The Picture of Dorian Gray

By: Wilde, Oscar

Book Overview

Spellbound before his own portrait, Dorian Gray utters a fateful wish. In exchange for eternal youth he gives his soul, to be corrupted by the malign influence of his mentor, the aesthete and hedonist Lord Henry Wotton. The novel was met with moral outrage by contemporary critics who, dazzled perhaps by Wilde's brilliant style, may have confused the author with his creation, Lord Henry, to whom even Dorian protests, 'You cut life to pieces with your epigrams.'. Encouraged by Lord Henry to substitute pleasure for goodness and art for reality, Dorian tries to watch impassively as he brings misery and death to those who love him. But the picture is watching him, and, made hideous by the marks of sin, it confronts Dorian with the reflection of his fall from grace, the silent bearer of what is in effect a devastating moral judgement.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0866119981
• ISBN13: 9780866119986
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Playmore Publishers
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 8 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 6

Customer Reviews

Who wants to look young forever?

Basil, who up until now was a mediocre painter, after meeting Dorian Gray, a young Adonis, was inspired to create a masterpiece into which he puts himself. Against Basil's wishes, Basil’s friend Lord Henry influences Dorian Gray. Dorian looks at his portrait and realizes that while the portrait will stay young forever, he will grow old; so, Dorian makes a wish that if only he could stay young forever, the portrait could age. At first, Dorian does not realize his wish has been granted. He falls in love with a beautiful young actress who is every woman that Shakespeare ever wrote about. But once again due to Lord Henry's influence, he realizes that she is just a common girl. Starting with absent-minded acts, Dorian slowly sinks into debauchery. And with every new act, his picture becomes more grotesque while Dorian stays as young and innocent-looking as the day his picture was painted. What will become of Dorian? What will become of Dorian's painting? What would you do if you were Dorian? Oscar Wilde paints a picture himself as he describes Dorian Gray's dilemma. And we, as readers, travel with Dorian as each decision is made. In some places in the story, Oscar Wilde seems to drag on and on with detail; however, we find that this detail is necessary to set the next scene. Oscar Wilde himself led a risky life that led to a jail sentence; his attitude can be seen in the dialogue in this book.