Musings: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Holy trippy Hell!  Oscar Wilde takes us through the opium dens of Victorian London in The Picture of Dorian Gray, and one can't help thinking that perhaps an opium dream was the inspiration for the book.

I have always thought of Oscar Wilde as a witty, upbeat, hilarious playwright who could skewer society with his words.  I realize now that he was much more than that.  This, his only, novel is a serious look at the nature of morality, the influences that play upon us and ultimately, how the way others perceive us and the way we perceive ourselves lead us down our life paths.

The Picture of Dorian Gray centers on a painting.  Basil Hallward, an up-and-coming painter, does a portrait of his muse, Dorian Gray, and it is the greatest masterpiece the man has ever made.  Hallward has put his soul into it, and the painting is an extension of him and his ideals.  He wants always to think of Dorian as he is in that painting- pure, untainted, young and beautiful.  But Dorian has met and fallen under the spell of Hallward's friend Lord Henry Wotton, who believes that life is not about morality or goodness, but about the pursuit of pleasure in all its forms.  In a fit of temper, Dorian becomes jealous of his portrait, complaining that the portrait will always stay beautiful and young and perfect, while he ages and withers.  He wishes that he could switch places with the portrait- that he can stay young and fresh forever, while the painting shows all the destructive forces of age and vice.  He soon finds that his wish came true, and readers must watch and learn exactly what happens when a man is able to do whatever he wants, leading a truly Victorian double life, without the consequences of that lifestyle ever being visible upon his body.

I didn't realize until I was in the middle of this novel just how Gothic it is in tone.  Like many Gothic novels (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein), it describes the conflict within one character to balance the true desire to be a gentleman against the baser instincts of depravity.  This theme seems particularly fitting to describing the life of a Victorian man of leisure, who faced such stringent codes of conduct in society, and then often escaped those in brothels, drugs and other duplicitous activity.  Beauty, too, is so important in this novel.  Beauty trumps nearly everything else, with Dorian himself seeming like a Greek god who devotes himself to learning as much as he can about jewels, masterpieces of literature, music, tapestries and the like.  And because he learns so much about these lovely topics, and because he himself is so witty and handsome, he is able to keep his societal standing even as he sinks lower and lower into depravity.

There are many other themes that jump out of this novel, often described in great detail through Lord Henry.  Some of these passages ran on a little too long for my liking, especially the dozen pages or so describing every single one of Dorian's reactions to a little yellow book that Lord Henry gives him, or the pages telling us in serious detail every single piece of beautiful art that Dorian devoted himself to.  WE GET IT.

What really kept my interest throughout this novel was Wilde's writing style.  Not for him are the fainting ladies and distraught gentlemen that populate most Gothic fiction.  No, at the center of his novel is a thoroughly self-absorbed man who has been corrupted by the influence of others and finds that he greatly enjoys life on the precipice.  Dorian Gray is completely repulsive to me, but why?  We don't actually get any of the juicy details on most of the things that he did.  Deflowered virgins, I assume.  Took a great many male lovers.  Bankrupted some, blackmailed others.  All despicable acts, but they are only hinted at in the story, none is described at all.  Instead, we get vague mentions and the proof of a portrait becoming more and more hideous, and the company of a man who seems not to care or notice the destruction he wreaks.  It's like the literary version of gaper's delay.  You just can't help watching.

While the characters in this book fascinated me, I can't say I liked them much.  The cynicism and heavy boredom present throughout were just too much for me, and I couldn't help feeling that everyone in this story was just utterly spoiled and unable to find useful ways in which to occupy themselves.  It was a great study in psychology, and a fascinating idea, but I am glad I don't have to spend any more time with these characters!