The genius of Oscar Wilde cannot be narrated in a few words. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in Lippincott's monthly magazine.
People did not receive the novel well; it was condemned and criticized. The readers called it immoral and indecent. It became so controversial that they had to stop selling it.
It has the 'Faustian' idea of selling the soul to the devil; here, a young man of 20 years of age sells his soul soon for eternal beauty.
Basil Haulwood paints a marvelous picture of Dorian Gray, a masterpiece of his young "Adonis," but does not want to exhibit it in the art gallery as it reveals too much of soul.
Through his maxims, epigrams, and wilful paradoxes, Lord Henry Wotton interests the reader with his dialogue.
He tells Dorian that his marvelous beauty is God-given and can be snatched away anytime; Time is jealous and will fade it over time.
Dorian is carried away by the thoughts of Lord Henry and makes a wish that instead of him, his picture should grow older.
He used to visit the theatre where he fell in love with a 16-year-old actress, Sibyl Vane, who used to play as Shakespearean Heroine like Juliet, Beatrice, Cordelia, Portia, Ophelia, Rosalind, Miranda, etc. Her mother and brother had warned her as she was too young to have fallen in love.
Once Dorian had invited both his friends, Henry and Basil, to the theatres to watch Sibyl play Juliet, she could not concentrate but only thought of her lover Dorian, whom she called 'Prince Charming.' She forgot the Romeo on stage. Dorian was furious with her callousness as he was much impressed by her talent of acting, but when he saw the thing he cared for missing, he met her backstage and said rude words to her, and left her forever crying. She promised him to be careful next time, but he did not listen to her. She was heartbroken.
The next day when Dorian woke up, he got the news of Sibyl's death from Henry; he felt guilty but then recovered, saying that the past cannot be changed. Basil was shocked to see the changed attitude of his young Dorian.
The picture started showing signs of age, wrinkles, hollow eyes and dry skin, and even symptoms of sins, which he did by being mean and selfish. He now only thought of himself and did sway away from morals, ethics. He shifted a painting in the remotest room and covered it so that no one saw it. He also hated the look of the painting.
Lord Henry had given him a 'Yellow Book' in which hedonistic pleasures were preferred over moral.
Years rolled by, and rumors were there about him and his misdoings, but when people looked at his young and innocent face could not believe it. He made the onlookers guilty.
"Sin is a thing which writes itself across a man's face."
Hour by hour, week by week, the picture on the canvas was growing old, and the signs of age and sins had made it very ugly.
Once Basil comes to meet him, Dorian takes him to the small room and uncovers the painting. Basil is shocked; he could not believe this was not the painting he had painted. Dorian accuses him of torturing him by making such a picture, and out of frustration and anger, he stabs Basil and kills him, leaves the dead body in the pool of blood, and finds a chemist friend to eradicate the remains of his sins.
Although Dorian has a bright face, untroubled demeanor, and marvelous youth, his conscience tortures him.
'Everyone has a heaven and hell within ourselves.'
He is so disturbed that he locks himself inside the same room one evening and stabs the picture with a knife. A loud horrendous shriek is heard outside, and people had to break the apartment the following day only to find an old, ugly dead body in the pool of blood and a picture of a young boy near it as if the colors were just painted.
Thus the novel ends pathetically; Dorian represents the youth who has a tormented soul with unrealistic desires and who lives a double life.
The novel is full of epigrams, witty dialogues, Aphorism, and allusions from various literary texts.
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