The Picture of Dorian Gray: Pros and Cons

      Schools out! I thought to myself as I took my last final exam of junior year, oblivious to my surroundings and focused only upon a wonderful summer devoid of lengthy exams, copious notes, and perpetual stress; these tranquil days of summer, however, quickly flew by and before long I was stymied by the dilemma of summer reading. As I searched each and every summer reading book online, reading brief online summaries and figuring out which book to read, I immediately became fixated on Dorian Gray's compelling story. Although I felt ambivalent towards some of the other novels, I could instantly relate to Dorian, a young man like myself whose beauty captivated both girl's hearts and minds. Dorian's ability to manipulate others, especially women, was fascinating, and due to my secret jealousy towards him, I became even more interested in his romance with Sibyl in the novel. Secondly, I shared a commonality with Mr. Gray: the fear of old age. Being only 17 myself, I feel ambivalent towards aging; on one hand, I am glad to gain my own independence and newfound wisdom in the future, yet on the other I feel a sense of dread at the thought of losing my external youth, a fear that Dorian also faces in the novel. Therefore, because I felt a combination of fascination, jealousy, and similarity towards the protagonist, I felt compelled to read the novel, which illustrated mastery of storytelling through its highly developed interactions amongst characters, creation of the perfect antagonist, elaboration of a profound yet tragic romance, and high degree of complexity and sophistication; furthermore, the book may be enhanced through a greater emphasis on setting and transition in narrative style.
      Wilde's expert storytelling ability is prevalent in the book for various reasons; first, he develops well thought-out relationships between characters. Dorian starts off in the novel as a model for Basil, who is an artist. Although he is young and without any real worries, he is forever changed through his encounter with another important figure, Lord Henry. Interestingly, Lord Henry and Dorian share similar abilities. Just as Dorian can influence others with his looks, so Lord Henry can manipulate others, notably Dorian, with his words. After Lord Henry changes Dorian's cluelessness into understanding of the fact that his beauty is only short-lived, he starts to hate Basil and the portrait that he has drawn of him. As Dorian is warned in the first chapter, "Some day you will look at your friend, and he will seem to you a little out of drawing, or you won't like his tone of colour, or something." In fact, these words come to haunt him throughout the novel as he grows paranoid over his portrait.
      Secondly, in addition to establishing the captivating protagonist that is Dorian, Wilde skillfully creates the greatest antagonist of all: Dorian himself. As Dorian ages throughout the story, the portrait, which remains virtually untouched over the years, haunts him as truly messes with his psyche. As Dorian tells himself in chapter 2, "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything!" This battle against himself (in other words his portrait), is one of the most profound conflicts that I have ever read in literature, and though contradictions are certainly inherent in large portions of the book, Dorian's struggle nevertheless makes you wonder: Could one's greatest source of pride or greatest asset (in this case Dorian's beauty) simultaneously be his greatest abomination and source of weakness? After reading the story, I believe it is, for his jealousy of himself quite arguably furthers his own demise.
      Third, Wilde sets up a unique but compelling romance between Dorian and the girl whom he falls in love with, Sibyl Vane. What is truly interesting about their relationship is that Dorian truly believes that he loves her, when in fact he is only in love with her acting. When he first meets her, he says the following in the 4th chapter: "You, who know all the secrets of life, tell me how to charm Sibyl Vane to love me! I want to make Romeo jealous.... My God, Harry, how I worship her!" Even during his "confession," he describes his feelings towards Sibyl as worship, not as love. He admires her ability to falsely play as different characters on stage and captivate her audience with her sweet voice and flawless acting; however, after Sibyl falls so madly in love with Dorian, she no longer remembers her rare gift. After Dorian himself sees her perfection crumble before his very eyes during a fateful performance, he tells her the following: "You have killed my love. You used to stir my imagination. Now you don't even stir my curiosity.... I loved you because you were marvellous, because you had genius and intellect.... You have thrown it all away." Dorian's illusions about love distinguish the dichotomy between reality and fiction and their implications on romance.
      Lastly, Wilde seems to structure the story so complexly that each significant event in the plotline serves multiple purposes. For example, Dorian's disgust towards Sibyl after her dreadful performance not only leads to her suicide, but also damages his own conscience, making him psychologically unstable and eventually dead by the novel's end. Furthermore, Basil's decision to draw Dorian's portrait eventuates in Dorian's permanent dislike towards him which, coupled with his fear and hatred of the portrait, leads to Basil's murder. Third, Dorian's suicide in the end of the novel serves two purposes. Firstly, it sheds his guilt from murdering Basil and indirectly ruining Sibyl; and secondly, it enables him to overcome his fear of age by dying young and beautiful. The ways in which Wilde structures Dorian's death, his hatred towards himself, and Sibyl's death are nothing short of perfection, for the ways in which characters, objects, and motives are intertwined in the story are both highly complex and intellectually thought-provoking to the reader on multiple levels.
      There are few flaws within the novel, if any. For one, Wilde went above and beyond in terms of character development, yet he lacked distinctive emphasis on setting. In many ways, where the characters interact is just as intriguing as how they interact. With the exception of sporadic references to the city of London, Wilde did not really go in-depth in setting; because the novel focuses both on Dorian's inner psyche and interactions with various characters in the text, there could have been more emphasis on location.
      Furthermore, because the novel delves so deeply into the psychological aspects of human consciousness, 3rd person may not always have been the ideal perspective from which to witness Dorian's psychological states throughout the book. During Dorian's frequent inner monologues to himself, perhaps the reader would have related more to Dorian's thoughts rather than to his sentiments relayed by an unknown, omniscient narrator.
      These cons, however, are not really flaws inherent within the novel itself, but merely suggestions that may or may not help the novel. Overall, Wilde develops a highly complex web of characters, each related to the other and playing his own significance in the story; presents to the reader an intellectually thought-provoking conflict within the protagonist, thereby enabling further speculation towards the human psyche and universal human fears (losing one's youth); formulates an intricate romance based upon false love, irrevocable tragedy, and disillusionment; and provides further insight to the reader by adding layers of complexity and deeper meanings into the plot. Although the story itself could have been enhanced by a more compelling setting and personal narrative voice, Wilde wrote an outstanding piece of literature with few flaws, intellectually stimulating complexity, universal themes, and highly developed plots that should be read for generations to come.