#Spooktober ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde

About the book…

‘The horror, whatever it was, had not yet entirely spoiled that marvellous beauty’

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The Picture of Dorian Gray was a succès de scandale. Early readers were shocked by its hints at unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895.

This definitive edition includes a selection of contemporary reviews condemning the novel’s immorality, and the introduction to the first Penguin Classics edition by Peter Ackroyd.

First published in 1890, and in print ever since, ‘The Portrait Of Dorian Gray’ has become part of the modern lexicon for self obsession, vanity and corruption.

I used the Wordsworth version which is fantastic, it makes the classics not only affordable, but also has extension notes and a lengthy introduction to the text which I found invaluable whilst reading it.

”The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory,they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent and without disquiet.’

The basic story is this-Dorain Gray, a young man who subsists on his family’s wealth, has his portrait painted by Basil Hallward, and whilst he is in the process of completing it, is come upon by his friend, Lord Henry Wootton who begs an introduction with the subject of the portrait. And so begins a dance between the 3 men , one of whom was initially incorruptible, one the ‘good conscience’ and the other, the ‘corrupting force’ which ends in death, disgrace and a disintegration of societal morals.

Basil sees in Dorian more than just a subject of a commission, he sees the elevation of himself as an artist and falls in love with both his painting and Dorian.

Henry sees his younger self before setting out into the world and seeks to enlighten Dorian as to the ways of the world.

And Dorian, his name is synonymous forever more with that of his creator as several parts of it are seen as autobiographical, and were used in Wilde’s infamous libel suit against the Marquess Of Queensbury as evidence of Wilde’s lack of morality.

However, this humble reader would venture the point of the book is that as in art imitates life, so does art become a part of life, and soon, it is indistinguishable which is which. Basil believes that the gifts which they have been given-status, good looks and artistic talent-are all doomed to be a price to pay to the Gods for having them, and worse than that, knowing they have been blessed.

‘Ordinary people waited until life disclosed to them its secrets,but to the few,to the elect,the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away.’

The horror is found in the way in which these men behave, the disdain with which they cast aside real, living human beings in favour of self fulfiment and no more so than can be evidence in the scenes where Dorian’s fiancee, Sybil Vane, dies.

Henry, turning up at Dorian’s house to break the news, he comforts his friend thusly-

”But really,Dorian ,how different Sibyl Vane must have been from all the women one meets! There is somethingto me quite beautiful about her death.I am glad I am living in a century when such wonders happen.They make us believe in the reality of the things we all play with, such as romance, passion and love.”

 

The sheer horror of reading how they rationalise Sibyl’s death as proof that she never really existed, she was a part player in Dorian’s life and no more than a conduit, as Dorian is, for the morals of the age was truly shocking. It is also a turning point for the novel after massive foreshadowing-talks of gods, Narcissus, the place religion takes in morality to excuse or condone the evidence , or lack of it, of sinful behaviour- where Henry literally gives licence to Dorian to freely abandon what is considered, whether religious or not, as ways of decent human behaviour.

Consider the response of Basil on hearing that Sibyl has died who turns up to support his friend at this tragic turn of events and cannot believe that Gray has been out at the opera, it must be a delayed reaction to grief. He beseeches him to go and see Sibyl’s family, to go to the cornoer court, to atone for their destructive relationship and here is the crux of his behaviour, here is the revelation that not only does Dorian not feel, he cannot even give the approximation of a feeling as he rails at Basil. He will not exhibit a false emotion becuase, quite simply he cannot.

What is even scarier is the lack of explanation as to why the portrait painted of Gray ages, in the original movie there is a pseudo explanation of an Egyptian artifact being in the room when Dorian makes a fatal wish to stay like that golden moment when Basil captured him, forever.

It is up to the reader to try and determine for themself whether it was wish fulfilment, a cruel trick of the gods or fatal thinking which resulted in the corruption of Dorian’s life being writ large on the canvas of his life rather than his face. This is what intrigues and attracts others to him, initially, but as the years go by and his incorruptable visage does not match the increasingly bizarre and disturbing stories told about him, the more distrustful people treat him because he is impossible to read.

The portrait is both mirror and evidence of a life lived through every hinted at perversion-for the age-religious and cultural experience which Gray indulges in through his travels around the world. The notion that the life of the common man with the indulgences Gray has at his disposal is so horrifying to those around him.

The related events with which Dorian is tangentially involved horrify in their brevity, it is truly disturbing how he drags people down with him by mere association. His abandonment of decent humanity in order to push the envelope of corruption is the core of what upset me and left me disjointed, your feel dirty reading of Gray’s relish as he stays the same whilst he hides his portrait, upstairs in the old school room, further evidence, should it be needed, that he never ever learnt the lessons his family and society taught him.

And here is the explanation-his lack of a proper family or guidance growing up is emblematic of how he was open to corruption by Henry, by his own vanity, by Basil’s capturing the essence of him in his picture. It’s a get out clause, a redemptive arc that by standing outside of religion, moral and social guidance, you can become so enamoured of what you think you are, that you carry around that distorted vision of yourself. And in an age where self portraits are never published without filters, without fiddling with them, without showing you at your best angle, surely we are living in an age where we never, truly, see an accurate reflection fop ourselves? And therefore we are setting a standard which is not reliable, repeatable, and, most of all, not truly yourself.

About the author…

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet, and author of numerous short stories, and one novel. Known for his biting wit, and a plentitude of aphorisms, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest.

As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years hard labour after being convicted of “gross indecency” with other men. After Wilde was released from prison he set sail for Dieppe by the night ferry. He never returned to Ireland or Britain, and died in poverty.