| The Picture Of Dorian Gray |
Article Index for The |
Website Links For Picture |
Information AboutThe Picture Of Dorian Gray |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY | |
| 1890 novels | |
| irish novels | |
| works by oscar wilde | |
| works based on the faust legend | |
|
''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', the only Novel by Oscar Wilde , was first published in 1890 and tells of how a portrait taken of the eponymous Dorian Gray is marred because of his many sins, becoming old and disfigured, while he himself remains young and perfect. The novel contains many of the famous epigrams from Wilde's earlier plays and many themes and images drawing heavily on Wilde's extensive knowledge of the classical world. PLOT SUMMARY The novel begins with Lord Henry Wotton observing the Artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of a handsome young man named Dorian Gray in his London studio. Dorian arrives to sit for the artist, and Lord Henry tells him that youth is the only thing worth having, and that Dorian will soon age and lose his beauty. This speech affects Dorian greatly, and he seemingly loses his sense of innocence, it appears, all at once. Once the portrait is finished, Dorian looks at it and wishes that he could remain as young and beautiful as it, and that it would age instead. Under the influence of Lord Henry, Dorian begins an exploration of his senses. He starts by discovering a brilliant Actress , Sibyl Vane, who performs Shakespeare in a dingy theatre, but although the theatre is rancid, her acting outshines it all. Dorian approaches her, and very soon, proposes Marriage . Sibyl, who knows only his Christian name and refers to him to others only as "Prince Charming", rushes home to tell her skeptical mother and brother. Her protective brother tells her that if Prince Charming harms her, he shall find and kill him. Dorian then invites Basil and Lord Henry to see Sibyl perform in '' Romeo And Juliet ''. Sibyl, whose only previous knowledge of love was through the love of theatre, suddenly loses her acting abilities through the experience of true love with Dorian, and performs very badly. Dorian rejects her, cruelly saying that her beauty was in her art, and if she could no longer act, he was no longer interested in her. Once he returns to his apartment, Dorian notices that Basil's portrait of him has changed. The smile on his mouth has become crueler and less friendly. Dorian realises that his wish has come true, and the portrait is bearing his sins while his outward appearance remains youthful. The next morning, Dorian decides to reconcile with Sibyl, but Lord Henry arrives to say that Sibyl has killed herself by swallowing Prussic Acid . Dorian accepts his fate, and over the next eighteen years indulges in the seven deadly sins, under the influence of a "poisonous" French novel given to him by Lord Henry—Wilde never reveals the title but it was likely Joris-Karl Huysmans 's '' À Rebours '' (''Against the Grain''). One day Basil arrives to question Dorian about rumours of his indulgences. Dorian does not deny the debauchery, and endeavours to show Basil his soul. He takes Basil to the portrait, which is revealed to have become monstrously ugly under Dorian's sins. Dorian in a sudden range of anger blames the artist for his fate, and stabs him to death. He then blackmails an old friend into destroying the body. Dorian seeks escape from the deed he has done in an Opium parlour. After being rejected by the proprietor, who calls him by the name "Prince Charming", he leaves. Sibyl Vane's brother, who coincidently is in the parlour and had been searching for someone named "Prince Charming" for 18 years, recognizes the name, and follows him and attempts to kill him; but he is deceived when Dorian tells him that he would have been too young to have been involved with his sister 18 years ago, his appearance has not changed since. The sailor goes back to the opium den, where the woman tells him that Dorian has never aged for the past eighteen years. At a small-game shooting party at a country house, Dorian sees Sibyl Vane's brother stalking the grounds and Dorian fears for his life. However, the brother is accidentally shot and killed by another hunter. 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. At his apartment, he wonders if the portrait would have begun to change back, losing its sinful appearance, now that he has changed his ways. He unveils the portrait to only find that it has become worse: in his eyes were a look of cunning, and his face took on the subtle air of a hypocrite. Seeing this he begins to question the motives behind his act, whether it was merely vanity, curiosity, or seeking new emotional excess. Another sign appears in the portrait, the stain of blood that appeared with Hallward's murder grows brighter and spreads. He considers momentarily what this could mean, what act would be required to redeem him of this mark. Deciding that only a full confession would absolve him, but lacking any guilt and fearing the consequences, he decides to destroy the last vestige of his conscience. In a fit of rage, he picks up the knife that killed Basil Hallward, and plunges it into the painting. Hearing his cry from inside the locked room, his servants send for the police, who find a bloated, ugly old man with a knife in his heart, and the portrait of Dorian, as beautiful as he was eighteen years ago. THEMES Aestheticism and The Morality of Art: Wilde sets this as a major theme in the preface saying "We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless." This may have been said in defence of his novel against reports of its immorality. For instance, the ''Daily Chronicle'' characterized it as "...a poisonous book, the atmosphere of which is heavy with the mephitic odours of moral and spiritual putrefaction." Wilde also remarked in the preface "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." Physiognomy: One of the central ideas in the novel is that beauty is marred by vice. Dorian remains beautiful despite his many sins because they take effect on Basil's portrait rather than him. Pederasty and Homosexuality: The text contains many obscure references and terms, which are often considered to be euphemistic. Indeed, the novel was used as evidence in Wilde's infamous trial for "gross indecency" as evidence of his homosexuality. For example, it is suggested that the name Dorian is chosen as it is a reference to Greek love. PUBLICATION HISTORY
In the fall of 1889 J. M. Stoddart was in London to solicit short novels for one of his enterprises, '' Lippincott's Monthly Magazine ''. To one dinner he invited Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde. They both agreed to write for him and Doyle submitted his second Sherlock Holmes novel '' The Sign Of Four ''. There was a delay in getting Wilde's work to press while numerous changes were made to the Manuscript s of the novel (some of which survive to this day). Some of these changes were made at Wilde's instigation, and some at Stoddart's. One especially notable change is the removal from the Manuscript s of Reference s to the Fictitious book ''Le Secret de Raoul'', and to its fictitious Author , Catulle Sarrazin. The book and its author are still referred to in the published versions of the Novel , but are unnamed. ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' was finally Published on June 20 1890 in the July edition of ''Lippencott's...''. It was an immediate sensation. A substantially revised and expanded edition of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' was published by Ward, Lock and Bowden in April 1891. For this 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 table on the right shows how the chapters in the two different editions correspond to one another. Between the publication of the original edition of the novel and the publication of the revised edition, Wilde published his "Preface" to the novel, in the 1 March 1891 edition of the Literary / Scientific Journal the ''Fortnightly Review''. This "Preface", which could be considered an Aesthetic Manifesto , consisted of 24 Aphorism s - the first being 'The artist is the creator of beautiful things', and the last being 'All art is quite useless' - expounding some of the key tenets of aesthetic Philosophy . Wilde added another aphorism - 'No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.' - to the "Preface", when it was included in the revised edition of the novel published in April 1891. One especially notable change made for the revised edition is that whereas events in the latter half of the novel were previously specified as taking place around Dorian Gray's 32nd birthday, on November 7 ; they were now specified as taking place around Dorian Gray's 38th birthday, on November 9 . This has the effect of extending the period of time over which the story occurs. The revised edition of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', incorporating the 25 aphorisms of the "Preface", has come to be considered the standard edition, and is widely held to be superior to its published predecessor. Nonetheless, it is instructive to compare the manuscripts and the two different editions of Wilde's novel. Critic s have been especially interested in the purging of Homoerotic Themes and Allusion s during the course of the novel's development, so that while such themes and allusions abound in the final revised edition, they are less explicit than in previous versions of the novel - although no less effective for that. These changes to the novel are not merely of Academic interest, but were relevant to the three Prosecution s involving Oscar Wilde that took place in the spring of 1895, resulting in his eventual Arrest and Imprisonment . John Sholto Douglas ' Defence attorney in the first prosecution, Edward Carson , attempted to use ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' as Evidence of Wilde's corrupting influence upon Alfred Douglas . Carson referred to the fact that Wilde had revised the novel, and cast aspersions upon his Motivation for so doing. Some later editions of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' silently change the word ' Jew ', which is used disparagingly in chapters 4 and 7 of the novel, to the word ' Man ', presumably to avoid potential offense. INDIVIDUALS REFERRED TO IN THE NOVEL The Number of each chapter of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' in which an Individual is referred to is given in Parentheses alongside their Name . These chapter numbers are specific to the revised edition of the novel first published in April 1891. Fictitious (created by Oscar Wilde) 71 Fictional Character s, referred to by name in the novel, are creations of Oscar Wilde. These individuals are List ed in the order in which they are first mentioned in the Text . Chapter numbers are listed for chapters in which an individual's name is referred to either in full or in Abbreviated Form , but not for chapters in which an individual appears Anonymously or Pseudonym ously. Title s/salutations are only given here in lieu of a full name, when a full name is not given in the novel. Where an individual also appears elsewhere in Wilde's oeuvre, this is indicated.
Textual variants (original edition) The role of Mrs Leaf in the original edition of the novel published in July 1890, and her Conversation with '''Dorian Gray''', were significantly reduced for the revised edition of the novel that was first published in April 1891. Mr Ashton in the original edition of the novel was renamed '''Mr Hubbard''' for the revised edition of the novel. Fictitious (other) 31 fictional characters, referred to by name in the novel, are not creations of Oscar Wilde. These individuals are listed in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text, alongside details of their Provenance .
Textual variants (original manuscripts) 2 references to fictitious individuals not created by Oscar Wilde, in the original manuscripts of the novel, were excised for the original edition of the novel published in July 1890.
Real/historical 104 Real / Historical individuals are referred to explicitly in the novel. These individuals are listed in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text, under the name by which they are most commonly known.
Textual variants (original manuscripts) 8 references to real/historical individuals, in the original manuscripts of the novel, were excised for the original edition of the novel published in July 1890.
Textual variants (original edition) One reference to a real/historical individual, in the original edition of the novel published in July 1890, was excised for the revised edition of the novel that was first published in April 1891.
CREATIVE WORKS REFERRED TO IN THE NOVEL The number of each chapter of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' in which a Creative work is referred to is given in parentheses alongside that work's title. These chapter numbers are specific to the revised edition of the novel first published in April 1891. Chapter numbers are listed only for chapters in which a creative work is referred to explicitly. For chapters in which individuals from particular creative works are referred to, see 'Individuals referred to in the novel', above. Fictitious Two fictitious creative works are referred to in the novel. These creative works are listed in the order in which they are first mentioned in the Text .
Real/historical 16 Real / Historical creative works are referred to in the novel. These works are listed in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Where the work is explicitly quoted in the text, in addition to being referred to, this is indicated.
Textual variants (original manuscripts) The original manuscripts of the novel contained a reference to an unnamed volume of Sonnet s by the Real / Historical individual Paul Verlaine . This was replaced with a reference ''Émaux et camées'', by Théophile Gautier, for the original edition of the novel published in July 1890. NEWS PUBLICATIONS/PERIODICALS REFERRED TO IN THE NOVEL The number of each chapter of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' in which a News Publication / Periodical is referred to is given in parentheses. 6 news publications/periodicals are referred to in the novel.
FILM/TELEVISION Adaptations of the novel At least 15 Film / Television adaptations of ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' have either been released or are currently in production. These vary widely in their faithfulness to the original novel, with some versions updating the period in which the story is set, and some even altering the Gender of the story's Protagonist s. These are listed in Chronological order of release.
Other references to the novel
OTHER REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|