Name: Matthew Jackson's review of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Item: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Rating: 1
Author: Matthew Jackson

Oscar Wilde

Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. 1st World Library-Literary Society is a non-profit educational organization. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - [3] The studio was filled with the rich odor of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn. From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as usual, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-colored blossoms of the laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid jade-faced painters who, in an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with mono-tonous insistence round the black-crocketed spires of the early June hollyhocks, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive, and the dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray, the only novel by Oscar Wilde, was first published in 1890. A substantially revised and expanded edition was published in April 1891. For the new edition, Wilde revised the content of the novel's existing chapters, divided the final chapter into two chapters, and created six entirely new additional chapters. Whereas the original edition of the novel contains 13 chapters, the revised edition of the novel contains 20 chapters. The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Dorian is selected for his remarkable physical beauty, and Basil becomes strongly infatuated with Dorian, believing that his beauty is responsible for a new mode of art. Talking in Basil's garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. Espousing a new kind of hedonism, Lord Henry suggests that the only thing worth pursuing in life is beauty, and the fulfillment of the senses. Realising that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian cries out, wishing that the portrait Basil has painted of him would age rather than himself. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, subsequently plunging him into a sequence of debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, each sin being displayed as a new sign of aging on the portrait. The Picture of Dorian Gray is considered one of the last works of classic gothic horror fiction with a strong Faustian theme. It deals with the artistic movement of the decadents, and homosexuality, both of which caused some controversy when the book was first published. However, in modern times, the book has been referred to as "one of the modern classics of Western literature.

Amelia Macy

Individualismn has really the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one's age. 

I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain. My God, Harry, how I worship her!

I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me. Why should it keep what Imust lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me, and gives something to it. Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could always be what I am now!

We degenerate into hideous puppets, haunted by the memory of the passions of which we were too much afraid, and the exquisite temptations that we had not the courage to yield to. Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!

“There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral-immoral from the scientific point of view.”

"Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to ones self. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion—these are the two things that govern us.”

You are thoroughly ashamed of your own virtues. You are an extraordinary fellow. You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose.

There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all…

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

Those who read the symbol do so at their peril…

When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself…

The launch of the Sterling Signature Classics program. Sterling will roll out six new Signature Classics each season. When handsome young Dorian Gray sees a painter's stunning portrait of him, he is transfixed by its reflection of his own beauty. He is also troubled by the knowledge that the image in the painting will remain forever youthful and handsome while he himself grows older and less desirable. He wishes aloud that the roles were reversed, saying that he would give his soul if only the painting would suffer the ravages of time and he were to remain forever young. From that point on, Dorian lives a life of hedonistic indulgence, knowing that only the painting will show his moral corruption.

🏹

“One should absorb the color of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar.”

moira

In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.

juana de arco si estuviera cronicamente online

“I don’t want to ve at mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”

"Oh, I can't explain. When I like people immensely I never tell their names to any one. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I would lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I dare say, but somehow it seems to bring a great deal of romance into one's life. I suppose you think me awfully foolish about it?"

Macy HB

But a chance tone of colour in a room or a morning sky, a particular perfume that you had once loved and that brings subtle memories with it, a line from a forgotten poem that you had come across again, a cadence from a piece of music that you had ceased to play—I tell you, Dorian, that it is on things like these that our lives depend.

The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.

Besides, each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. It merely intensifies it.

They get up early, because they have so much to do, and go to bed early, because they have so little to think about.

and brought the Moon from Carthage and given her in mystic marriage to the Sun.

Nay, without thought or conscious desire, might not things external to ourselves vibrate in unison with our moods and passions, atom calling to atom in secret love or strange affinity?

But women never know when the curtain has fallen. They always want a sixth act, and as soon as the interest of the play is entirely over, they propose to continue it.

It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style. They affect us just as vulgarity affects us. They give us an impression of sheer brute force, and we revolt against that.

The secret of remaining young is never to have an emotion that is unbecoming. 

Beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich. 

The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. They lack individuality. 

Matthew Jackson

Angie 

Ghofran Mustafa 

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

I'd stay up late for the last week with stacked cups of tea, reading and thinking about Dorian..
The story of the novel is known, but this does not mean that it will not surprise you. I read it with a friend of mine, and we talked about it a lot, and about the film adaptation, "which I considered as a distortion of the novel."

 As is evident when you read it, you will see in it,
 External beauty, narcissism, people and society's view, their reverence for appearances...
 The characters, I wish there were more details about them, about their lives and actions, especially Lord Henry. And how it affected Dorian's personality, to the point where they became similar, with a negative impact on everyone around them.
And more about the painter too.

It made me think and raised a lot of questions that I asked myself over the course of the chapters, but the biggest question remains; Was Dorian the victim of his friend, Lord Henry, who corrupted his soul, or was he like that from the beginning?

Anna 

nakonec jsem si řekla, že kde to půjde, budu u klasik psát normální recenze, na které jsem zvyklá, a u kterých se můžu normálně rozepsat :) 
✩
Obraz Doriana Graye jsem četla jako další knihu do povinné četby, tentokrát jsem ale předem věděla, že se nemusím bát toho, že by se kniha nedala číst. a přesně tak tomu i bylo.
doriana graye jsem měla přečteného za 5 dní, do děje jsem se jednoduše dostala a čtení mě bavilo. s tímto příběhem jsem se seznámila poprvé, nikdy jsem nevěděla, o čem to přesně je. musím říct, že jsem byla lehce zmatená tím, jak málo se tam toho doopravdy dělo. kniha je plná filozofických myšlenek místy tak moc, že převažují děj. i tak se to ale čte rychle, hlavně kvůli té děsivé atmosféře, které se nám dostane zhruba v polovině knihy.
oblíbila jsem si vedlejší postavy, například basila, malíře, který obraz doriana graye stvořil. líbilo se mi vykreslení tehdejší šlechty a autorův výsměch mnoha tehdejším tradicím či myšlenkám. 
další zajímavostí je, že v knize se objevují homosexuální podtóny, takže byla kniha dříve hodně cenzurovaná. 
✩
4*/5*, tuhle knížku rozhodně doporučuji přečíst jak k maturitě, tak klidně i 'jenom tak'. myslím, že se líbí snad každému z mého okolí, kdo ji četl :)

This timeless tale of gothic horror is accompanied by three short stories-- "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime," "The Happy Prince," and "The Birthday of the Infanta"--and a new introduction by Gary Schmidgall, author of The Stranger Wilde. Reprint.

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories

Gelaine Trinidad

chaca

SO GOOD. it was fascinating to see how dorian’s behavior change throughout the years. would definitely re-read it.

«Degeneramos en espantosas marionetas, obsesionados por el recuerdo de pasiones ante las que tuvimos demasiado miedo, y ante las exquisitas tentaciones a las que no tuvimos el coraje de ceder. ¡Juventud! ¡Juventud! ¡No hay absolutamente nada en el mundo más que la juventud!» Una piedra angular en los debates entre la ética y la estética, en las relaciones que mantienen el bien y el mal, el alma y el cuerpo, el arte y la vida.

El Retrato de Dorian Gray

Andrea Morales

what a RIDE !!!
definitivamente uno de mis clásicos favoritos, I was very intrigued even in the slower moments throughout the entire book, and the ending was ??!!! and I loved it.
also the gay subtext was chef’s kiss mmmm

“no hay libros morales ni inmorales. los libros están bien escritos o no lo están.”

imagine giving your crush a potrait painted by you which curses him with eternal youth and then he kills you 😭😭 oh basil you're loved

armoni mayes

When I first started reading this novel I thought it was pretty boring for the first ~80 pages BUT after that it really started to pick up. I finally understand the hype around Wilde as an author and absolutely loved his writing style. I would recommend this book to a friend as an easy way to get into the classics!

A story of evil, debauchery, and scandal, Oscar Wilde's only novel tells of Dorian Gray, a beautiful yet corrupt man. When he wishes that a perfect portrait of himself would bear the signs of ageing in his place, the picture becomes his hideous secret, as it follows Dorian's own downward spiral into cruelty and depravity. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a masterpiece of deals made in fear and ignorance, and the evil in men's hearts, and is as controversial and alluring as Wilde himself.

Joub

Enthralled by a portrait of himself, young Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain to exchange his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Thus he is able to indulge in his desires, as only the portrait bears the traces of his decadence and becomes a nightmarish picture of his soul. Edited with an Introduction by Robert Mighall Preface by Peter Ackroyd

Vince Hilahan

suddenly have the inclination to get my portrait painted and break some hearts

..19th century Patrick Bateman

chapter 11 had me not reading sorry...to every other chapter ily

Anjorin Molayo 

A very complex book but also good! this book has so many quotable quotes that made me fall in love especially quotes from Lord Henry. 

“Youth is the only thing worth having.”

“Beauty is a form of Genius—is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great 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. It has its divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it. You smile? Ah! when you have lost it you won’t smile. . . . People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible. . . .”

“Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm.”

“Sin is the only real color-element left in modern life.”

“Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”

“Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil. They give us, now and then, some of those luxurious sterile emotions that have a certain charm for the weak. That is all that can be said for them. They are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”

“Love is a more wonderful thing than Art.”

“When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy.”

“Most people become bankrupt through having invested too heavily in the prose of life. To have ruined one’s self over poetry is an honor. ”

“The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbor with the possession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. I mean everything that I have said. I have the greatest contempt for optimism. As for a spoiled life, no life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested. If you want to mar a nature, you have merely to reform it.”

These are just few from the ones I highlighted. I absolutely love Lord Henry’s character.

The book has garnered much attention. Its subject, Wilde’s own life and his reflection on the characters, is certainly very interesting. However, the story itself feels too dream-like to be set in a realistic setting.

For example, in Chapter 11, Dorian Gray talks about his devotion over the years to subjects that capture life’s pleasures. He seeks to know everything about life and acquires possessions such as music, tapestries, and jewels. These are things he pursued in life to extract knowledge and use for his own benefit later on. A temptation to which he has succumbed and the tarnish he brought upon himself, with ideas of life that are too different compared to what real life would be. His mind is filled with impractical and unreachable ideas, with motives that are unclear and seem more symbolic than realistic. A shallow daydream, I dare say? It’s as if he learns from a fantastical book where one can achieve things easily without progression through struggles and hard work. He may have it easy because of his good looks, but his conscience is that of a child who knows nothing about the world.

It feels over-explained, without a single aim to reduce it to a conclusion. The value one finds in it is unlikely, as it is too broad of an idea

 for Lord Henry, whom I find quite admirable, he comes off as relatable until the end. An eccentric personality in comparison to Dorian’s. His skepticism and cynicism about life may seem cruel, but he understands what life has in store and what is required to achieve one’s goals. His mind is full of cunningly clever ideas, for he understands people through their tendencies and nature, and therefore their psychology. His thoughts are less metaphorical and romantic, more straightforward, though often a difficult pill to swallow. Yet, there are always some truths in it. To my dismay though, his effect on Dorian Gray is based on sheer curiosity and further into the chapters, he simply loses all interest in the young man, making it a rather anticlimactic conclusion from the connection of the two.

Regarding the symbolism, it seems like child’s play to me instead of being deeply provoking and stirred with philosophy. What I also dislike about reading the book is the typographical inconsistencies, mostly in dialogues. Some references to characters remain unclear instead of being re-mentioned to give clarity as to whose it refers to, since it merely states ‘He’ when there are three people in the situation. One paragraph may contain two different dialogues which make me irked whenever I encounter it.

Overall, while the book has intriguing aspects and offers a deep dive into Wilde’s life and philosophies, its dream-like narrative and typographical issues detract from its overall impact. It leaves me with a sense of disconnect, making it difficult to fully immerse in the story.

The book has garnered much attention. Its subject, Wilde’s own life and his reflection on the characters, is certainly very interesting. However, the story itself feels too dream-like to be set in a realistic setting.

For example, in Chapter 11, Dorian Gray talks about his devotion over the years to subjects that capture life’s pleasures. He seeks to know everything about life and acquires possessions such as music, tapestries, and jewels. These are things he pursued in life to extract knowledge and use for his own benefit later on. A temptation to which he has succumbed and the tarnish he brought upon himself, with ideas of life that are too different compared to what real life would be. His mind is filled with impractical and unreachable ideas, with motives that are unclear and seem more symbolic than realistic. A shallow daydream, I dare say? It’s as if he learns from a fantastical book where one can achieve things easily without progression through struggles and hard work. He may have it easy because of his good looks, but his conscience is that of a child who knows nothing about the world.


Yes: there was to be, as Lord Henry had prophesied, a new Hedonism that was to recreate life and to save it from that harsh uncomely puritanism that is having, in our own day, its curious revival. It was to have its service of the intellect, certainly, yet it was never to accept any theory or system that would involve the sacrifice of any mode of passionate experience. Its aim, indeed, was to be experience itself, and not the fruits of experience, sweet or bitter as they might be. Of the asceticism that deadens the senses, as of the vulgar profligacy that dulls them, it was to know nothing. But it was to teach man to concentrate himself upon the moments of a life that is itself but a moment.

It feels over-explained, without a single aim to reduce it to a conclusion. The value one finds in it is unlikely, as it is too broad of an idea.

As for Lord Henry, whom I find quite admirable, he comes off as relatable until the end. An eccentric personality in comparison to Dorian’s. His skepticism and cynicism about life may seem cruel, but he understands what life has in store and what is required to achieve one’s goals. His mind is full of cunningly clever ideas, for he understands people through their tendencies and nature, and therefore their psychology. His thoughts are less metaphorical and romantic, more straightforward, though often a difficult pill to swallow. Yet, there are always some truths in it. To my dismay though, his effect on Dorian Gray is based on sheer curiosity and further into the chapters, he simply loses all interest in the young man, making it a rather anticlimactic conclusion from the connection of the two.

Regarding the symbolism, it seems like child’s play to me instead of being deeply provoking and stirred with philosophy. What I also dislike about reading the book is the typographical inconsistencies, mostly in dialogues. Some references to characters remain unclear instead of being re-mentioned to give clarity as to whose it refers to, since it merely states ‘He’ when there are three people in the situation. One paragraph may contain two different dialogues which make me irked whenever I encounter it.

Overall, while the book has intriguing aspects and offers a deep dive into Wilde’s life and philosophies, its dream-like narrative and typographical issues detract from its overall impact. It leaves me with a sense of disconnect, making it difficult to fully immerse in the story.

Symbolism · Uncensored

Bowie 

“when i get older i want to killmyself” the book in one quote 

mahek

sani

“if a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart.”

oh my god. thank god that i picked it up and i am now indefinitely in love with oscar wilde’s writing. the way he managed to portray dorian gray from a youthful, beautiful and shy boy to a corrupt, hedonistic criminal. i am awfully fond of lord henry and his philosophical words. he was the most intriguing character, second to only dorian gray. i will probably post a more coherent review later on. 

 ☆ some of my favourite quotes :

“the worst of having a romance of any kind is that it leaves one so unromantic.”

“i am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die.”

“when one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one’s self, and one always ends by deceiving others. that is what the world calls a romance.”

“to define is to limit.”

“that a burnt child loves the fire.”

Hanna Rybchynska

This was so interesting and different ! It has a really bold statements but it is normal for the time it was written. Really good read.

Chloé

the male characters having wives and girlfriends is hilarious to me cause they were queer as hell.

rip dorian gray you would’ve loved young and beautiful by lana del rey

this was such an easy read and a very thrilling experience. as dorian gray devotes himself to pleasure and desire, his portrait ages and decays over time. a reflection of his heinous acts of sins.

corruption arc >>>>>>>

Sure it gets pretentious at times but that's a given considering it's an English classic written by a self proclaimed socialite, which some children have the misfortune of coming across in school but personally I was always intrigued by this story and I finally got the chance to read it when it was gifted to me. Sometimes the writing got too overly descriptive but I still couldn't put it down because I was enraptured in the plot and because I found Hendry hilarious. I mean Hendry sure is a prick but he's so funny to read for me. he says such bizarre things and the funniest little things annoy him. it is sure a little misogynistic but it was expected since it was about some kinds of obsessive toxic queer relationship of english old gay men. oh and poor Basil...he was all just a teenage girl in love. i also for some reason kept imagining Hendry Mads Mikkelson, Basil as Jude Law and Dorian as Hugh Dancy. 

Nans

Jenny Qian

these men need therapy 💀

also henry babes,,, stfu

Das Bildnis DES Dorian Gray Roman

envee

the picture of dorian gray has to be one of my all time favourite books.
where i live people often come across this book in school but unfortunately not me. after reading this years ago i was just so devastated to never tall about it in depth during class. this book is written so beautifully and tells such a tragic story of a man. oscar wild had the beautiful gift of creating such beautiful images with his words, almost in a poetical kind of way and it just fills me with such a happy feeling while reading his sentences. i really can't explain it, you have to read it yourself to get a grasp of what it really means.
everything portrayed has such a beautiful symbolic character and i guess you really have to read it a few times to really understand everything. for me his work was so enjoyable and eady to follow and i highly recommend to read it if you don't already have

Amna A.

"What the worm was to the corpse, his sins would be to the painted image on the canvas."

 Dorian Gray, a young good-looking man who wished away his soul in order to preserve his innocent, youthful appearance which was captured on a canvas by a talented artist. As time went by and those around him lost their innocence, Dorian still clutched on to his youthful blond hair, bright blue eyes, and red lips; the image of innocence itself. However, as he glances back at his portrait that withholds his soul, he sees his sins etched into his features, which reveal his actual identity. Quite haunting.

Matthew Jackson &
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde