The Picture of Dorian Gray
When Dorian Gray is a young man, barley more than a boy, he sits for a painting made by his friend Basil. It’s a delightful picture but Dorian’s beauty annoys him when he realizes that while he will age and lose his pretty face, the picture will not. A quickly-spoken wish soon turn into a dream, which later will change to a nightmare.
I have to be honest and say that I usually don’t read classics because I believe they will be heavy in language and slightly boring in the plot. I am afraid I won’t see what so many others have seen in the book I’ve chosen to read or that I will miss some big point just because I have trouble keeping up with the old language and way of writing. This might be a bad reason not to seek out more classics, but it’s still a reason. When it comes to Oscar Wilde’s only novel these reasons applied just like with other classics, but I was determined to read it nonetheless. Now that I have I feel content and happy, for it was quite a read.
The fears I had popped up while reading but didn’t really bother me. The language isn’t as heavy as I thought it might and even though it still feels old, which it is, it’s hardly a problem. It actually has a nice ring to it. Parts of the story, however, was very heavy. Filled with descriptions and meaningless facts just heaped on me. I powered through that and found parts with witty dialogs and scenes dripping with tension. At times it felt like wading through mud and there were moments when I lost focus and started to stare out into space before I had to remind myself that I was reading. But I do feel Wilde wanted to give the reader that exact feeling, because far from the entire story was written this way. I never thought about not continuing and I am glad I kept going, because it’s quite clear why it’s a classic.
The story itself is so very interesting. It’s about young man Dorian Gray and the picture Basil paints of him. But it’s also about a man that Dorian befriends, Lord Henry, and his views and ideas of the world. Dorian is young when they meet and Lord Henry immediately sees something in him. They become friends rather quickly, despite Basil’s protestations, and the entering of Lord Henry in Dorian’s life is soon evident. He changes when Lord Henry starts talking about how he sees life and how he feels life should be lived and viewed and a great bunch of other opinions he heaps on Dorian. Our main character, in turn, is a blank slate that sucks up everything Lord Henry says and takes it to his heart.
Slowly, throughout the story, you see the change which Lord Henry has on Dorian. What Henry thinks seeps into Dorian’s life, his way of living. Henry has so very many opinions about everything and I myself agreed with about none of them. There were moments when I felt he was on to something interesting only to throw out the most ridiculous comment which made me cringe. Things he said actually made me feel bad and at times disgusted because it was such a strange way of seeing life and I could slowly see how Lord Henry had gotten to Dorian. He projected his own views into this young man and took a step back to watch what Dorian would do. It was like an experiment were Dorian’s whole life was just a thing for Lord Henry to study and Dorian never noticed it.
I think the real point of the story doesn’t really have that much to do with the picture itself, but rather of the way Lord Henry manipulated Dorian into exactly what he wanted. Dorian turned cruel and callous and was swept into a downward going spiral which you knew could never end in anything good. He might have made his own choices, but I hardly believe he would’ve lived his life the way he did had he not met Lord Henry. It fascinated me to think of who Dorian would’ve been if they had never met.
Personally I found this to be a great read. It was a little slow at times, yes, but it was great nevertheless. Interesting in so many ways and with both the story about the picture and Dorian’s friendship with Lord Henry turning the novel into two stories entwining. If it was one thing that I was to comment on then it would be that, later in the story, many people talk about Dorian, there’s gossip and scandals about him, but as a reader you never get to hear most of them. I would’ve liked to hear some, if just one or two, so I could understand who he became a little better. Other than that, no complains. Like I said, it’s a classic for a reason and I am very glad that I finally got around to read it. I definitely recommend it as a very interesting read!