The Picture of Dorian Gray

            I read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.  The first thing that struck me about the story was how Basil Hallward viewed Dorian Gray. His friendship with Dorian Gray was more of an obsession then a typical partnership. Basil thought that the reason his artwork was so amazing was because of Dorian Gray. I think the reason it was so amazing to him was because it exhibited his love. Basil said that, “Some subtle influence passed from him to me, and for the first time in my life I saw in the plain woodland the wonder I had always looked for and always missed” (pg 30). I believe that what changed the art for him was not Dorian Gray but the love he felt for Dorian Gray. I believe that Basil Hallward has a crush on Dorian Gray even though that is not technically confirmed in the novel. His crush was not returned although because Dorian cannot feel love. Dorian only has love for himself and beauty. It is said that Basil does not have beauty, but genius, so that would make Dorian have no interest in him.

            Basil Hallward wanted to keep Dorian his secret but ends up telling Lord Henry, his “friend”. I think that Lord Henry wanted to meet Dorian just because he wanted to make Dorian like him more then Basil. I assumed that once Lord Henry met Dorian Gray, he would not be affected by him. This is not the case and Lord Henry becomes obsessed with Dorian as well. It made me think that something else was amiss that was making them obsessed with him. I did not think that Lord Henry also had a crush on him (although it's possible). I thought that maybe what made him obsessed with Dorian Gray was that he wanted to be him, well at least look like him. Lord Henry admired him because of the power he held from his looks. Lord Henry discussed beauty when he said, “And beauty is a form of genius- is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation”. (pg 54-55). This contradicts what he said earlier to Basil which was that genius was more important then beauty because it can outlast it. This leads to my other point which is that I don’t think Lord Henry knows what he is saying all the time. I think that Lord Henry just says words hoping that they will be insightful and make sense. I also think he speaks just to speak, not to prove a point. He must fill in the silences with words and hope that they make sense. This is why I was surprised that his words had such a big influence on Dorian. I think this proves that Dorian is easily influenced.

            I think that Dorian Gray is easily influenced because he is just like a spoiled child. Since anything that is not a compliment is unusual, it affects him the most. Dorian has not known anything other than beauty. I believe that is why the loss of it frightens him so and causes him to make the portrait age instead. Dorian also loves Sibyl because of her beauty and her acting. This reflects himself because he is just an actor as well. He has no personality and he doesn’t know real emotions. People like him for his beauty, not his personality which has no depth. I believe this is why he stops loving Sibyl because once she starts feeling real love, her acting suffers. Once she is not faking her love anymore, he does not love her and leaves. I believe this is because he cannot express real emotion. Dorian adjusts himself to make people like him which is what Sibyl did when she acted. He related to her because he played different roles as well.

            What led me to read this novel was the movie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I was thinking about reading all the novels that inspired the characters in the movie. Some examples are Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Dracula. I am not sure if I am going to do this but I think I would like to read Dracula anyway. Another reason I read this novel was because I know that other English classes had to read this for summer reading and I thought it looked interesting. I also wanted to read it because I thought it would be a good novel to prepare me for the AP exam. I thoroughly enjoyed it because I thought it send a good message. Beauty can be ugly.