Dorian Gray
{{Dorian Gray}}
Basic Info
- Author: Oscar Wilde
- Year: 1890
- Type: #primary1
Summary (brief)
-Young Dorian sells his soul (via a wish) to remain eternally young while a portrait of him ages and reflects his moral decay.
Basil Hallward is romantically obsessed with Dorian. He paints the portrait. Dorian keeps the portrait hidden in his house and then eventually moves it to the dusty old attic of one of his vacant properties. As he kills more, the portrait Dorian has more blood on his hands.
Major Themes
- #monstrous-masculine
- #monstrous-femine
- #monstrous-landscape
- #decadent
- #obsession
- #duality
- #gothic
- #trans-corporeality
Key Passages / Quotes
Quote 1
quote:: “I am no bird.”
page:: 197
themes:: freedom, identity
Genre Notes
-The narrator = anonymous
The point of view is third person and omniscient; there is one short paragraph where a first-person point of view becomes apparent. In that section, Wilde becomes the narrator.
Characters / Concepts (if relevant)
-Basil Hallward (painter)
-Lord Henry Wotten (noblemen and close friend of Basil)
-Sibyl Vane: her love for Dorian ruins her acting skills, he breaks up with her and she kills herself.
-James Vane: Sibyl's bro, a sailor bound for Australia. He sets out to kill Dorian (his promise to his sister): He is accidentally killed in a hunting accident and then Dorian is off the hook. He finds out Dorian's identity from a prostitute who recognized Dorian as Sibyl's "prince charming": she never knew his name. Dorian almost gets away by saying look at my face im too young to have been that guy, but the prostitute reveals that Dorian's face hasn't changed in 20 years or so.
Alan Campbell: Severs ties with Dorian because of his bad rep
Theory Connections
Related Texts
My Argument / Interpretation
Dissertation Relevance
How could this matter to my project?