Dorian Gray is the title character of Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, a strikingly handsome young man whose portrait, painted by his admirer Basil Hallward, becomes the object of a wish that he might stay eternally young while the painting itself ages in his place. Enthralled by the hedonistic philosophy of his friend Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian pursues a life of unrestrained pleasure and increasingly serious sin across decades while his outward appearance remains flawlessly youthful, the portrait hidden away in his attic growing steadily more hideous as the sole visible record of his moral corruption. Dorian's fate, his destruction of the painting in a final failed attempt to erase his own guilt, made him a lasting symbol of vanity, aestheticism divorced from morality, and the price of a life lived purely for beauty and pleasure. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Narrative RoleSourced to the subject's own accountTitle protagonist whose moral corruption is displaced onto a portrait while his own face stays unmarked 1 Defining TraitSourced to the subject's own accountPerpetual youthful beauty purchased at the cost of a hidden, ever more monstrous portrait that bears the visible toll of his sins 1 Narrative role (class)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Character In
Source Dorian Gray (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Dorian Gray (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section
a handsome, selfish young man enthralled by Lord Henry's hedonism. He indulges in every pleasure and virtually every sin, studying its effect upon him.
- Character In: The Picture of Dorian Gray
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
Was The Picture of Dorian Gray used against Oscar Wilde in court?
Yes. At Wilde's 1895 trials, prosecutors read the novel as a coded confession, citing its themes of hidden vice behind a beautiful surface as evidence against him.
The novel had already scandalized reviewers on its 1890 publication for its treatment of beauty, vanity and hidden sin. When Wilde was prosecuted in 1895, opposing counsel treated The Picture of Dorian Gray less as fiction than as evidence of its author's own character, pressing him on passages in court. The book was not reprinted in Britain for nearly two decades after the trials, a measure of how thoroughly it had become entangled with Wilde's own public downfall.
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