Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Grey

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Biography of Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray. Plot
The Picture of Dorian Gray. Major Characters’ Profile
The Picture of Dorian Gray. Literary significance of the novel

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He decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but Lord Henry arrives in the morning to say Sibyl has killed herself by swallowing prussic acid. With the persuasion and encouragement of Lord Henry, Dorian realizes that lust and looks are where his life is headed and he needs nothing else. That marked the end of Dorian's last and only true love affair. Over the next 18 years, Dorian experiments with every vice, mostly under the influence of a “poisonous” French novel, a present from Lord Henry. Wilde never reveals the title but his inspiration was possibly drawn from Joris-Karl Huysmans's А rebours (Against Nature) due to the likenesses that exist between the two novels.One night, before he leaves for Paris, Basil arrives to question Dorian about rumours of his indulgences. Dorian does not deny his debauchery. He takes Basil to the portrait, which is as hideous as Dorian's sins. In anger, Dorian blames the artist for his fate and stabs Basil to death. He then blackmails an old friend named Alan Campbell, who is a chemist, into destroying Basil's body. Wishing to escape his crime, Dorian travels to an opium den. James Vane is nearby and hears someone refer to Dorian as “Prince Charming”. He follows Dorian outside and attempts to shoot him, but he is deceived when Dorian asks James to look at him in the light, saying he is too young to have been involved with Sibyl 18 years earlier. James releases Dorian but is approached by a woman from the opium den who chastises him for not killing Dorian and tells him Dorian has not aged for 18 years.While at dinner, Dorian sees Sibyl Vane's brother stalking the grounds and fears for his life. However, during a game-shooting party a few days later, a lurking James is accidentally shot and killed by one of the hunters. After returning to London, Dorian informs Lord Henry that he will be good from now on, and has started by not breaking the heart of his latest innocent conquest, a vicar's daughter in a country town, named Hetty Merton. At his apartment, Dorian wonders if the portrait has begun to change back, losing its senile, sinful appearance, now he has changed his immoral ways. He unveils the portrait to find it has become worse. Seeing this, he questions the motives behind his “mercy”, whether it was merely vanity, curiosity, or the quest for new emotional excess. Deciding that only full confession will absolve him, but lacking feelings of guilt and fearing the consequences, he decides to destroy the last vestige of his conscience. In a rage, he picks up the knife that killed Basil Hallward and plunges it into the painting. His servants hear a cry from inside the locked room and send for the police. They find Dorian's body, stabbed in the heart and suddenly aged, withered and horrible. It is only through the rings on his hand that the corpse can be identified. Beside him, however, the portrait has reverted to its original form.The Picture of Dorian Gray. Major Characters’ ProfileDorian Gray: Dorian Gray is a young man of about twenty when the novel begins. He is exceptionally good-looking, and both Basil Hallward and Lord Henry are attracted to his innocent beauty. Henry admires his “finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair”. Dorian is the grandson of Lord Kelso. His mother, Lady Margaret Devereux, was extremely beautiful and could have married anyone she wanted, but instead married a penniless soldier-Dorian's father-who was soon killed in a duel. Margaret died soon after. Dorian was well-provided for, and inherits more money when he comes of age. Basil describes Dorian as possessing “a simple and beautiful nature”, and indeed he is an agreeable and charming man, but he also can be thoughtless. Basil says that sometimes Dorian takes pleasure in hurting his feelings. Dorian also has a great capacity for vanity, which is fueled by Basil's uncritical adoration as well as the portrait that Basil paints of him. Dorian is so struck by his own beauty in the picture that he makes his fateful wish that he should forever remain young and that aging should be reflected only in the portrait. His desire to retain his youth is partly a result of Lord Henry's dominant influence on him. Henry persuades him that youth and beauty are the most valuable things in life. As a result of Henry's influence, Dorian decides to pursue a hedonistic lifestyle, always seeking out new sensations and dedicating himself to beauty and art. But in his pursuit of pleasure, Dorian also commits numerous unnamed sins, and many of his friends turn against him or are ruined by their contact with him. Eventually he murders Basil when his old friend confronts him about the rumors that are circulating about his degenerate behavior. Basil Hallward: Basil Hallward is a well-known artist whose life is turned upside down when he meets Dorian. He is so taken by Dorian's beauty that he virtually falls in love with him. Dorian then serves as his artistic model, which enables Basil to produce work of a higher order than he has managed before. He simply adores Dorian, who gives him a vision of an entirely new school of art “that is to have in it all the passion of the romantic spirit, all the perfection of the spirit that is Greek”. His devotion to Dorian leads him to jealousy when Dorian falls in love with Sibyl Vane. But after the death of Sibyl, Basil is shocked by the callous attitude displayed by his young friend. The two men then quarrel over Basil's desire to exhibit his painting of Dorian. Dorian refuses even to show him the picture. Basil then confesses to Dorian the feelings he had about him when they first met: “I was dominated, soul, brain, and power by you.