The Picture of Dorian Gray

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

2. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) • Dublin, Ireland, Oct. 16, 1854 • Christened Oscar FingalO’Flahertie Wills Wilde • Sent to Portoro Royal School, then Trinity College in Dublin; unpopular because he loathed sports • Lazy student; wouldn’t make an effort to learn any subject he wasn’t interested in, like science and math; loved Greek literature • 1876 entered Oxford; went to London in 1880 • 1884 married Constance Lloyd • 1887 to 1889 editor of woman’s magazine • Published essays, short stories, and poems in various magazines • 1895-1897 was accused of homosexual behavior and sentenced to two years in prison • Died of meningitis (rare infection that affects the delicate membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord) on Nov. 30, 1900 • Wrote his masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest

3. The Picture of Dorian Gray • Oscar Wilde’s only novel published in 1891 • Genre – gothic, philosophical • Tone – sardonic (disdainfully mocking); dark • Setting – 1890s London • Point of View – 3rd person omniscient (one short paragraph that is 1st person where Wilde becomes the narrator) • Symbols – opium den, James Vane, the yellow book • Themes – purpose of art, supremacy of youth and beauty, surface nature of society, negative consequences of influence • Motifs – color of white, picture of Dorian Gray, homoerotic male relationships • Melodrama – everything is larger than life

4. More like a myth or morality tale • Contains so much dialogue that it is almost a written version of a stage play • Very similar to Faust – Lord Henry is the “devil” figure, and Dorian Gray is Faust; the portrait symbolizes Dorian’s soul or personal morality • Lord Henry tempts Dorian to indulge in an immoral lifestyle, carelessly disregarding the feelings of the people he seduces and then rejects • Dorian thinks that he can escape from the consequences of his own immoral life because the portrait will take the blame for him • Contains a moral ending that was expected in 19th century literature • Contains many epigrams (short witty sayings) filled with Wilde’s humour and wit – example: Lord Henry says, “I choose my friends for their beauty and my enemies for their intelligence. A man cannot be too careful in choosing his enemies.”