The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

"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 novel was a succès de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb."

During Lockdown I thought it would be fun to take advantage of the free audiobooks and listen to The Picture of Dorian Gray, a book that has been on my reading list for a while. So I sat down and listened while frantically crocheting. 

This was my first experience in reading/listening to Oscar Wilde and the man’s gift for prose and dialogue is magical. I very quickly came to understand why he is such a beloved author. This story reads somewhat like a dark, corrupted Jane Austen in that the writing was snappy and pleasant on the ear so perfectly fit for a modern audience, but the feeling it left you with was one of hopelessness and despair.

The level of cynicism and societal disregard that Wilde’s characters display towards humanity is simply staggering and dangerously interesting to explore. Despite the dark aspects (or more likely because of it) this is one of the most engaging, compelling and lyrical pieces of literature I have read. The quality of the prose is nothing short of masterful. Many books have multiple meanings and morals layered within them but this is probably the best example of this that I have found. Themes, morals and social observations are made and discussed, weaved through the entire piece leaving you reeling and introspective. 

I assume most people know the basic outline of the plot, but I will give you a few sentences on it anyway. The three main characters are Basil Hallward, Lord Henry Wotton and Dorian Gray. Basil Hallward is an artist who after painting a picture of Dorian Gray becomes obsessed with him because of his beauty. The homosexual vs. muse adoration that Basil feels towards Dorian is left vague, likely because of the time it was written. Dorian then meets a friend of Basil’s, Lord Henry, and becomes enthralled with Lord Henry’s world view, which is a form of extreme hedonism that posits that the only worthwhile life is one spent pursuing beauty and satisfaction for the senses in the most ruinous of ways.

While this story is often mentioned among the classics of the Horror genre (which I do have a problem with) this is much more a study of the human monster/hidden psyche than it is some bogeyman. My favourite parts of the story were the extensive dialogues between the characters, usually Dorian and Lord Henry. They were wonderfully perverse and display a level of casual cruelty and vileness towards humanity. Dorian, while often portrayed as someone innocent lead astray, I must heartily disagree. He is quite evil, when I say evil, I don't mean just misguided or weak-minded, someone bamboozled by the clever lectures of Lord Henry. I found Gray to be selfish, vain, inhumanly callous, sadistically cruel and capriciously thoughtless. 

Overall one of the few classics genuinely worth the name. I loved the prose and dialogue but definitely not for you if you are someone that doesn't enjoy lots of prose. 

Age Rating 14+. There are some more shocking moments like a murder, but other than that it is quite tame. There are a few allusions to gay relationships, lots of young men are disgraced after knowing Dorian but that is so vague and really just a mere suggestion.