The Picture of Dorian Gray Summary, it is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. The novel-length version was published in April 1891.
The story revolves around a portrait of Dorian Gray painted by Basil Hallward, a friend of Dorian's and an artist infatuated with Dorian's beauty. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton and is soon enthralled by the aristocrat's hedonistic worldview: that beauty and sensual fulfillment are the only things worth pursuing in life. Newly understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied amoral experiences while staying young and beautiful; all the while, his portrait ages and visually records every one of Dorian's sins.
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| The Picture of Dorian Gray Book Summary |
The Picture of Dorian Gray Summary
One day in the idyllic summer days in the UK, a very rude and stubborn man named Lord Henry Wotton observed the sensitive and artistically sensitive young man Basil Hallward, and in the meantime he was getting creative with painting the portrait of Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray was the ideal of Basil Hallward in most of his works of art, and when Lord Henry and Dorian were sitting, he told him about the painting, he wanted this picture to be like an old one of him.
Dorian falls into the trap of Lord Henry's words, and day by day he becomes greedy and a lover of mischief. While watching one of Shakespeare's plays, he learns of a beautiful young actress named Sybil fine, and Dorian falls in love with her. By their turn, being a girl from a working-class theater that was known as a vile theater, she asked him to marry her, but her brother James threatened to kill Dorian if he hurt her. Bessel loved Dorian very much, she believed that he loved her for herself, and not for her acting performance or external appearance. She called him Prince Charming because he was so handsome.
After that, Dorian invited basil and Lord Henry to watch the play Romeo and Juliet, in which Sybil would perform, but when Sybil saw Dorian she was so overjoyed, that she did not know to perform her role. He was very embarrassed by Sybil's inability to act in front of his friends, and they told him that he loved her for her beauty.
After Dorian heard this, he went to Sybil and told her that he no longer wanted to marry her, and told her that acting was the only reason for her beauty, and he also told her that she no longer interested him. Upon returning home, he noticed that the picture that Basil had painted of him had changed, and with this his wish was fulfilled that the picture would be like an old picture of him, and the man in the picture seemed to carry a subtle irony of cruelty.
After some time, Dorian began to miss Sybil, and he wanted to reconcile with her, but Lord Henry told him that she had killed herself after he left her. Dorian then hides the picture, and over the next eighteen years, he experiments with all sorts of vices, influenced by a morally vile novel of French origin given to him by Lord Henry Wotton.
One day before he decided to leave for Paris, the French capital, Basil went to Dorian's House and asked him to see the picture, and when he saw the changes that had happened to her, Basil was very horrified, the picture was not the same as it was. So Basil learned the story of the picture, every time Dorian commits a vice, the picture changes and becomes very ugly, and here he asked Dorian to go to church to pray and pray for salvation for himself, it did not seem such a simple thing. But Dorian felt that Basil and the picture he painted were the reason for all the vice that was happening to him, and he stabbed him with a knife until he died.
After that, Dorian goes to one of his old friends, Scientist Alan Campbell, and blackmails him to use his knowledge of chemistry to destroy the body of Basil Hallward, whom Dorian killed. But then Alan killed himself. Because of the many crimes of Dorian and his desire to escape from them, Dorian went to the opium den, and James Vine, Sybil's brother, was hiding there. Since Sybil killed herself, James has been seeking revenge on Dorian, but he didn't know anything about him except his name, which his sister Sybil called him, Prince Charming.
When James saw who was the reason for his sister's death, he tried to kill Dorian, but Dorian was very cunning, he told him that he was too young to know a girl who killed herself eighteen years ago, he had a youthful face despite his advanced age. James believes Dorian, but then a woman approaches him from the opium den, scolds James for not killing Dorian, assures him that the man was Dorian Gray, James runs after him, but he goes.
James fine began a new pursuit of Dorian Gray, and Dorian was in great fear for his life. And one day, there was a country shooting party, and he was accidentally shot, and he died of it. And when Dorian heard about this, he returned to London, deciding to start a new life away from Vice, murder and crimes. And then he gets acquainted with a girl named Hetty Merton, and swears that he will take care of her and will not be a reason for her grief.
Having decided to be a virtuous person, Dorian goes to the room where he hid his portrait, which Basil painted for him, and wonders if it will change for the better, but sees a very ugly picture. And after that, he decides to stab the picture with the same knife with which he stabbed basil, to wake up everyone in the house to the sound of screaming from this room. And when a passerby was near the house, he heard a loud scream, called the police, and when the police came I saw the body of a decrepit old man and next to him a very beautiful picture of Dorian Gray, after which the police concluded that the body was the body of Dorian Gray.
Here he learned that Dorian Gray killed himself after all the crimes and vices he had committed, and after he repented and killed himself, the image returned to its original. He also knew that there was a demonic spirit that inhabited the image, and she was the reason for all his vices.
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| The Picture of Dorian Gray Summary |
Questions about The Picture of Dorian Gray Plot
What is the story of The Picture of Dorian Gray?
The work is an archetypal tale of a young man who purchases eternal youth at the expense of his soul. The story begins in the art studio of Basil Hallward, who is discussing a current painting with his witty and amoral friend Lord Henry Wotton.
What is the main point of The Picture of Dorian Gray?
The Picture of Dorian Gray provides both a standard 'Gothic' account of Dorian's actions – the supernatural picture and the lascivious ancestors gazing from their portraits – but also a forward-looking scientific rational for his depraved desires, namely the importance of inheritance in determining behaviour.
What kind of character is Dorian Gray?
Dorian Gray is a fictional character and the protagonist of Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. He is an aristocratic Victorian man.
What type of story is Dorian Gray?
Dorian Gray is a novel telling the rather Gothic story of a young man whom the book owes its name to. Dorian is introduced to the readers as being the adored subject of a painter named Basil Hallward who paints his best work in the opening chapters.
Why did Dorian want to destroy the picture?
The portrait reflects this hypocrisy and drives him to his final, desperate act. He decides it is better to destroy the last evidence of his sin—the painting of his soul—than face up to his own depravity. The depravity he seeks to destroy is, in essence, himself; therefore, by killing it, he kills himself.
Is Dorian a hero or villain?
Broadly, Dorian is an antihero in that his character, as M. H. Abrams and Geoffrey Harpham say, “is widely discrepant from that of the traditional protagonist.
Who is the protagonist in picture of Dorian Gray?
The protagonist is Dorian Gray, but he is ultimately not a very likeable character. He is also the antagonist as his actions destroy any chances he could have had at a happy life. Another antagonist is James Vane, the brother of Sibyl Vane whose suicide was caused by Dorian.
Why did Dorian become evil?
The charm of the youth is what made Dorian pure evil from the innocent man he was. Swayed by what Henry said, he wanted to grab on to his youth and that was where the tragedy happened. To want to become young again and to clutch on one's youth while one still has it is every person's desire.
Who was Dorian in love with?
Part of Dorian's love for Sybil Vane stems from her youth and beauty—traits that he also values in himself. Her youth and beauty seems all the more valuable and precious because it stands in opposition to the tragic heroines that she plays on stage.
Who did Dorian Gray marry?
That evening over dinner, Lord Henry announces to Basil Dorian's plan to marry Sibyl. Basil expresses concern that Dorian has decided to marry so far beneath his social position.