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Description edit
Oscar Wilde brings his enormous gifts for astute social observation and sparkling prose to The Picture of Dorian Gray , his dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This dandy, who remains forever unchanged—petulant, hedonistic, vain, and amoral—while a... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
It starts on a beautiful day with Lord Henry Wotton observing the artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray. Dorian arrives later and meets Wotton. After hearing Lord Henry's world view, Dorian begins to think beauty is the only worthwhile aspect of... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- Dorian Gray: Attractive young man set to inherit wealth and social standing upon coming of age. Main character.
- Basil Hallward: Artist who paints Dorian Gray and a great advisor.
- Lord Henry Wotton: Also referred as "Harry". Friend of Basil's. He will become Dorian's friend, changing him in the process. Someone with a cynical outlook on life.
- Sibyl Vane: Actress, Dorian Gray's first love. Thinks love is enough
- Alan Campbell: Chemist, an old friend of Dorian Gray.
- James "Jim" Vane: Sibyl's brother, a sailor who is traveling to Australia.
- Victor: Dorian's butler.
- Hetty Merton: a young girl Dorian met and romanced while in the country.
- Sir Geoffrey Clouston: The Duchess's brother.
- Victoria: Harry's wife.
- Lord Faudel: a most-intelligent middle-aged mediocrity.
- Lady Margaret Deveraux: Dorian's mother, she was a very beautiful woman.
- Mrs. Vandeleur: Lady Agatha's friend.
- Mr Erskine of Treadley: an old gentleman of considerable charm and culture.
- Lord Kelso: Dorian's grandfather, he was a very mean man.
- Mr. Isaac: the owner of the theater where Sibyl Vane works.
- Parker: Basil's butler.
- Lord George Fernor: Harry's uncle.
- Lady Brandon: at one of her balls, Basil met Dorian Gray.
- Lady Agatha: Harry's aunt.
- Lord Radley: Dorian's guardian.
- Mrs. Leaf: Dorian's housekeeper.
- Mr. Hubbard: celebrated frame-maker in London.
- Lady Gwendolen: Harry's sister.
- Sir Thomas Burdon: a Radical member of Parliament.
Quotes edit
-
“I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“To define is to limit.”
-
“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.”
-
“The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“We live in an age where men treat art as if it were meant to be a form of autobiography.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“The bravest man among us is afraid of himself”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Each man lived his own life and paid his own price for living it.”
(Dorian Gray's thoughts, after he met Adrian Singleton) -
“Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“The things one feels absolutely certain about are never true. That is the fatality of faith, and the lesson of romance.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Experience is of no ethical value. It is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”
-
“He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.”
-
“You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves you unsatisfied. What more can one want?”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Ceea ce creeaza muzica in noi nu e o lume noua, ci mai degraba un alt haos.”
-
“Chipul ti se va galbeji, obrajii ti se vor scofalci, ochii isi vor pierde stralucirea. Ai sa suferi ingrozitor...Madularele slabesc, simturile se atrofiaza. Decadem mereu pana ce ajungem niste marionete dezgustatoare...Pe lume nu exista nimic in afara de tinerete...”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Draga baiete, nici o femeie nu e geniu. Femeile sunt o tagma decorativa. Niciodata n-au nimic de spus, dar o spun incantator. Femeile reprezinta trimful materiei asupra inteligentei...”
-
“Fidelitatea in viata sentimentala este acelasi lucru ca si consecventa in viata intelectuala-simpla recunoastere a esecului.”
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“Ponegrirea de sine ascunde in ea o anumita voluptate. Cand ne ponegrim singuri avem impresia ca nimanui nu-i mai este ingaduit sa ne acuze.”
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“Poti fi oricand curtenitor cu oamenii fata de care nu ai nici un fel de sentiment.”
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“Un barbat poate fi fericit cu orice femeie, atata vreme cat n-o iubeste.”
-
“-Si ce crezi despre arta?...-Este o boala.-Dragoste?-O amagire.-Religia?-Un surogat la moda, folosit in locul Credintei.-Esti un sceptic.-De loc! Scepticismul este inceputul increderii.-Atunci ce esti?-A defini inseamna a limita.”
-
“De fiecare data cand iubim este singura oara cand am iubit vreodata. Diversitatea obiectelor nu poate influenta asupra unicitatii pasiunii.”
-
“Viata de om insurat nu-i decat o obisnuinta, o obisnuinta proasta. Numai ca omul regreta pierderile, chiar si cand isi pierde cele mai proaste obisnuinte.”
-
“Viata nu e condusa de vointa ori de proiecte dinainte stabilite. Viata e o alcatuire de nervi, de fibre, de celule cu greu randuite in care gandul isi afla ascunzatoare si pasiunea isi nutreste visurile.”
-
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
The Preface -
“I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating - people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“The value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.”
-
“"Harry," said Basil Hallward, looking him straight in the face, "every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself.”
-
“These days people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Lord Henry -
“To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.”
Preface -
“Your rank and wealth, Harry; my brains, such as they are - my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray's good looks - we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.”
Basil Hallward -
“You are an extraordinary fellow. You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose." "Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know.”
Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton -
“How English you are, Basil! If one puts forward an idea to a true Englishman - always a rash thing to do - he never dreams of considering whether the idea is right or wrong. The only thing he considers of any importance is whether one believes it oneself.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“It is a sad thing to think of, but there is no doubt that Genius lasts longer than Beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over-educate ourselves. in the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place. The thoroughly well-informed man - that is the modern ideal. And the mind of a thoroughly well-informed man is a dreadful thing.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral - immoral from the scientific point of view." "Why?" "Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are nor real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. the aim of life is self-development. To realise one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for.”
Lord Henry Wotton to Dorian Gray -
“You are quite right to do that. Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul. Yes, that is one of the great secrets of life - to cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul. You are a wonderful creation. you know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.”
Lord Henry Wotton to Dorian Gray -
“He felt that the eyes of Dorian Gray were fixed on him, and the consciousness that amongst his audience there was one whose temperament he wished to fascinate, seemed to give his wit keenness, and to lend colour to his imagination. He was brilliant, fantastic, irresponsible. He charmed his listeners out of themselves, and they followed his pipe laughing.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“You could not have helped telling me everything, Dorian. All through your life you will tell me everything you do." "Yes, Harry, I believe that is true. I cannot help telling you things. You have a curious influence over me. If I ever did a crime, I would come and confess it to you. You would understand me." "People like you - the willful sunbeams of life - don't commit crimes, Dorian.”
Dorian Gray and Lord Henry Wotton -
“It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian. But why should you be annoyed? I suppose she will belong to you some day. When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls romance.”
Lord Henry Wotton to Dorian Gray -
“Lord Henry watched him with a subtle sense of pleasure. How different he was now from the shy, frightened boy he had met in Basil Hallward's studio! His nature had developed like a flower, had borne blossoms of scarlet flame. Out of its secret hiding-place had crept his Soul, and Desire had come to meet it on the way.”
Lord Henry Wotton about Dorian Gray -
“The only artist I have ever known, who are personally delightful, are bad artists. Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look. The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets makes a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realise.”
Lord Henry Wotton to Dorian Gray -
“Ordinary people waited till 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. Sometimes this was the effect of art, and chiefly of the art of literature, which dealt immediately with the passions and the intellect. But now and then a complex personality took the place and assumed the office of art; was indeed, in its way, a real work of art, Life having its elaborate masterpieces, just as poetry has, or sculpture, or painting.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“He began to wonder whether we could ever make psychology so absolute a science that each little spring of life would be revealed to us. As it was, we always misunderstood ourselves, and rarely understood others. Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes. Moralists had, as a rule, regarded it as a mode of warning, had claimed for it a certain ethical efficacy in the formation of character, had praised it as something that taught us what to follow and showed us what to avoid. But there was no motive power in experience, It was as little of an active cause as conscience itself. All that it really demonstrated was that our future would be the same as our past, and that the sin we had done once, and with loathing, we would do many times, and with joy.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“\there is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love.”
Lord Henry Wotton to Dorian Gray -
“His unreal and selfish love would yield to some higher influence, would be transformed into some nobler passion, and the portrait that Basil Hallward had painted of him would be a guide to him through life, would be to what holiness is to some, and conscience to others, and the fear of God to us all. There were opiates for remorse, drugs that could lull the moral sense to sleep. but there was a visible symbol of the degradation of sin. Here was an ever-present sign of the ruin men brought upon their souls.”
Dorian Gray's thoughts -
“There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
Dorian Gray's thoughts -
“I don't like that explanation, Harry, but I am glad you don't think I am heartless. i ma nothing of the kind. I know I am not. And yet I must admit that this thing that has happened does not effect me as it should. It seems to me to be simply like a wonderful ending to a wonderful play. It has all the terrible beauty of a Greek tragedy, a tragedy in which I took a great part, but by which I have not wounded.”
Dorian Gray to Lord Henry Wotton -
“Nay, without thought of conscious desire, might not things external to ourselves vibrate in unison with our moods and passions, atom calling to atom in secret love or affinity?”
Dorian Gray's thoughts -
“You call yesterday the past?" "What has the actual lapse of time got to do with it? It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion. A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them”
Basil Hallward and Dorian Gray -
“Even now I cannot help feeling that it is a mistake to think that the passion one feels in creation is ever really shown in the work one creates. Art is always more abstract than we fancy. Form and colour tell us of form and colour - that is all. It often seems to me that art conceals the artist far more completely than it ever reveals him.”
Basil Hallward to Dorian Gray -
“When a woman marries again it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again, it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?”
-
“Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world’s original sin. If the caveman had known how to laugh, history would have been different.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“There is always infinetly mean about other people's tragedies”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“...the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyalty and their fidelity, I call either lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Fathfulness is to the imotional life what consistancy is to the life of the intellect- simply a confession of failures.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“A grand passion is the previlege of people who have nothing to do.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“... no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious; both are disappointed.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“... As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“Society, civilised society at least , is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals, and, in its opinion, the highest respectibility is of much less value than the possesion of a good chef.”
-
“"The life that was to make his soul would mar his body."”
-
“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.”
-
“"I never talk during good music. If one hears bad music, it is one's duty to drown it in conversation."”
Dorian Gray -
“The only way a woman can ever reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life”
Lord Henry Wotton -
“all influence is immoral-immoral from the scientific point of view. because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul”
-
“when we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy”
-
“when we blame oursleves we feel that no one else has a right to balme us. it is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
-
“romance lives by repetition, and repetition converts an appetite into art. besides, each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. it merely intesifies it. we can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.”
Setting & Locations edit
- London, England: the city where most of the action takes place.
First Sentence edit
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.
Themes & Symbolism edit
- Egotism: Describe this theme.
- Homosexuality
- Corruption: The soul is corrupted by our actions and so is the body.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Franklin Library. (publisher edition list)
This is book 113 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 122 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)
This is book 131 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)
This is book 119 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
This book is in Good Reading: Best Books of 2012. (authoritative list)
This is book 78 of 101 in Penguin English Library. (publisher series)
This is book 57 of 145 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This book is in Folio Society. (publisher edition list)
This is book 10 of 95 in The Art of Manliness' Essential Man’s Library. (authoritative list)
This is book 65 of 159 in Fantasy Book Review Top 100 fantasy books of all time. (community list)
This is book 118 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This is book 107 of 199 in Newman and Jones 200 Best Horror Novels. (community list)
This is book 809 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This book is in Popular Classics. (community list)
This book is in Heritage Press. (publisher edition list)
This book is in Gothic-Lite. (community list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This book is in Penguin's Top 100 Classics. (authoritative list)
This book is in Penguin Classics. (publisher edition list)
This book is in Easton Press. (publisher edition list)
This book is in Modern Library Classics. (publisher edition list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Oscar Wilde (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Ward, Lock, and Company
Country: UK
Publication Date: 1890
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 193
Publisher: Ward, Lock, and Company
Country: UK
Publication Date: 1890
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 193
Awards edit
- BBC's Big Read (April 2003, #118)
- Publishing Triangle's 100 Best Lesbian and Gay Novels
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PR5819 .A1 1904
- Dewey: 823.8
Subjects edit
- Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › British › Classics › Wilde, Oscar
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( W ) › Wilde, Oscar
- Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Suspense
- Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers › Psychological & Suspense
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Wikipedia Article: Novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue of this magazine. Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters; the amended version was published by Ward, Lock, and Company in April 1891
- Project Gutenberg: Free e-book, full text
- Librivox: Free audio book read by John Gonzalez (Total playing time: 6:19:46)
Movie Connections edit
- Dorian Gray (2009) (IMDb): Staring Colin Firth, Caroline Goodall, Jeff Lipman, and Ben Barnes
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