Gray.’( Basil, Chapter 21, pg. 21)
Lord Henry Wotton is the person who like to influence Dorian, because he is still young and easily to be manipulated. He influences Dorian to be hedonistic and loving his youth life which is not last forever, offcourse, naive Dorian fell for Lord Henry’s bait.
‘……If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that – for that – I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!’ (Dorian, Chapter II, Pg. 41)
My thoughts:
- I just read early chapter of this book, but It’s so much philosophic words and I love it. So many prose by Wilde’s flamboyant style to be highlighted as long as the sentences is inline with the story. It’s like I talk to Oscar Wild, himself.
- The atsmosphere of Basil’s studio was like Victorian aesthetic, ooh take me to there !!
- About Basil Hallward feeling to Dorian is quite vague, whether just a feeling as an artist who love beautiful things or the forbidden same-sex feeling, but knowing the author was a homo-sexual, I think Wilde wanted to shock Victorian readers by openly writing about that feeling, So maybe this is the covert way to inform that the man like that is exist, because homo-secuality is a crime backthen in England.
