O Retrato de Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray) by Oscar Wilde,Oscar Mendes

The Picture of Dorian Gray. more oppressive, and the dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ. In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden disappearance some years ago caused, at the time, such public excitement, and gave rise to so many strange conjectures. I don’t think I will send it anywhere,’ he answered, tossing his head back in that odd way that used to make. 3 of 250. The Picture of Dorian Gray. his friends laugh at him at Oxford. No: I won’t send it anywhere.

Wilde is also a fascinating literary figure. The Picture of Dorian Gray was his only novel. It was first published in an American magazine in 1890, to a storm of critical protest for its decadence and implied homosexuality. Defiantly, Wilde responded to the criticism by expanding the story and had it published in book form in 1891. Dorian returns to his life of wealth and privilege until he falls in love with an actress, Miss Sibyl Vane. He goes to the theater and is so struck by her beauty and talent that he must see her in every play, every night. The theater owner introduces them and they plan to be married. Unfortunately, Sibyl is so distracted by her love for Dorian that she performs the part of Juliet very badly and Dorian is mortified. All along he has really been in love with her portrayal of tragic heroines, not (of course) her true character.

The picture of Dorian Gray is one and the only novel of his and, in my opinion, is a representative oeuvre of both his life and the declining era. The story starts on a beautiful day with Lord Henry Wotton observing the artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray. Dorian arrives later and meets Wotton. After talked with the libertine lord, Dorian begins to believe that beauty is the only thing that deserves to pursue in all his life. As Henry said in the story -in the presence of off behind every beautiful thing there is some tragic things are (The picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1891), tragedy if the nature of beauty. Wilde, a pursuer of extreme art and beauty, combined the character of both Dorian’s and Basil’s. He once said that: Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry is what the world thinks me; Dorian gray is what I would like to be-in other ages perhaps.

Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde’s characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890.

Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is the story of moral corruption by the means of aestheticism. In the novel, the well meaning artist Basil Hallward presets young Dorian Gray with a portrait of himself. After conversing with cynical Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian makes a wish which dreadfully affects his life forever. If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give!

Free Study Guide for The Picture of Dorian Gray: Book Summary. Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page Downloadable, Printable Version. Free Study Notes for The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in 1854 in Dublin. His father was Sir William Wilde, a distinguished surgeon specializing in ophthalmology. His father was an eccentric, who was known for his uncleanness and for his sexual promiscuity. While in prison, he wrote the book De Profundis, a long letter to explain his life and to condemn Lord Alfred Douglas for abandoning him. He also wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898). Even the aesthetic movement in art suffered a setback as a result of the backlash against Oscar Wilde.