LIT4545-50

Survey of English literature

Literary critical summary

(The Picture of Dorian Grey)

By
Maryse Ranger-Gunette
RANM26529003

To Professor Donald Cuccioletta

Universit du Qubec Montral

March 2014

Literature is a part of our education curriculum, taught in schools to pass down

knowledge, thoughts, ideas, themes and stories. The following critical summary will be
about the book The Picture of Dorian Grey, a novel by Oscar Wilde written in the late
19th century. In the upcoming text, we will analyze many aspects of the novel, namely the
main story line, general understanding of the work, its place in literary history, the main
character, as well as have a look at what the author is trying to demonstrate via his novel
through a critical analysis of the main themes.

To begin, we will go over the main story line. The story takes place in 19 th century
Victorian London, as is mention and hinted to many times in the book. The reader is first
presented the main characters that will show throughout the whole book: Lord Henry
Harry Wotton, the artist Basil Hallward and the beautiful Dorian Grey. Dorian Grey is
first presented as Basils model who sits for him to do paintings of and is presented to
Lord Henry by the artist. As Basil feared when introducing them, Lord Wotton has a great
influence on the impressionable young man who listens intently to his multiple speeches
and even asks him to never stop talking. On that day, Basil finished his master piece,
the picture of Dorian Grey (where the title comes from). Swayed by Lord Henrys speech,
Dorian feels jealousy towards the painting of him, as it shall stay forever young,
reminding him of his beauty, while he would grow old and ugly as the years would pass.
Thus, he says he would give his soul for the opposite to happen; the painting should age
and deteriorate, while he should remain young and beautiful.
Over time, Henrys influence over the young man keeps growing and he draws the
beautiful Dorian Grey into his philosophy of new Hedonism, which celebrates to life a

life of pleasure devoid of pain. The young man meets and falls in love with the beautiful
actress Sybil Vane, but their story ends tragically with her death when she commits
suicide after he abandoned her. It is after this event that Dorian realizes the wish he has
made might have been granted, as the paintings appearance has altered. Upon this, he
decides it should be hidden so his secret remains forever hidden from prying eyes. Soon
after, he is lent a mysterious yellow book by Lord Henry about a young Frenchman living
the leisure of all times except his own, and this book has a deep impact on Dorian, who
abides by it as his life philosophy, taking the greatest pleasure in spending all his time on
what is beautiful.
Over the course of the years, Dorians reputation is tarnished by his behaviour, yet
his face remains young and devoid of signs of aging or sins. He contemplates his
disfiguring portrait, sometimes with admiration of how it is to bear the burden of his acts,
and at other times terrified by this painting that is the reflection of his soul.
The turning point in the novel is when Basil meets him one foggy night before he
is to leave for Paris and questions him on the veracity of his reputation. Instead of giving
a clear answer, Dorian invites him to see his soul which Basil says only God can do. He
shows the man his horrid, transformed and disfigured portrait to the man, who at first
would not believe this horror to be his painting. After Basil tells him to pray and repents,
the artist is stabbed to death in a fit of rage.
Grey blackmails an old friend who has become a chemist and has him dispose of
the artists body. Dorian later flees to an Opium den, where he meets the late Sybil Vanes
brother, who has sworn to kill Dorian many years ago when she committed suicide. His
young appearance saves him and he flees once more, this time to his country estate, but

lives in constant terror and feeling that death is looming over him. He notices the man
outside, but the James Vane is soon killed by accident during a hunting party, relieving
the scared Dorian of his fear. He decides to make-up for his past, but never admits the
murder of the artist, who has now been noticed to be missing. There is only one piece of
evidence left of his past, and thinking back, he feels this painting has marred any good
memories of his life as it acted as his conscience, showing to him the reflect of his soul.
In a fit of rage, he picks the knife he used to kill Basil Hallward and stabs the painting
with it. After hearing a horrible scream, his servants find him on the ground with the
knife plunged into his heart, but he I now old, ugly and disfigured, while the painting is
of their master as they had last seen him.

From this story, there are three main themes to be understood:

the supremacy of love and beauty;
the consequences that influence;
and homoerotic relationships between male.
But we will look at these more in detail later. For now, we will focus on the
general understanding of the text. Dorian is a beautiful young man who can easily be
influenced, and is in fact influenced greatly by Lord Henry Wottons words. Many event
mark his life, such as his love for Sybil Vane, as well as her death. Following these two
events, he reads a book lent to him by Lord Henry that influences him into the new
Hedonism philosophy, which he doesnt know yet, will have an enormous impact on his
life, literally until he dies.
As the story progresses, the reader can see the changes in the young man and the
consequences these changes have on his life and his tarnishing reputation. One of the
results of Lord Wottons influence is his wish for the painting to become old and ugly in

his place, which is unexplainably granted and will show him the reflect of his own sullied
soul. His reputation deteriorates with time due to his action, yet he never seems to age or
has a trace of sin on his wonderful face, remaining young and keeping his former beauty.
For this reason, many people refuse to believe the speculations and rumors about him.
His most tragic action is the murder of Basil Hallward in a fit of rare after
showing him the disfigured painting he says has destroyed him. Shortly before the
murder, Dorian mentions that each of us have heaven and hell in him. (p. 134),
meaning that no matter how beautiful ones face is and how other can idolater them, no
human can ever only be good or bad.
Dorian escapes to a faraway Opium den in the hopes of forgetting the horrible
event by numbing himself in a drug-induced daze, but is nearly killed by James Vane
the late Sybil Vanes brother and is saved by his youthful face, as he looks only in his
twenties when about as much time has passed since her tragic death. This shows how
much we rely on other peoples appearance to make decisions about them. The illusion is
broken when a woman recognizes him, but he manages to escape while his assailant is
distracted.
After this event, he flees to his country estate, where Vane follows him but is
accidentally killed during a hunting party. The man had followed him in order to murder
Dorian, but fate made it so that he is the one who was killed the same way he intended to
commit Greys murder. This event relieves Dorian of his feeling of death looming over
him that was drawing him into a panic. He later resolves to make up for his bad actions
with good ones, but realize its only his own hypocrisy.

As time passes, the picture doesnt provide him the pleasure it used to, and
reminds him of the terrible act he has committed in the same room it is in. Deciding the
painting should be destroyed, he takes the same knife he used to kill Hallward and
plunges it into his own heart, killing himself. In the book, the author mentions that he
stabs the painting. By this, he is letting us know that Dorian had himself become the piece
of art that would forever remain beautiful and untarnished.

Regarding its place in literary history, the novel was written in the 19th century
Victorian London during the rise of romantic poetry, which is made allusion to a few
times in the story. The book is of the gothic genre, which was strong at this period along
with romanticism.
It was the authors first and only published book, and it was greatly criticised and
even branded as immoral. The topic of homoerotic relationships between males was a
taboo subject in that time, and those accused of it could be tried and convicted under
sodomy laws, which the author was. The homoerotism was not well received at all and it
made quite an impression that the book would have this overtone. The version we now
have is a second edition, rewritten in 1891, that underwent major changes, mainly adding
7 chapters and toning down the homoerotic aspect of it. This is why it is much less
obvious, but can still be noticed if made aware of.
In the book, Lord Henry makes allusion to proletariat, something that was still
new in the 19th century, as is refers to the common people of the working class that
appeared with the industrial revolution of the 18 th century. The mention of what a
gentleman does also hints at the time the novel takes place in, as well as the way Lord

Henry describes women: No woman is a genius. They are just decorative sex.(p.40)
which is still very representative of how women were perceived in those days, though
doors were starting to open for them.

As for the main characters, many characters make their appearance in the novel,
but there are three main once, namely Dorian Grey, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry
Harry Wotton.
Dorian Grey is the protagonist of the story. He is a young, beautiful Adonis who is
vulnerable and easily impressionable, that poses for the artist Basil Hallwards painting.
His life changes drastically when he meets Lord Henry Wotton, who has a very strong
influence on him, much to Basils dismay. He becomes extremely aware of his own
beauty and begins the pursuit of pleasure devoid of pain, hedonism. As he does so, his
life takes drastic turns. While the painting of him shall age, he is to himself be a piece of
art, remaining forever young and beautiful, without the trace of a sin on his wonderfully
pure and innocent face.
Lord Henry Wotton is an educated and well-spoken man who charms anyone he
meets with his witty sentences and great intellect. He is seduced by Dorians looks and
influences him into pursuing a hedonistic life, despite himself staying out of trouble and
living a polite life among London society. Unlike Dorian who changes significantly
through the novel, Lord Henry remains quite the same from the first to the last pages of
the novel. He is among those who, based on his pure look and high rank in society,
believe that Dorian could never do harm. His relationship with his wife is chaotic and
ends in divorce.

And last, but not least, Basil is the artist who paints Dorians picture. He puts so
much of his love and idolatry for the man that despite the painting being his masterpiece,
he refuses to display it out of fear that people might his feelings in the painting. This
painting is the first painting he does of the man that is not representative of antiquity, but
actually shows the man he was paints portraits of.
Eventually, he decides that he wants to exhibit it as art is abstract, but this time it
is Dorian who will not let him. As the story progresses, he sees Dorian less and less and is
saddened by it, but his feelings for the beautiful man remain the same. His life is put to an
end by the item of his adoration, being Dorian Grey after he is shown what the painting
has become and attempts to convince him to repent, saying his prayers will be heard just
as his wish was.

Finally, through his work, the author is trying to demonstrate the supremacy of
youth and beauty by creating a character, Dorian Grey, who is bound to keep his young
and beautiful appearance through the years. As time passes, he develops a passion for
everything that is beautiful and devotes himself to them: music, perfumes, jewelry and
beautiful embroidery.
Despite the bad reputation that he gains through the years, people remain around
him, not believing that such dark and horrible rumors could be true, with the exception of
a few people, such as Alan Campbell who severed his ties with him due to the reputation
that was built around him. But the rest choose to disregard these rumors about someone
as wonderful, innocent and pure looking as him because, as said by Lord Henry in the
book, sins show in a persons appearance, thus Dorian remains and is as wonderfully pure

as he looks. His beautiful look is a valuable commodity in a superficial society that

values beautiful things and youth above most things.
In the end though, Dorian Grey says to Basil, the artist of his cursed portrait,
that the painting he did of him has destroyed him. Remaining young and beautiful while
his painting aged in his place (as he had wished many years prior) has tormented him,
keeping him awake at night, pushing him as far as killing a person until he finally himself
perished because of it. At the very end, he decides to destroy the painting and stabs
himself in the heart.
Another theme that the author tries to demonstrate throughout his novel is the
consequences that influence can have. Lord Henry Wotton is a very influencing man who
seduces and confuses people with his eloquent speeches and great wits. Just as he was
seduced by Dorian Greys beauty, he wishes to influence the impressionable young man.
Quickly, he manages so, when making him extremely aware of his own beauty and later
influencing him into new Hedonism, the philosophy to strive for pleasure with as little
pain as possible. This is truly done when he lends him a yellow book which greatly
impresses Dorian, who feels as though the young protagonist is him and truly begins
living his Hedonistic life. The subsequent consequences are due to Lord Henrys
influence, which is the reason behind Dorians wish that the painting of him should
become old and ugly while he would remain young and handsome.
If the two men had never met, Dorians life would have been entirely different and
he would have continued to sit for the artists paintings. But, Dorian sacrifices his initial
purity due to Lord Henrys strong influence which he regrets once when he meets Sybil
Vane who he falls in love with, but ends up abandoning her. But we must not forget that

Dorian too has a strong influence, especially over Basil Hallward, who devoted himself
and poured his love and idolatry into the final painting he did of Dorian, and ended up
being killed by him, the person the was the most fond of, because Grey felt that this
painting which reflected his tarnished soul had destroyed him.
Lastly, the author depicts homoerotic relationships between male in the novel. The
strongest example of it is Basil Hallward who originally refuses to expose his last
painting of Dorian because he has put too much of himself into it, as said by him My
heart shall never be put under their microscope. There is too much of myself in the thing,
Harry []! (p. 9) Saying Dorian is his sole source of inspiration, he poured his
emotions and attraction towards the man something shunned upon and punishable by
law in the 19th Century into his painting of him. He is afraid that people might be able
to see his feelings if they are to see the painting. Later, he is greatly hurt by Dorians
refusal to pose for him ever again, as well as his seldom visits.
Much later, Dorian recognizes the feelings the man has had for him throughout
the years after he admits his idolatry, also the reason he let no one else than he, Dorian
and Henry see the painting. About this is written The love that he [Basil] bore him
[Dorian] for it was really love had nothing in it that was not noble and intellectual.
(p. 102) which contradicts the way one should have thought about such a thing in the
Victorian era.
This aspect of his novel can also be understood through the close connection
between Lord Henry and Dorian through the story, Lord Henry seemingly despising his
wife and much preferring to spend his days with the wonderful Dorian. His disastrous

relationship with his wife heterosexual ends up in a divorce, while his relationship
with Dorian both males never turns sour.