The Picture of Dorian Gray

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The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A
shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American The Picture of Dorian Gray
periodical Lippincott's Monthly Magazine.[1][2] The novel-length version was
published in April 1891.

The story revolves around a portrait of Dorian Gray painted by Basil Hallward, a friend
of Dorian's and an artist infatuated with Dorian's beauty. Through Basil, Dorian meets
Lord Henry Wotton and is soon enthralled by the aristocrat's hedonistic worldview:
that beauty and sensual fulfillment are the only things worth pursuing in life. Newly
understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to
ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and
Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied amoral experiences while staying young and
beautiful; all the while, his portrait ages and visually records every one of Dorian's
sins.[3]

Wilde's only novel, it was subject to much controversy and criticism in its time but has
come to be recognized as a classic of gothic literature.

Origins
Plaque commemorating
the dinner between
Wilde, Doyle and the
publisher on 30 August
1889 at 1 Portland
Place, Regent Street,
London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray#Legacy_and_adaptations
1890 novella
The story was first published in 1890
In 1889, J. M. Stoddart, an editor for Lippincott's Monthly in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine.
Magazine, was in London to solicit novellas to publish in the Author Oscar Wilde
magazine. On 30 August 1889, Stoddart dined with Oscar
Country United Kingdom
Wilde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and T. P. Gill[4] at the
Langham Hotel, and commissioned novellas from each Language English
writer.[5] Doyle promptly submitted The Sign of the Four, Genre Philosophical fiction,
which was published in the February 1890 edition of Gothic fiction,
Lippincott's, but Stoddart did not receive Wilde's manuscript decadent literature
for The Picture of Dorian Gray until 7 April 1890, seven
Published 1890 Lippincott's
months after having commissioned the novel from him.[5]
Monthly Magazine
In July 1889, Wilde published "The Portrait of Mr. W. H.", a Media type Print
very different story but one that has a similar title to The
OCLC 53071567 (https://www
Picture of Dorian Gray and has been described as "a
.worldcat.org/oclc/5307
preliminary sketch of some of its major themes", including
1567)
homosexuality.[6][7]
Dewey 823.8
Decimal
Publication and versions LC Class PR5819.A2
20/03/23, 4:06 PM Text The Picture of Dorian
Page 1 of 8
Gray at Wikisource

The literary merits of The Picture of Dorian Gray impressed Stoddart, but he told the publisher, George Lippincott, "in its
present condition there are a number of things an innocent woman would make an exception to."[5] Fearing that the story
was indecent, Stoddart deleted around five hundred words without Wilde's knowledge prior to publication. Among the pre-
publication deletions were: (i) passages alluding to homosexuality and to homosexual desire; (ii) all references to the
fictional book title Le Secret de Raoul and its author, Catulle Sarrazin; and (iii) all "mistress" references to Gray's lovers,
Sibyl Vane and Hetty Merton.[5]

It was published in full as the first 100 pages in both the American and British editions of the July 1890 issue, first printed
on 20 June 1890.[8] Later in the year the text was distributed by Ward, Lock and Company.

1891 novel
For the fuller 1891 novel, Wilde retained Stoddart's edits and made some of his own, while expanding the text from thirteen
to twenty chapters and added the book's famous preface. Chapters 3, 5, and 15–18 are new, and chapter 13 of the magazine
edition was divided into chapters 19 and 20 for the novel.[9] Revisions include changes in character dialogue as well as the
addition of the preface, more scenes and chapters, and Sibyl Vane's brother, James Vane.[10]
 The edits have been construed as having been done in response to criticism, but Wilde denied this in his 1895 trials, only
ceding that critic Walter Pater, whom Wilde respected, did write several letters to him "and in consequence of what he said
I did modify one passage" that was "liable to misconstruction".[11][12] A number of edits involved obscuring homoerotic
references, to simplify the moral message of the story.[5] In the magazine edition (1890), Basil tells Lord Henry how he
"worships" Dorian, and begs him not to "take away the one person that makes my life absolutely lovely to me." In the
magazine edition, Basil focuses upon love, whereas, in the book edition (1891), he focuses upon his art, saying to Lord
Henry, "the one person who gives my art whatever charm it may possess: my life as an artist
depends on him."

Wilde's textual additions were about the "fleshing out of Dorian as a character" and providing
details of his ancestry that made his "psychological collapse more prolonged and more
convincing."[13] The introduction of the James Vane character to the story develops the socio-
economic background of the Sibyl Vane character, thus emphasising Dorian's selfishness and
foreshadowing James's accurate perception of the essentially immoral character of Dorian Gray;
thus, he correctly deduced Dorian's dishonourable intent towards Sibyl. The sub-plot about James
Vane's dislike of Dorian gives the novel a Victorian tinge of class struggle. With such textual
changes, Oscar Wilde meant to diminish the moralistic controversy about the novel The Picture of
Dorian Gray.

In April 1891, the publishing firm of Ward, Lock and Company, who had distributed the shorter,
more inflammatory, magazine version in England the previous year, published the revised version Original manuscript of
of The Picture of Dorian Gray.[14] In the decade after Wilde's death, the authorized edition of the one of the 1891 novel's
novel was published by Charles Carrington, who specialized in literary erotica. new chapters, here
labeled chapter 4 but it
would end up as chapter
2011 "uncensored" novella 5

The original typescript submitted to Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, housed at UCLA, had been
largely forgotten outside of professional Wilde scholars until the 2011 publication of The Picture
of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition by the Belknap Press. This includes the
roughly 500 words of text deleted by J. M. Stoddart, the story's initial editor, prior to its
publication in Lippincott's in 1890.[15][16][17][18] For instance, in one scene, Basil Hallward
confesses to have worshipped Dorian Gray with a "romance of feeling", and that he had never
loved a woman.[16]

Preface
Following the criticism of the magazine edition of the novel, the 1891 publication of The Picture of
Dorian Gray included a preface in which Wilde addressed the criticisms and defended the
reputation of his novel.[19] The content, style, and presentation of the preface made it famous in The title page of the
its own right as a literary and artistic manifesto in support of artists' rights and art for art's sake. Ward Lock & Co 1891
edition of The Picture of
To communicate how the novel should be read, Wilde used aphorisms to explain the role of the Dorian Gray with
artist in society, the purpose of art, and the value of beauty. It traces Wilde's cultural exposure to decorative lettering,
Taoism and to the philosophy of Chuang Tsǔ (Zhuang Zhou). Before writing the preface, Wilde designed by Charles
had written a book review of Herbert Giles's translation of the work of Zhuang Zhou, and in the Ricketts
essay The Artist as Critic, Oscar Wilde said:
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The honest ratepayer and his healthy family have no doubt often mocked at the dome-like forehead of the
philosopher, and laughed over the strange perspective of the landscape that lies beneath him. If they really
knew who he was, they would tremble. For Chuang Tsǔ spent his life in preaching the great creed of Inaction,
and in pointing out the uselessness of all things.[20]

The preface was first published in the April 1891 edition of the novel; nonetheless, by June 1891, Wilde was defending The
Picture of Dorian Gray against accusations that it was a bad book.[21]

Summary
On a beautiful summer day in Victorian England, Lord Henry Wotton, an opinionated man, is observing the sensitive artist
Basil Hallward painting the portrait of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is Basil's ultimate muse. While sitting for
the painting, Dorian listens to Lord Henry espousing his hedonistic world view and begins to think that beauty is the only
aspect of life worth pursuing, prompting Dorian to wish that his portrait would age instead of himself.

Under Lord Henry's hedonistic influence, Dorian fully explores his sensuality. He discovers the actress Sibyl Vane, who
performs Shakespeare plays in a dingy, working-class theatre. Dorian approaches and courts her, and soon proposes
marriage. The enamoured Sibyl calls him "Prince Charming", and swoons with the happiness of being loved, but her
protective brother, James, warns that if "Prince Charming" harms her, he will murder him.
 Dorian invites Basil and Lord Henry to see Sibyl perform in Romeo and Juliet. Sibyl, too
enamoured with Dorian to act, performs poorly, which makes both Basil and Lord Henry
think Dorian has fallen in love with Sibyl because of her beauty instead of her acting
talent. Embarrassed, Dorian rejects Sibyl, telling her that acting was her beauty; without
that, she no longer interests him. On returning home, Dorian notices that the portrait has
changed; his wish has come true, and the man in the portrait bears a subtle sneer of
cruelty.

Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield)
observes the corruption recorded
in his portrait, in the film The
Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).
Inset painting by Ivan Albright.
Conscience-stricken and lonely, Dorian decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but he is too late,
as Lord Henry informs him that Sibyl has killed herself. Dorian then understands that,
where his life is headed, lust and beauty shall suffice. Dorian locks the portrait up, and
over the following eighteen years, he experiments with every vice, influenced by a morally
poisonous French novel that Lord Henry Wotton gave him.

One night, before leaving for Paris, Basil goes to Dorian's house to ask him about rumours
of his self-indulgent sensualism. Dorian does not deny his debauchery, and takes Basil to see the portrait. The portrait has
become so hideous that Basil is only able to identify it as his by the signature he affixes to all of his portraits. Basil is
horrified, and beseeches Dorian to pray for salvation. In anger, Dorian blames his fate on Basil and stabs him to death.
Dorian then calmly blackmails an old friend, the scientist Alan Campbell, into using his knowledge of chemistry to destroy
the body of Basil Hallward. Alan later kills himself.

To escape the guilt of his crime, Dorian goes to an opium den, where, unbeknownst to
Dorian, James Vane is present. James had been seeking vengeance upon Dorian ever since
Sibyl killed herself, but had no leads to pursue as the only thing he knew about Dorian was
the name Sibyl called him, "Prince Charming". In the opium den, however, he hears
someone refer to Dorian as "Prince Charming", and he accosts Dorian. Dorian deceives
James into believing that he is too young to have known Sibyl, who killed herself eighteen
years earlier, as his face is still that of a young man. James relents and releases Dorian, but
is then approached by a woman from the opium den who reproaches James for not killing
Dorian. She confirms that the man was Dorian Gray and explains that he has not aged in A 19th-century London opium den
eighteen years. James runs after Dorian, but he has gone. (based on fictional accounts of
the day)
James then begins to stalk Dorian, causing Dorian to fear for his life. However, during a
shooting party, a hunter accidentally kills James Vane, who was lurking in a thicket. On
returning to London, Dorian tells Lord Henry that he will live righteously from now on. His new probity begins with
deliberately not breaking the heart of the naïve Hetty Merton, his current romantic interest. Dorian wonders if his newly-
found goodness has rescinded the corruption in the picture but when he looks at it, he sees only an even uglier image of
himself. From that, Dorian understands that his true motives for the self-sacrifice of moral reformation were the vanity and
curiosity of his quest for new experiences, along with the desire to restore beauty to the picture.

Deciding that only full confession will absolve him of wrongdoing, Dorian decides to destroy the last vestige of his
conscience and the only piece of evidence remaining of his crimes: the picture. In a rage, he takes the knife with which he
murdered Basil Hallward and stabs the picture. The servants of the house awaken on hearing a cry from the locked room;
on the street, a passerby who also heard the cry calls the police. On entering the locked room, the servants find an unknown
old man stabbed in the heart, his figure withered and decrepit. The servants are able to identify the disfigured corpse as
Dorian only by the rings on the fingers, while the portrait beside him is beautiful again.

Characters
Dorian Gray – a handsome, narcissistic young man enthralled by Lord Henry's
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"new" hedonism. He indulges in every pleasure and virtually every 'sin', studying its
effect upon him.
Basil Hallward – a deeply moral man, the painter of the portrait, and infatuated with
Dorian, whose patronage realises his potential as an artist. The picture of Dorian
Gray is Basil's masterpiece.
Lord Henry "Harry" Wotton – an imperious aristocrat and a decadent dandy who
espouses a philosophy of self-indulgent hedonism. Initially Basil's friend, he
neglects him for Dorian's beauty. The character of witty Lord Harry is a critique of
Victorian culture at the Fin de siècle – of Britain at the end of the 19th century. Lord
Harry's libertine world view corrupts Dorian, who then successfully emulates him.
To the aristocrat Harry, the observant artist Basil says, "You never say a moral
thing, and you never do a wrong thing." Lord Henry takes pleasure in impressing,
influencing, and even misleading his acquaintances (to which purpose he bends
his considerable wit and eloquence) but appears not to observe his own hedonistic
advice, preferring to study himself with scientific detachment. His distinguishing
feature is total indifference to the consequences of his actions.
The painter Basil Hallward and the
Sibyl Vane – a talented actress and singer, she is a beautiful girl from a poor family
aristocrat Lord Henry Wotton observe
with whom Dorian falls in love. Her love for Dorian ruins her acting ability, because
the picture of Dorian Gray.
she no longer finds pleasure in portraying fictional love as she is now experiencing
real love in her life. She commits suicide with poison on learning that Dorian no
 longer loves her; at that, Lord Henry likens her to Ophelia, in Hamlet.
James Vane – Sibyl's younger brother, a sailor who leaves for Australia. He is very protective of his sister, especially as
their mother cares only for Dorian's money. Believing that Dorian means to harm Sibyl, James hesitates to leave, and
promises vengeance upon Dorian if any harm befalls her. After Sibyl's suicide, James becomes obsessed with killing
Dorian, and stalks him, but a hunter accidentally kills James. The brother's pursuit of vengeance upon the lover (Dorian
Gray), for the death of the sister (Sibyl) parallels that of Laertes' vengeance against Prince Hamlet.
Alan Campbell – chemist and one-time friend of Dorian who ended their friendship when Dorian's libertine reputation
devalued such a friendship. Dorian blackmails Alan into destroying the body of the murdered Basil Hallward; Campbell
later shoots himself dead.
Lord Fermor – Lord Henry's uncle, who tells his nephew, Lord Henry Wotton, about the family lineage of Dorian Gray.
Adrian Singleton – A youthful friend of Dorian's, whom he evidently introduced to opium addiction, which induced him to
forge a cheque and made him a total outcast from his family and social set.
Victoria, Lady Henry Wotton – Lord Henry's wife, whom he treats disdainfully; she later divorces him.

Influences and allusions

Wilde's own life

Wilde wrote in an 1894 letter:[22]

[The Picture of Dorian Gray] contains much of me in it — Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry,
what the world thinks me; Dorian is what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps.[7][23]

Hallward is supposed to have been formed after painter Charles Haslewood Shannon.[24] Scholars generally accept that
Lord Henry is partly inspired by Wilde's friend Lord Ronald Gower.[24][25] It was purported that Wilde's inspiration for
Dorian Gray was the poet John Gray,[24] but Gray distanced himself from the rumour.[26] Some believe that Wilde used
Robert de Montesquiou in creating Dorian Gray.[27]

Faust

Wilde is purported to have said, "in every first novel the hero is the author as Christ or Faust."[28][29] In both the legend of
Faust and in The Picture of Dorian Gray a temptation (ageless beauty) is placed before the protagonist, which he indulges.
In each story, the protagonist entices a beautiful woman to love him, and then destroys her life. In the preface to the novel,
Wilde said that the notion behind the tale is "old in the history of literature", but was a thematic subject to which he had
"given a new form".[30]

Unlike the academic Faust, the gentleman Dorian makes no deal with the Devil, who is represented by the cynical hedonist
Lord Henry, who presents the temptation that will corrupt the virtue and innocence that Dorian possesses at the start of
the story. Throughout, Lord Henry appears unaware of the effect of his actions upon the young man; and so frivolously
advises Dorian, that "the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with
longing."[31] As such, the devilish Lord Henry is "leading Dorian into an unholy pact, by manipulating his innocence and
insecurity."[32]
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Shakespeare
In the preface, Wilde speaks of the sub-human Caliban character from The Tempest. In chapter seven, he writes: "He felt as
if he had come to look for Miranda and had been met by Caliban".

When Dorian tells Lord Henry about his new love Sibyl Vane, he mentions the Shakespeare plays in which she has acted,
and refers to her by the name of the heroine of each play. Later, Dorian speaks of his life by quoting Hamlet, a privileged
character who impels his potential suitor (Ophelia) to suicide, and prompts her brother (Laertes) to swear mortal revenge.

Joris-Karl Huysmans

The anonymous "poisonous French novel" that leads Dorian to his fall is a thematic variant of À rebours (1884), by Joris-
Karl Huysmans. In the biography Oscar Wilde (1989), the literary critic Richard Ellmann said:

Wilde does not name the book, but at his trial he conceded that it was, or almost [was], Huysmans's À rebours
... to a correspondent, he wrote that he had played a "fantastic variation" upon À rebours, and someday must
write it down. The references in Dorian Gray to specific chapters are deliberately inaccurate.[33]
 Possible Disraeli influence

Some commentators have suggested that The Picture of Dorian Gray was influenced by the British Prime Minister
Benjamin Disraeli's (anonymously published) first novel Vivian Grey (1826) as, "a kind of homage from one outsider to
another."[34] The name of Dorian Gray's love interest, Sibyl Vane, may be a modified fusion of the title of Disraeli's best
known novel (Sybil) and Vivian Grey's love interest Violet Fane, who, like Sibyl Vane, dies tragically.[35][36] There is also a
scene in Vivian Grey in which the eyes in the portrait of a "beautiful being" move when its subject dies.[37]

Reactions

Contemporary response
Even after the removal of controversial text, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book
reviewers, to the extent, in some cases, of saying that Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding public
morality.

In the 30 June 1890 issue of the Daily Chronicle, the book critic said that Wilde's novel contains "one element ... which will
taint every young mind that comes in contact with it." In the 5 July 1890 issue of the Scots Observer, a reviewer asked
"Why must Oscar Wilde 'go grubbing in muck-heaps?'" The book critic of The Irish Times said, The Picture of Dorian Gray
was "first published to some scandal."[38] Such book reviews achieved for the novel a "certain notoriety for being 'mawkish
and nauseous', 'unclean', 'effeminate' and 'contaminating'."[39] Such moralistic scandal arose from the novel's
homoeroticism, which offended the sensibilities (social, literary, and aesthetic) of Victorian book critics. Most of the
criticism was, however, personal, attacking Wilde for being a hedonist with values that deviated from the conventionally
accepted morality of Victorian Britain.

In response to such criticism, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and the sanctity of art in his correspondence with the
British press. Wilde also obscured the homoeroticism of the story and expanded the personal background of the characters
in the 1891 book edition.[40]

Due to controversy, retailing chain W H Smith, then Britain's largest bookseller,[41] withdrew every copy of the July 1890
issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine from its bookstalls in railway stations.[5]

At Wilde's 1895 trials, the book was called a "perverted novel" and passages (from the magazine version) were read during
cross-examination.[42] The book's association with Wilde's trials further hurt the book's reputation. In the decade after
Wilde's death in 1900, the authorized edition of the novel was published by Charles Carrington, who specialized in literary
erotica.

Modern response

In a 2009 review, critic Robin McKie considers the novel to be technically mediocre, saying that the conceit of the plot
guaranteed its fame, but the device is never pushed to its full.[43] On the other hand, in March 2014, Robert McCrum of
The Guardian listed it among the 100 best novels ever written in English, calling it "an arresting, and slightly camp,
exercise in late-Victorian gothic".[44]

Legacy and adaptations

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Though not initially a widely appreciated component of Wilde's body of work following
his death in 1900, The Picture of Dorian Gray has come to attract a great deal of
academic and popular interest, and has been the subject of many adaptations to film
and stage.

In 1913, it was adapted to the stage by writer G. Constant Lounsbery at London's

Vaudeville Theatre.[14] In the same decade, it was the subject of several silent film
adaptations. Perhaps the best-known and most critically praised film adaptation is
1945's The Picture of Dorian Gray, which earned an Academy Award for best black-
and-white cinematography, as well as a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Angela
Angela Lansbury as Sibyl Vane in the
Lansbury, who played Sibyl Vane.
film adaptation The Picture of Dorian
Gray (1945). Lansbury was
In 2003, Stuart Townsend played Dorian Gray in the film League of Extraordinary
nominated for the Academy Award
Gentlemen. In 2009, the novel was loosely adapted into the film Dorian Gray, starring
for Best Supporting Actress for her
Ben Barnes as Dorian and Colin Firth as Lord Henry.
performance.

The Dorian Award[45] is named in honor of Wilde, in reference to The Picture of Dorian
Gray; the original award was a simple certificate with an image of Wilde along with a graphic of hands holding a black bow
tie.[46] The first Dorian Awards were announced in January 2010 (nominees were revealed the previous month).[47]