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    Dorian

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    Wojtek Zaluska
    Oscar Wilde published his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. The novel tells the story of Dorian Gray, a young man whose portrait ages but who remains youthful due to an immoral bargain. The novel explores themes of aestheticism, morality, youth, beauty and influence. It was controversial at the time for its depictions of sin and hedonism but is now considered an important work of English literature.

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    Dorian

    Uploaded by

    Wojtek Zaluska
    362 views17 pages
    Oscar Wilde published his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. The novel tells the story of Dorian Gray, a young man whose portrait ages but who remains youthful due to an immoral bargain. The novel explores themes of aestheticism, morality, youth, beauty and influence. It was controversial at the time for its depictions of sin and hedonism but is now considered an important work of English literature.

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    Oscar Wilde published his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. The novel tells the story of Dorian Gray, a young man whose portrait ages but who remains youthful due to an immoral bargain. The novel explores themes of aestheticism, morality, youth, beauty and influence. It was controversial at the time for its depictions of sin and hedonism but is now considered an important work of English literature.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    362 views17 pages

    Dorian

    Uploaded by

    Wojtek Zaluska
    Oscar Wilde published his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. The novel tells the story of Dorian Gray, a young man whose portrait ages but who remains youthful due to an immoral bargain. The novel explores themes of aestheticism, morality, youth, beauty and influence. It was controversial at the time for its depictions of sin and hedonism but is now considered an important work of English literature.

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    You are on page 1of 17

    The Picture of Dorian Gray

    By Oscar
    Wilde

    Oscar Wilde
    Oscar Fingal OFlahertie
    Wills Wilde was born on
    October 16, 1854, in
    Dublin, Ireland. He was
    educated at Trinity College
    in Dublin and at Magdalen
    College, Oxford, and
    settled in London, where
    he married Constance
    Lloyd in 1884. In the
    literary world of Victorian
    London, Wilde fell in with
    an artistic crowd that
    included W. B. Yeats, the
    great Irish poet, and Lillie
    Langtry, mistress to the
    Prince of Wales.

    A great conversationalist and


    a famous wit, Wilde began by
    publishing mediocre poetry
    but soon achieved widespread
    fame for his comic plays. The
    first, Vera; or, The Nihilists,
    was published in1880. Wilde
    followed this work with Lady
    Windermeres Fan(1892), A
    Woman of No Importance
    (1893), An Ideal Husband
    (1895), and his most famous
    play, The Importance of Being
    Earnest(1895). Although
    these plays relied upon
    relatively simple and familiar
    plots, they rose well above
    convention with their brilliant
    dialogue and biting satire.

    Wilde published The Picture of Dorian Gray,


    his only novel, in 1890, before he reached the
    height of his fame. It was immediately criticized
    as scandalous and immoral. Wilde revised the
    novel the following year, adding a Preface and
    six new chapters. The Preface answers critics
    who charged the novel with being immoral and
    also sets forth the tenets of Wildes philosophy
    of art. Wilde believed that art possesses an
    intrinsic value that is beautiful and worthy, and
    thus needs to serve no other purpose. In The
    Preface, Wilde also cautioned readers against
    finding meanings beneath the surface of art.

    Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray


    Part gothic novel, part
    comedy of manners, part
    treatise on the relationship
    between art and morality,
    The Picture of Dorian Gray
    continues to present its
    readers with a puzzle to sort
    out. There is as likely to be
    as much disagreement over
    its meaning now as there
    was among its Victorian
    audience, but, as Wilde
    notes near the end of the
    Preface, Diversity of opinion
    about a work of art shows
    that the work is new,
    complex, and vital.

    The Life and Death of Oscar Wilde


    In 1891, the same year
    that the second edition of
    The Picture of Dorian Gray
    was published, Wilde
    a homosexual
    with Lord
    an aspiring
    untalented
    caused a
    and

    began
    relationship
    Alfred Douglas,
    but rather
    poet. The affair
    good deal of scandal,
    Douglass father, the
    Marquess of Queensberry,
    eventually criticized it publicly.
    When Wilde sued the marquess
    for libel, he himself was convicted
    under English sodomy
    Wilde with Lord Alfred
    laws for acts of
    gross indecency.
    Douglas

    The Life and Death of Oscar Wilde


    In 1895, Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard
    labor, during which time he wrote a long,
    heartbreaking letter to Lord Alfred titled De Profundis
    (Latin for Out of the Depths). After his release,
    Wilde left England and divided his time between
    France and Italy, living in poverty. He never published
    under his own name again, but, in 1898, he did
    publish under a pseudonym The Ballad of Reading
    Gaol, a lengthy poem about a prisoners feelings
    toward another prisoner about to be executed. Wilde
    died in Paris on November 30, 1900, having
    converted to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed.

    Major Characters from the


    Novel

    Dorian Gray- A radiantly


    handsome, impressionable,
    and wealthy young
    gentleman, whose portrait
    the artist Basil Hallward
    paints. Under the influence
    of Lord Henry Wotton,
    Dorian becomes extremely
    concerned with the
    transience of his beauty and
    begins to pursue his own
    pleasure above all else. He
    devotes himself to having
    as many experiences as
    possible, whether moral or
    immoral, elegant or sordid.

    Major Characters
    Lord Henry Wotton- A
    nobleman and a close friend
    of Basil Hallward. Urbane
    and witty, Lord Henry is
    perpetually armed and ready
    with well-phrased epigrams
    criticizing the moralism and
    hypocrisy of Victorian
    society. His pleasure-seeking
    philosophy of new
    Hedonism, which espouses
    garnering experiences that
    stimulate the senses without
    regard for conventional
    morality, plays a vital role in
    Dorians development.

    Major Characters
    Basil Hallward- An artist, and a
    friend of Lord Henry. Basil becomes
    obsessed with Dorian after
    meeting him at a party. He claims
    that Dorian possesses a beauty so
    rare that it has helped him realize
    a new kind of art; through Dorian,
    he finds the lines of a fresh
    school. Dorian also helps Basil
    realize his artistic potential, as the
    portrait of Dorian that Basil paints
    proves to be hismasterpiece.
    Sibyl Vane- A poor, beautiful,
    and talented actress with whom
    Dorian falls in love. Sibyls love for
    Dorian compromises her ability to
    act, as her experience of true love
    in life makes her realize the
    falseness of affecting emotions
    onstage.

    Major Themes to Consider


    What

    is the role of influence and


    manipulation in The Picture of Dorian
    Gray?
    What is art? What role does
    aestheticism play in the novel?
    What is beauty? How does
    aestheticism relate to this theme in
    the novel?

    Major Themes to Consider


    What

    is the importance of youth and


    beauty in relation to intellect and
    soul as presented in Dorian Gray?
    What role does friendship play in the
    novel?
    What is Hedonism? How is hedonism
    a dominating theme in Dorian Gray?

    and finally
    What

    is the role of innocence in the


    novel? Consider specifically Dorian,
    Sibyl Vane, and Hetty Morton.
    What is morality? What role does
    morality play in Dorian Gray?
    What is the importance of sin and
    redemption in Dorian Gray?

    Some Golden Lines from the


    Novel
    All

    art is quite useless. (Page 2)


    There is only one thing in the world
    worse than being talked about, and that
    is not being talked about. (Page 4)
    Being natural is simply a pose, and the
    most irritating pose I know. (Page 7)
    I like persons better than principles, and
    I like persons with no principles better
    than anything else in the world. (Page
    11)

    More Golden Lines from Dorian


    Gray
    The

    only way to get rid of a


    temptation is to yield to it. (Page 21)
    Beauty is a form of Geniusis higher,
    indeed, than Genius, as it needs no
    explanation. It is of the graet facts of
    the world, like sunlight, or springtime,
    or the reflection in dark waters of that
    silver shell we call the moon. It
    cannot be questioned. (Page 24)

    One more sampling from the


    thousands in the novel
    There

    is always something ridiculous about


    the emotion of people whom one has
    ceased to love. (Page 92)
    Life has always poppies in her hands. (Page
    105)
    No theory of life seemed to him to be of any
    importance compared with life itself. (Page
    136)
    Is insincerity such a terrible thing? I think
    not. It is merely a method by which we can
    multiply our personalities. (Page 146)

    Some Lasting Images

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