hello and welcome to a video summarizing all you need to know about the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde my name is Barbara and in this video we'll begin by looking at the novel itself we'll start by examining a little bit about context especially relating to the author Oscar Wilde himself and also the reviews and the reception of this novel when it was first published in the 1800s we'll then examine the novel firstly examining the plot on the whole before examining the summary of each chapter of the novel and we will end by looking at themes that are really important that and you need to be aware of if you're studying this novel for your exams or your coursework so let's get started now the Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical fantasy novel by Doug by Oscar Wilde and it was first published in 1890 by Lippincott's Monthly Magazine however the editors feared the story was indecent so the magazine's editor deleted roughly 500 words before publishing it without wild knowledge and despite this censorship this book still offended the moral sensibilities of a lot of British book reviewers at the time and some even said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating laws regarding public morality although Walt did defend his novel as well as his art he did make some excisions which means he also sends at some parts before revising and lengthening the story for publication in the following year which is 1891 now of course to understand this book you need to understand a little bit about the author himself so Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 and he was very flamboyant and he was seen as very witty he was of course a playwright a poet and a critic he went to Trinity College in Oxford and he then became a famous proponent of asceticism which is a controversial theory of art which we'll look at in some detail and of course his best-known book is the Picture of Dorian Gray he published this first-year novel in 1890 and this is when he fell in love with a much younger man called lord alfred douglass and of course this really colors our perception of Dorian Gray himself and as of course his relationship with basil Hallward and Lord Henry Oscar Wilde himself began a double life and he won lots of fame and fortune with his three huge full successful comedies Lady Windermere's Fan and Idol husband and in importance of Being Earnest however he led a double life and he secretly spent time in male brothels in his famous letter to Lord Alfred Douglass he said that the danger was half of the excitement of leading the secret life now in 1895 Douglass's father the Marquis of Queensbury accused wild of being a sodomite Wilde sued him for libel however he lost and he was subsequently seen as guilty of gross indecency this led him to spend two years in prison and when he was released he then ended up going to Paris and he spent his final years there and he died in 1900 and he was aged 46 so he had ultimately a tragic ending due to sexuality now broadly speaking when you thinking about Dorian Gray the story begins in the art studio of basil Hallward who's discussing a current painting with his witty amoral friend Lord Henry Wotton Henry thinks at the painting a portrait of a very extraordinarily beautiful young man should be displayed however basil disagrees and he fears that his obsession with the portrait subject Dorian Gray can be seen in this work so he doesn't want to reveal this because this potentially could reveal his own soul Dorian then arrives and he's fascinated as Henry explains his belief that one should live life to the fullest by indulging in one's impulses in other words living a very Hellenistic life memory also points out that beauty and youth are fleeting and Dorian declares that he would really give his soul if his portrait were to grow old and wrinkled whilst he remained young and handsome basil then gives a paint into jewelry and as a gift henry decides to make to take on rather the project of mold in Dorian's personality and a few weeks later Dorian tells Henry that is fallen in love with the mattress called servo vain because of her great beauty and acting talent he invites Henry and basil to go with him to a very dingy theater to see Sibyl perform however her performance is terrible so bull then explains to Dorian that now she knows what real love is she can't pretend to be on not on stage and of course this is what Rob's her of her acting talent Doren is repulsed by this and he wants nothing further to do with her and when he gets home he sees a really cruel expression on the face of his portrait and so he decides to seek Sybil's forgiveness because he felt some remorse however the next day he finds out that Sibyl has committed suicide and Lord Henry convinces Dorian that there's no reason that Dorian should feel badly about this Dorian then feeling guilty and somehow in cut inculcated and this removes the portrait and places it in his attic which she shots Henry then sends Dorian a book that he finds poisonous and fascinating under this book's influence Dorian spends the next 18 years of his life in the pursuit of capricious excess and he becomes increasingly drawn to evil and self-indulgence Dorian does frequently visit this portrait which is hidden away noting the signs of agingg and corruption that appear on the portrait however he himself remains unblemished he seems perfect and beautiful one evening Dorian does run into basil several years later and basil tells him that they're rumors that he's destroyed the lives and reputations of very many people Dorian however refuses to accept any blame and basil declares that he really doesn't know Dorian who responds by taking him to the Attic to see this portrait that basil had created the painting has become horrifying and basil tells story on that if this is a reflection of his soul he must repent and pray for forgiveness and a very suddenly enraged Dorian murders basil Dori and then blackmails another friend into disposing his body later Dorian then goes into an opium den where Sybil's vengeful brother James finds him however the fact that Dorian still appears quite young dis awaits him from acting on his anger however somebody else who works in the den later tells James Dorian's age James realizes that he's been misled at a subsequent hunting party Dorian's Country Estate one of the hunters accidentally shoots and kills James who was hiding in a thicket some weeks later Dorian tells Henry that he's decided to become virtuous and recently decided against taking advantage of another young girl he was spittin it smitten with him Dorian goes to see if the portrait has improved because of his honourable Act but he sees its acquired a look of cunning he ultimately decides to destroy this portrait and he stabs it with a knife his servants hear a scream and when they arrive they see a loathsome old man who's done in the floor with a knife in his chest and now in place the portrait has a beautiful young man who he once was now to go into a chapter by chapter summary of this novel because of course it's really important to understand what happens in each chapter so let's begin with chapter 1 this chapter of course as mentioned before opens in the London studio of basil Hallward who's an artist reclining with him and smoking a cigarette is Lord Henry he also refers to his Harry basil is finishing a portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty and Henry praises this portrait as Basil's best work to Henri surprise however basil states that he won't share it anywhere and the novel says I've put too much of myself into it of course there are homoerotic themes and undertones underneath this basil tries to keep the painting subject a secret from Lord Henry however he accidentally declared discloses that the beautiful young man's name is Dorian Gray basil admits that he prefers to keep favorite people to himself not even telling others their names because he feels he might at least part of them even when he when basil takes a trip he keeps the destination private and this is a revelation that becomes important much later in the story basil does have some secrecy to him little basil rather Lord Henry except he understands however he seems more interested in Basil's reason for not exhibiting the portrait and basil responds that any painting done with true feeling for his muse reveals more of the artist than he does than it does the subject and he fairs this painting will reveal the secret of his own soul buzz explains how he met Dorian at lady Brandon's home he felt terror upon first seeing Dorian because he sense that the young man's personality was so powerful and electric that it could absorb basil himself and of course he was correct more important Dorian inspires a fresh approach in art in basil and it allows him to introduce the best work of his professional life because basil worries that the public will detect his personal and artistic adultery of grey he refuses to exhibit the portrait and this echoes a basic tenet of aestheticism that an artist should create beautiful work for its own sake and art really shouldn't mean anything when Lord Henry expresses his desire to meet grey Basel explains that he wants to keep Dorian and the painting hidden away so that Lord Henry doesn't corrupt them however at that moment a butler enters and announces the arrival of Dorian and Lord Henry laughs that they must meet now before entering the studio where Dorian is waiting basil asks and in some ways pleads for Lord Henry not to influence or take away the person who inspires him as an artist in Chapter two that this chapter begins as basil and Lord Henry enter the studio when Lord Henry meets Dorian he notices Dorian is so handsome and the novel says all the candour of youth was air as all these passionate purity Doreen is intrigued by Lord Henry and he's intrigued that he might be a bad influence despite Basil's own wishes that he has nothing to do with him Lord Henry responds prophetically with one of his aphorisms as a novel says there's no such thing as a good influence mr. gray all influences immoral that is to influence someone is to alter their view and indelibly corrupt them with your own view Dorian senses as a novel says entirely fresh influences which work within him and whilst basil asked Lord Henry to go Dorian himself begs him to stay Dorian wants to try not to think however but Lord Henry influences him he then manages to convince Lord Henry to stay in spite of Basil's refusal and we find that Lord Henry starts to really heavily influence Dorian through his discussion he tells the man that the only census I can cure the soul just as the soul is the only remedy for the senses speaking at length from the virtues of youth and beauty Lord Henry claims that beauty is a form of genius and he urges Dorian to be selfish with his youth while he is while he has it and seek what he calls a new hedeman hedonism elevating the pursuit of pleasure and dominate to a dominating level for Lord Henry youth and beauty are the finest of treasures and they should be cherished Dorian is frightened however he's also stirred by Lord Henry's speech and of course this speech is a turning point which starts to infect Dorian hism himself and with his mindset it's lost taken away his innocence basil interrupts a nossa to to rejoin him at the studio so that he can finish the portrait of Dorian and once Dorian looks at this painting he's quite moved as he sees himself for the first time and he recognizes his beauty he envies the figure and the painting this painting that will forever remain beautiful while he grows old and we find that durian becomes quite terrified of aging and he hopes and he repeats his wish that the portrait might aged while he remains yumps of course this is when a supernatural element is infused basil accuses Lord Henry of causing all this turmoil within Dorian however Lord Henry says that he's merely brought forth the true Dorian from within basil then decides to destroy the portrait or rather than have it upset the lives of the men however Dorian stops him and after a sense of calm is restored Henry invites Dorian to join him at the theater in the evening and of course basil ends up giving Dorian the portrait as a gift now in Chapter three it's half past noon the next day Lord Henry calls on his uncle Lord Firma to learn more a little bit about Dorian's heritage his uncle is a delightful old curmudgeon he's wealthiest and according very knowledgeable about everyone else's business especially in high society and he and Lord Henry divulge into Dorian's past we learned that Dorian is a grandson of Lord Kelso and Kelso's daughter Margaret Devereux and Lady Margaret was an extremely beautiful man who was displeased who displeased her father rather by marrying beneath her as she married a penniless low-level soldier as load firma recalls Kelso his her father also hired some Belgian brute to insult her husband and lure him into a duel for which she was killed and Lady Margaret however was pregnant with Dorian she died within a year or so of the duel and kelsa also ultimately died and left his fortune to Dorian the mother also had money of her own so we learned that Dorian is very well off financially Dorian then attends a luncheon and he meets Lord Henry again and whilst Lord Henry Damon it's a conversation delighting the audience he says I can sympathize with everything except suffering we're done of course that Lord Henry is a devout esthetic he wants people to sympathize with beauty the use of color and the joy of life and nothing else tan ageing Duchess at the party Lord Henry suggests to get to back to one's youth one has merely to repeat ones follies and he launches into a triumphant monologue in praise of folly which echoes his speech - Dorian the day before Basil's gout garden and after the luncheon Lord Henry and Dorian leave together now in chapter 4 a month later Dorian waits for Lord Henry in Henry's library at Mayfair his sake annoyed until someone at the door interrupts his mood and it's Lord not Lord Henry but his wife Lady Henry is familiar with Dorian having seen Lord Henry's photographs of the young man and having noticed Dorian with Lord Henry recently at the Opera in her brief if parents Lady Henry seems as witty as a husband and equally indifferent towards convention Lord Henry then enters complaining about the hours he spent trying to bargain for a piece of elegant fabric and after lady Henry leaves he comments lightly on the disappointments of marriage and volunteer and volunteers that he doubts he'll ever marry because he's too much in love with an actress named Sibyl vane he recounts his discovery of Sybil in an absurd Little Theatre in the East End of London which of course at the time was seen as a very run-down area that gentlemen were not supposed to frequent Dorian said that he'd gone out one evening to seek adventure recalling Henry's advice in search of beauty and in front of the theatre he recalls that there was as a novel says hideous Jew named mr. Isaac Dorian was so amused this man that he paid an entire Guinea which is currency for a private theater box where he witnessed Sibyl vane with play Romeo and Juliet and he was so entranced by her magnificent performance that he was immediately smitten Lord Henry then after hearing this offers a few skeptical remarks about Dorian's dramatic description of his newfound love however he doesn't oppose his young friends choice to love the actress Doreen is concerned that Lord Henry will assume that all actresses are horrid people and he invites him to go and watch Sibyl perform the lovestruck Dorian again continues talking about his meeting with Sibyl vane who is immediately dubbed him Prince Charming because he then goes backstage and we learn that he meets this actress as during grade are vultures of his love for Sylvain we find that Lord Henry observes this in a very detached way he seems quite detached about Dorian's romance however he agrees to meet Dorian and basil for dinner and to go later to see Sibyl vane in a play Dorian then leaves for the theatre and Lord Henry muses in this situation we learn as the novel says that he filled not the slightest pang of annoyance or jealousy that Sibyl may intervene in their growing friendship but rather these new developments make his protege a more interesting study in the evening he goes off to find Dorian and we also learn at the end of this chapter that Dorian has announced to him that he is engaged to be married and he announces this through a telegram now in Chapter five we learn a little bit more about Sibyl vane will find her and her mother discussing the girls relationship with this prince charming and Sibyl seems really elated and wants her mother to share her joy as she's in love however we find that mrs. vane her mother is far more realistic and cynical and somewhat down-to-earth she wants her daughter to think of her career the situation is complicated by the fact that the veins Oh mr. Isaac's the Jewish man fifty pounds which is a great deal of money and miss vane wishes for Sibyl to pay off this debt it seems that Sibyl has the enthusiasm of an innocent seventeen-year-old and one of Wilde's more effective metaphors he says that the joy of a caged bird was within her voice civil doesn't care any more about mr. mr. eyes acts or money or she cares about is her prince charming we'll also meet civil 16 year old brother James who's set to sell for Australia and he enters a room and he's really angry towards London towards England's class system and towards the life that they live mrs. vane feels ill and at ease around her son faring that he might suspect some secret that she keeps however Sybil is more girlish sweet and innocent and she seems that he's delighted that he's still around and they go off for a walk where she diverges to him about the person who she loves we find that during the walk in the park where after they've left the mother James are still very brooding and angry while Sybil tells him about her prince charming and she fantasizes out loud somewhat in a childlike manner about the great success that her brother will be after going to Australia James who cares about this Prince Charming hates him and he hates them the more because he's a gentleman from the upper class James then warns her sister that the man wants to enslave her and he repeatedly threatens that he will kill him if anything bad comes to Sybil as a result and of course this foreshadows what will eventually happen we find that James is especially angry that Dorian suddenly passes through the park in an open carriage but only Sybil actually sees him he's also angry with his mother and at the theater one night months before he'd heard a whispered snare about her after James and said we'll return from the walk James confronts his mother he wants to know that if he if she and his father were actually married there's then a very melodramatic scene and mrs. vane essentially tells him that they didn't marry James accuses their father of being a scoundrel however his mother defends the man she knew that he wasn't free when she got involved with him he was a gentleman James uses this to insist that Sibyl should not be with this suitor her gentlemen and he continues to repeat that he will track down this gentleman caller and kill him like a dog if he runs Sybil now in Chapter six this is a transitional shop Jones one of the shortest in the books the setting for this chapter is a small private dining room at Bristol and Lord Henry greets basil as he enters and then immediately asks as vidz heard that Dorian is engaged to be married basil is really stunned at this information and Lord Henry tells him that he will be marrying an actress vassal seems genuinely upset at this news he seems quite incredulous firstly because this woman that he's supposedly marrying is from a different cloth to him however of course we find that he is unhappy because Dorian hadn't told him however Lord Henry seems to be somewhat more passive about it and he explains to basil that life is not for really making such judgments every experiences of some worth he suggests and maybe Dora might be even more interesting if he marries for Lord Henry the problem with marriage is more often than not it makes people unselfish and then some in unselfish people lose the individuality for Lord Henry the purpose of life is to know oneself in a very selfish way Dorian then Allah arrives and we find that he's giddy with love he's looking forward to this performance at Sybil he talks about the previous night when civil played Rosalind in Shakespeare's as you like it and how mercerized he was and backstage after the performance he says that the lovers unexpectedly kiss Sibyl trembling and she fell to her knees and kissed Dorian's hands he's delighted that they're engaged however Dorian ends his recollection by stating almost boasting that he had embraced Rosalind and kissed Julia on the mouth both characters whom Sibyl played and we find that perhaps his in love would the ideal that Sybil represents rather than Sybil the woman herself Basel seems overwhelmed at all of this information however Lord Henry behaves like a shrewd lawyer he asks specific things about marriage however subtly he doesn't seem to be too invested in Dorian's story Dorian is upset at the insinuation that perhaps Lord Henry doesn't necessarily believe that the marriage will work even if there hasn't been a formal proposal he seems to believe that him and Sibyl were destined to be together they then leave for the theater now in chapter 7 both or rather all three men arrive in the theatre and the theater is crowded with Dorian basil and Lord Henry as well as other guests when Sybil appears on stage she's performing as Juliet however her performance is lackluster even if Lord Henry believes her to be a beautiful creature all three men find that her performance is listless and artificial in fact her performance is awful we also see that Dorian appears really disgusted and somewhat embarrassed by Sable's acting and Lord and Lord Henry and basil leave as does half of the audience however Dorian sits through the entire play once the plays finished Sibyl seems overjoyed at her dismal performance and expects Dorian to understand that she can no longer act because she's actually found true love in her real life she intended to be outstanding but because Doreen has taught her what love really is she can no longer fake love in her stories however Dorian is quite cold and his response is filled with disgust the novel says he says you've killed my love we learned that Dorian loved her because she was a great performer however now he finds her very shallow and stupid and he can barely stand her Sybil is distraught by his sudden shift even if she apologizes and pleads withdrawing to give her another chance Dorian doesn't listen to her he storms out and leaves her crying hysterically Dorian is annoyed with Sybil and he wanders the streets till near dawn then returns home once he gets in he passes through his library towards his bedroom however he notices and becomes disturbed by the fact that the portrait of that basil painted of him has shifted it slightly changed and what we learn is that the portrait has a look of Cruelty around the mouth he suddenly feels some remorse and he recalls the wish he made earlier a basil studio that the portrait might change and he might not he wasn't sure that this wish could ever be fulfilled however we find that he has indeed unwittingly entered into a Faustian pact this cruel lines around the mouth show Dorian that perhaps he might have been cruel to Sybil however he convinces himself that he's not to blame for the situation Sybil is to blame because she disappointed him with her terrible performance eventually however he convinces himself that Sybil hadn't really loved him and he concludes that he doesn't need to be concerned about her at all and then he goes to sleep we also learned that Dorian is more concerned about the change portrait than Sybil herself and then Sybil's own feelings it occurs to Dorian that every sin he commits will be reflected in the face of the canvass he vows never to sin again so that the painting like himself will never change thus he vows not to change not because of the morality of the action but more because he doesn't want to see the shift in the painting so we find that as a novel progresses of course he becomes increasingly narcissistic now in Chapter 8 that afternoon Dorian wakes up very late and we find that he's received a lot letter from Lord Henry above a sets aside without opening it later Dorian wonders of his portrait has really changed or he was seeing things because of how late he was he builds up the courage and finds his portrait which he had hidden behind a screen and he realizes the portrait has changed and he remembers the events of the night before this altered portrait forces Dorian technology his cruelty to Sylvain and he decides that he's going to beg her for forgiveness he writes a letter to her and as he finishes writing the letter he feels absolved of any cruelty to Sibyl later on Lord Henry Knox at the library door and insists on speaking to Dorian he seems unusually consoling but advisers Dorian not to dwell on the situation concerning Sibyl which is dreadful Dorian hasn't yet read this letter and he's very confused he then tells Lord Henry of his plans to make amends and marry Sibyl Lord Henry then is quite agitated and asks the Dorian has received his letter during it Betsy did but he hasn't read it and Lord Henry breaks the news to him that Sibyl vane is dead Dorian is in shock and he learns that at about half past midnight the previous night Sybil and Hamada were leaving better she excused herself saying she'd left something however she didn't return people curious went back to find where she was and they find that she was dead from ingesting poison Lord Henry a pest concerned however he's not so much concerned about civil beans own suicide but with keeping Dorian out of the scandal and the asked story and to spend the evening with him at the Opera so that the unpleasantness of this suicide doesn't get into Dorian's nerves Lord Henry need not be concerned about Dorian's nerves as Dorian admits that he murdered Sybil he appears to say in a very detached manner that the whole affair seems to as the novel says wonderful for tears it's interesting that instead of feeling remorse over Sybil's death Dorian muses that his first love letter was written to a dead girl with an only a few seconds he concludes that Sibyl suicide was very selfish of her he leaves them without the guidance that marriage to her might have provided Lord Henry then offers several several glib comments a marriage specifically on what a disaster marriage would have been Dorian then wonders why he can't fill a tragedy as much as he thinks he should and wonders if he's heartless to him the death of Sibyl seems like as a novel says a wonderful ending to a wonderful play Lord Henry then finds exquisite pleasure in playing on his unconscious egotism and he's pleased to extend a small he reassures Dorian that he isn't heartless the experience has indeed been like a brilliant play and that's how Dorian should regard the matter Dorian then confesses that he's fought everything that Lord Henry said that he was afraid to admit which is to do with indulging in his own pleasures and indulging in his own hidden istic desires assured by his mentor Lord Henry that his extraordinarily good looks will present him with a rich life Dorian thanks him and calls him his best friend Lord Henry leaves and then Dorian checks a portrait which hasn't changed since early that day the portrait registers the events that happen during wishes he could actually observe it changing and for a moment he feels some remorse towards Sibyl but he brushes the feeling away vowing to go on and seek as a novel says eternal youth infinite passion and pleasures subtle and secret while joys and Wilder sins now in Chapter nine basil the next day comes to offer his condolences to Dorian but it seems that Dorian is very callous and he's dismissed the memory of Sibyl quite lightly and he remarks what's done is done what his fast is fast basil was horrified at this change and he blames Lord Henry for Dorian's heartless attitude indeed in discussing Sybil's death Dorian uses some many of the same phrases and arguments that Lord Henry offers when Dorian refuses to acknowledge any kind of remorse or any kind of responsibility Vasil asks if he is displeased with this portrait which basil wants to share at an exhibition now when basil wishes to see this portrait and he goes on to remove the screen with which Dorian has covered it Dorian's composure cracks he insists that the work can never appear in public and pledges never to speak to basil again should he touch the screen remembering Basil's original refusing to draw to show the painting Dorian asks why it's changed his mind and basil confessed that he was worried that the painting would reveal his obsession with Dorian now however basil believes that the painting mark all art conceals the artist for more completely than it ever reveals him basil asked Dorian to sit for him but during again refuses and when basil relieves Dorian decides to hide his portrait now in chapter 10 once basil is gone Dorian orders his servant Victor to go to a nearby frame-maker and bring back two men he then calls his housekeeper mrs. leaf and asks for a key to an unused schoolroom which is at the top of the house during covers a portrait with an ornate satin coverlet and when the to fray makers arrive they help him go and put it upstairs which he hides it durin then locks the painting the room any returns the study settles down to read a book that Lord Henry has sent him this book is described as a yellow book and it's accompanied by a newspaper account of Sybil's death horrified by the ugliness of the report Dorian turns to the book which traces the life of the young Parisian who devotes his life to as the novel says all the passions and modes of thought that belonged to every century except his own after reading a few pages during his entranced he finds the work to be a poisonous book one that confuses the boundaries between vice and virtue when Dorian later meets Henry for dinner he pronounces that the work is fascinating now in Chapter 11 under the influence of this yellow book that Lord Henry has sent him Dorian's characters start Leah starts to begin to change he orders nearly half a dozen copies of these first edition and has them bound in different colors to suit his shifting mood years pass and Dorian remains a young and beautiful however he's trailed by rumors that he indulges in dark sordid behavior most people however can't help but dismiss a story since Julian's face retains an unblemished lack of purity and innocence which of course highlights Victorian hypocrisy whatever appears to be in the surface is what's accepted Dorian delights in the ever widening gulf between the beauty of his body and the corruption of his soul and he reflects that too much human experience has been sacrificed to asceticism and pledges to live a life devoted to discovering the true nature of the senses always intellectually curious he keeps up with the theories of the day for mysticism - Darwinism however he never lets his theories dominate him or interfere with his experiences durian also devotes himself to the study of beautiful things perfumes and the psychological effects music jewelry embroideries and tapestries he also continues to watch the painted image of himself aged and deteriorate sometimes the sight of the portrait fills in with our horror whilst at other times he reflects joyfully on the burdens that his body has been spared however he increasingly fears that someone will break into his house and steal the painting he knows many when whisper of a scandal behind his back and they would delight in his downfall now in Chapter 12 on the eve of his 38th birthday Dorian runs into basil on a fog covered street some time has passed and the two men have not seen each other and Dorian tries to pass him unrecognized but basil recognizes him and calls him and accompanies him home basil mentions that he's about to leave for a six-month stay in Paris but felt it necessary to stop by a man Dorian that terrible rumors are being spread about his conduct he reminds Dorian that there's no such thing as secret vices sin he claims rats herself across a man's face having said these words basil demands to know why so many of Dorian's friendships have ended so disastrously basil then chaste Assizes Dorian his influence over these unfortunate people that he's been involved with and urges him to use his considerable power and his upper-class status for good rather than evil and he loudly wonders whether he knows Dorian at all and wishes he were able to see the man saw Dorian lost bitterly at this and tells the artist he shall have this wish he invites him to show - you invited basil rather to show him his life in Chapter 13 durian leads basil to the room where he keeps the painting locked inside durin then lights a candle as he takes them into where he's hidden his art and he tears back the curtain to reveal the portrait which is now hideous basil stares at it and he is horrified and durian stands back and watches basil with as a novel says a flicker of triumph in his eyes when basil asks how such a thing as possible durian reminds him of the fateful day that he met Lord Henry whose cautionary words about that if a mayoral nature of beauty caused him to pledge his soul for eternal unblemished use basil curses the painting as an awful lesson believing he worshiped is a youth too much and is now being punished for it he begs Dorian to kneel and pray for forgiveness but during claims it's too late glancing at his picture Dorian feels hatred welling up within him he seizes a knife and stabs basil repeatedly killing him he then hides his belongings and body in a secret compartment and then slips out quietly after a few moments he returns home he wakes the servant and creates an impression that he's been out all night and the servant reports back to him that basil has been to visit however Dorian pretends that he's sorry to have missed him so that he can have an alibi now in chapter 14 the next morning Dorian wakes up from a very restful sleep once the events of the previous night sink in he feels the return of all of his hatred for basil he decides not to brood on things he for fear of making himself ill or mad and after breakfast he sends for Allen Campbell he's a young scientist and a formal friend from whom his growing distance while waiting for Campbell to arrive he passes the time of the book of poems true flattens one's intimate relationship with the science scientist we learned that he and Alan Campbell were at one point inseparable he also draws pictures and reflects on his drawing similarity to Basil's likeliness Dorian then wonders if Campbell will come and is relieved from the South servant announces his arrival Alan Campbell however has come reluctantly having been summoned on a matter of life and death during confesses to him that is a dead man locked in the uppermost room of his house he refrains from discussing the circumstances of the man's death however he asks Campbell to use his knowledge of chemistry to destroy the body first Campbell refuses and he reiterates that he has no interest in being involved however Dorian blackmails him threatening to reveal secret that will bring great disgrace on him with no alternative Campbell agrees to dispose of the body and he sends a servant to his home for the necessary scientific equipment during goes upstairs to cover the portrait and notices that one of the hands on the painting is dripping with red and the novel says as though the canvas has sweated blood Campbell then goes upstairs after the painting has been covered and he works until the evening and leaves when Dorian returns to the room the body is gone and the odor of nitric acid fills the room now in Chapter 15 that evening during ghosa dinner party where he flirts with bored noble women reflecting on his calm demeanor he feels keenly the terrible pleasure of the novel says a double life lady Narborough that hostess discusses the sad life of her daughter who leaves in the region of the countryside that was not witnessed kind of scandal since the time of Queen Elizabeth Dorian finds the party tedious and brightens only when he learns Lord Henry will be in attendance during dinner after Lord Henry's arrived Dorian finds it impossible to eat Lord Henry asks him what the matter and they do not press suggests that Dorian perhaps is in love however Dorian assures her that she is wrong the party goes and took Whitley about marriage and Lord Henry and Dorian discuss a party to be held at Dorian's country estate Lord Henry then casually asks about Dorian was whereabouts the night before and Dorian's calm facade cracks a little bit and he snaps out a strange defensive response he then decides to go home early once Dorian arrives home he retrieves Basil's four longings from the wall compartment and burns them he goes an ornate cabinet and opening one of its drawers draws out a canister of opium at midnight he dresses in common clothes and high as a coach to bring him to a London neighborhood where the city's opium dens are now in chapter 16 as a coach heads out towards the opium den Dorian recites him to himself Lord Henry's credo to cure the soul by means of the senses and the senses by the means of the soul he decides that if you can't be forgiven by sins he can at least forget them and herein lies a pill of the appian dens and a oblivion that the promise the coach stops in Dorian exits he enters the squalid den and finds someone called Adrian singleton whom the rumor says Doyle Dorian corrupted as Dorian prepares to leave a woman addresses him as the devil's bargain and Prince Charming at these words a sailor leaps to his feet and follows door into the street as he walks along Dorian wonders whether he should fold the guilty for the impact he's had on Adrian Singleton's life yet another person who's he's damaged his meditation however is cut short when he sees from behind and held at gunpoint he faces James vane Sybil's rather he's been tracking him for years in hopes of avenging his sister's death James doesn't know Dorian's name however the reference to Prince Charming makes him decide that he must be the man who wronged her sister during points are however that the man James speaks the Sikhs was in love with Sybil 18 years ago since he Dorian has the face of a 20 year old man he possibly cannot be the man that wrong to Sybil James fault releases him and makes his way back to the opium den the old woman when he returns tells James that Dorian has been coming there for 18 years and his face was never aged a day all his life furious at letting Dorian escape James resolves to hunt him down now going on to chapter 17 and 18 one week has passed and Dorian has retreated to his country estates Alvie royal his guests include the beautiful duchess of monmouth called gladys her older boring and somewhat jaded husband lady Marlborough whose old and flirtatious and Lord Henry the conversation a takes place in this party is very light and superficial and Lord Henry wants to re christen and rename some things especially flowers beautiful objects should have beautiful names he says the Duchess asks what a new name Lord Henry shall have and Dorian immediately announces appropriately Prince paradox the Duchess then trust flirt with Dorian and he excuses himself to fetch her some of his orchids lord henry lightheartedly warns Duchess about loving Dorian suddenly the group has a muted groan in the sound of a heavy fall Lord Henry rushes to find that Dorian has fainted when Dorian wakes up he refuses to be alone despite his condition he joins the others at dinner and tries to add Johnny however every so every so often Terra shoots through him as he recalls why he fainted he saw James vane observing him through a window Dorian spent some Nexus most of the next day in his room feeling hunted and stalked and sick with fear of death he alternates between the certainty of punishment and an equal certainty that the wicked received no such fate in the world he can lose that the only morality is the success of the strong and the failure of the weak and the third day Dorian finally goes out he decided that he imagined James's face at the window after breakfast his strolls in the garden with the Duchess for an hour then he joins her brother Sir Geoffrey Colston and others who are shooting birds a hare bursts forth and Sir Geoffrey and aims but Dorian so admires the beauty and grace the animal that he cries let us live Lord Geoffrey finds Dorian's peace silly and fires of the hair as it jumps into a thicket two sounds come from the bush the cry of her hair and the cry of a man we then learned that a dead body is poured from the brush Lord Henry recommends calling off the hunt of the day Dorian wants to cancel this hideous and cruel hunt for good he fears that this death is a bad omen Lord Henry however laughs at his concern saying that anything harp on life is boredom there are no omens in his room during lies and terror at the sofa later he calls a servant and tells him to pack he will leave 8:32 cash as night Express to London Thornton Durin's chief gamekeeper however enters with startling news the dead man can't be identified he wasn't one of the beaters at all the people who were supposed to be working there in fact he seems to be a sailor who was armed the gun Dorian brought then rushes to where the body is and he identifies it as James vanes and he feels safe at last 9:00 chapter 19 several weeks have passed and Dorian visits Lord Henry he claims he wants to reform himself and become virtuous as evidence for his newfound resolve he describes a recently recent trip he went to the country during which he passed up an opportunity to seduce and defile and innkeepers innocent daughter hood Henry dismisses Dorian's intentions to reform and he turns the conversation to other subjects for instance alan campbell's recent suicide the man that had helped during great dispose of Basil's body and also he discusses the continued mystery of basil hallward's disappearance Dorian asks of Lord Henry has ever considered that basil might have been murdered Lord Henry dismisses this idea noting that basil lacked any enemies the conversation then drifts away from basil Lord hairy arse Dorian what does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose how does the quotation one his own soul Dorian starts nervously however Lord Henry explains that he heard a street preacher present this question to a crowd he mocked this preacher in typical fashion and Dorian cuts him short insisting that the soul is very well Lord Henry lost the suggestion wondering aloud how Dorian has managed to remain so young after all this years he wishes a new door in secret and praises Dorian's life is being exquisite he commends Dorian's mode of living and begs him not to spoil it by trying to be virtuous however Dorian is sober and his somebody asks his friend not to learn anyone else this yellow book which had a corrupting effect on his own character before leaving Lord Henry and vise Dorian to visit him the next day 9 chapter 20 that night Dorian goes to his locked room to look at his portrait he hopes his decision to amend his life will have changed the painting and he considers that perhaps his decision not to ruin the innkeeper's daughter's reputation will be reflected in the painted face however when he looks at his portrait he sees there's no change except as a novel states in the eyes also looketh cunning and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of a hypocrite dorium realizes his pitiful attempt to be good was no more than hypocrisy and attempt to minimize the seriousness of his crimes which falls far short of atonement his furious so he seizes a knife the same weapon that he used to kill basil and drives it into the portrait in an attempt to destroy it from below during his Dorian servants hair a cry and a clatter the servants break into the room only to see a portrait unharmed Sherwin Dorian Gray is a beautiful young man on the floor however is the body of an old man horribly wrinkled and disfigured with a knife plunge into his heart it's not until the servants examined the rings on the old man's hands that they identify him as Dorian Gray now when it comes to the characters themselves of course the first is Dorian Gray so at the opening he appears as something of an ideal his the archetype of male youth and beauty and as such he captures the imagination of basil Hallward who's a painter and Lord Henry Wotton a nobleman who imagines fashioning the impression boy young Dorian into an unremitting pleasure seeker in other words a hedonist we learned that Dorian is exceptionally vain and he's convinced in the course of a brief conversation with Lord Henry in his most salient characteristics his youth and physical attractiveness and he's worried that their waning the thought of waking up one day without these attributes sends him into a panic he closes his fate and thus makes us Faustian pact that in exchange his portrait should age and not he during leaves about basil studio for Lord Henry's pallor where he adopts the tenets of a new head nism and resolves to live life as a pleasure seeker with no regard for conventional morality his relationship with Sylvain Tessa's commitment his philosophy his love the young actress nearly leads him to dispense with Lord Henry's teaching but his love's proves to be as shallow as he is when he breaks the ball heart and drives her to suicide Dorian notices the first change in his portrait evidence that his portrait is showing the effects of Asian experience while his body remains ever youthful he experiences a moment of crisis as he weighs his guilt about his treatment of Sibyl against the freedom from worry that Lord Henry's philosophy has espoused when Dorian decides to view Sybil's death as an achievement of an artistic ideal rather than a needless tragedy for which he is responsible he starts down the sleep and slippery slope of his own demise as his sins grow worse over the years he's likely Nestor bought Basil's portrait grows more hideous despite the few peaceful things that he surrounds himself he's unable to distract himself from the dispassion of his soul his murder of basil marks the beginning of his end although in the past has been able to keep infamies from his mind he can't shake the thought that he's killed his friend his guilt tortures him relentlessly until is forced to deal well with his portrait in the end Dorian is punished for his ability to be influenced if the new social order celebrates individualism as Lord Henry claims Dorian falters because he fells to establish and live by his own moral code the next a significant character is Lord Henry Wotton it's Lord Henry is a man possessed off as a novel States wronged fascinating poisonous delightful theories he's a charming talker and he has brilliant fit and wit and intellect giving the alluring way in which she leads conversation it's unsurprising that Dorian falls under his spell completely his theories of radical they aim to shock and purposefully attempt to topple they established conventional notions of truth however in the end they do improve naive it's interesting that he's a relatively static character he doesn't undergo a significant change in the course of the narrative he's clearly composed unshakable and possess it with the same dry wit in the final pages of the novel as he is upon the introduction because he doesn't change what story in Basel do his philosophy seems amusing and enticing the first half of the book and then improbable and shallow in the second half although Lord Henry is a self-proclaimed hedonist who advocates equal pursuit of moral and immoral experiences it's interesting to note that he participates in polite London society attends parties and theatres and doesn't himself indulge in sordid behavior unlike Dorian who he corrupts the next character of course is basil Hallward so he's a very talented painter and his love for Dorian Gray changes the way he sees art indeed it defines a new school for expression for him Basil's portrait of Dorian marks a new phase in his career before he created this masterwork masterwork he spent his time painting Dorian in the Belles of antiquity dressed as an ancient soldier or as various romantic figures from mythology once it's painted Dorian as he Trudy is however he faces put too much of himself in his work and he worries that his love which he himself describes as idolatry is too apparent though he later to mrs. Meir not to exhibit his portrait he still maintains a belief that art is always more abstract than one things and it's interesting that his belief changes from paintings revealing his soul to paintings between nothing than the form and Colour however throughout the novel basil holds emotional investment in Dorian remains constant and he seeks to protect Dorian voicing his objection from Lord Henry's and jurists influence over him now when it comes to important themes the first of course is youth and beauty so youth and beauty are the first principle of asceticism and this is the philosophy of art for which Oscar Wilde himself lived and this is that art serves no other purpose than to offer beauty throughout this novel Beauty reigns it's a mean to revitalize the reread senses as indicated by the effect that Basil's painting has on the cynical Lord Henry artists also means of escaping the brutalities of the world during distances himself not to mention his consciousness from the horrors of his actions by diverting himself to study of beautiful things including music jewels and rare tapestries in a society that prizes beauty so highly youth and physical attractiveness becomes valuable commodities Lord Harry describes Dorian of as much upon the meeting adds when he laments that Dorian will soon enough he lose these precious attributes in chapter 17 the duchess of monmouth suggests Lord Henry that he places too much value on these things indeed Dorian's eventual demise confirms our suspicions although beauty and youth remain of upmost importance in the end of the novel the portrait is returned to its original form and the novel appears to suggest that the price war must pay for beauty and youth is exceedingly high indeed Dorian gives nothing less than his soul the next theme of course is superficiality so it's no surprise that a society which prizes beauty above all else is a society founded in a love of surfaces what matters most to Dorian Lord Henry and the black company that they keep it's not whether a man is good at heart but rather if he's handsome as Dorian evolves into the realization of a type the perfect blend of scholar and socialite he experiences the freedom to abandon his morals that censor indeed even though his vassal warns society's elite question his name and reputation he's actually never ostracized on the contrary despite his mode of life he remains at the heart of London social scenes because of the innocence and purity of his beauty and face of course another important theme is the purpose of art so when this book was first published it was decried as immoral in a revising text the following year wilde included a preface which serves as a useful explanation for his philosophy of art the purpose of art according to a series of epigrams is to have no purpose in order to understand this claim fully one needs to consider the moral climate of Wales time and the Victorian sensibility regarding art and morality Victorians believed that art could be used as a tool for social education or more enlightenment as illustrated in the works by writers such as Charles Dickens and George Gissing they're citizen movement of which Wilde was a major proponent sought to free art from his responsibilities if this philosophy informed wilds life however we must then consider whether this is this novel only bears it out the two works of art that dominate this novel Basil's painting and the mysterious yellow book that Lord Henry gives Dorian but we never quite know who it's by are presented in the vein of more Victorian sensibilities and of aesthetics ones that is to say both the portrait and the French novel serve a purpose the first act as the type of mysterious mirror that shows during the physical dissipation of his own body has been spared while the second act was something of a roadmap leading the young man further along the path toward infamy while we know nothing of the circumstances of the yellowbox composition basil state of mind will paint in Dorian's portrait is clear later in the novel he advocates that all art be as an awful States unconscious I do and remote his portrait of Dorian however is anything but thus puzzles initial refusal to exhibit the work results from his belief that it betrays idolatry of a subject of course one might consider that these breaches of esthetic philosophy mold the Picture of Dorian Gray into something that's of cautionary tale this is the prices that must be paid for instead in art which reveals the artists or a moral lesson but this warning is in itself a moral lesson which betrays the impossibility of wilds project if as Dorian observes late in the novel the imagination orders the chaos of Larkin invested with meaning then art as the fruit of imagination can't help but mean something wild may have succeeded in freeing his art from the confines of Victorian morality but as he has replaced it with a doctrine that is in his own way restrictive that's all if you 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