'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray is possibly one of the most controversial and scandalous pieces of Victorian fiction. There are many reasons for this, and yet we need only explore one of them to get the notion of why exactly it was censored, banned, and eventually it would send its own author to prison for two years of hard labour. Published in Lippincott's Magazine in the July 1890, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray made headlines with not only its gothic themes and twisted Greek mythology-inspired storyline, but also because of its homosexual undertones and prolific critique of 19th century high society. The most scandalous of all these begin with the identity of the three main characters: Dorian Gray, the young man who has his portrait painted; Basil Hallward, the painter; and finally, Lord Henry Wotton, the man who takes it upon himself to teach Dorian how he should live.

Let's go over what exactly the story is about. The novel is based on the Greek myth Narcissus who stares at his own reflection for so long that he eventually dies. In the beginning of the story, Basil and Henry are talking about a portrait Basil is painting. Basil calls it the best work he's ever done. There's only one problem, he can't exhibit it. Basil states that he has "put too much of (himself)" into the painting and therefore, nobody must see what he has done. Basil then brings up the subject of the sitter to the portrait, Lord Henry calls him a "Young Adonis" and then, Basil accidentally mentions the name Dorian Gray. He didn't want Henry to know for the reasons of not having Dorian become corrupted by Henry's influence. It just so happens that Henry has already heard of Dorian and before Basil can ask Henry to leave, the butler states that Dorian Gray has, in fact, arrived in the studio. Henry laughs it off stating that they must be introduced now and Basil pleads with Henry stating "your influence will be bad" and not to ruin the only thing that gives Basil's art its life.

When Dorian Gray enters the studio, he is met by Basil who wants him to sit for the last part of the painting. Dorian first goes through the piano music and finds things he'd like to borrow before blushing in realisation of Lord Henry being present. When Dorian does sit for Basil, he does nothing but complain that he "does not want a life size portrait of himself" and when Basil is finished, he quickly changes his mind. Whilst Basil is painting him, Dorian is enchanted by the words ad compliments bestowed on to him by Lord Henry and Basil completes the painting by enjoying the look that Henry's words have left upon Dorian's face.

When the painting is finished, they marvel at it. Lord Henry states that it is quite possibly the best thing Basil has ever produced and Dorian becomes cynical in that the painting shall remain youthful and young, whilst he shall grow old. Wishing it were the other way around, Dorian states he'd sell his soul for eternal youth and thus, makes a Faustian pact in which he will stay forever young.

At first, Dorian Gray enjoys his youth, basking in the fact that he is beautiful, young and can never be unloved by anyone. People worship him and want to know who he is. But, after nights of adultery, parties and murder, people become scared to know Dorian and, after his to-be-wife, Sybil Vane, commits suicide—Dorian becomes a much less love-able human being and starts to pay extra attention to Henry Wotton.

In the end, Dorian does, in fact, come to his senses and he stabs the painting that has grown old and aches with wounds and diseases. The painting and the man change places and finally, Dorian is gone.

There are many ways that this constitutes as a gothic novel, the first way it identifies itself is through the supernatural element, or the Faustian pact that Dorian makes upon the painting, switching the place of youth from the painting to himself. But why is it that we know so much more about The Picture of Dorian Gray than most other gothic novels; such as Matthew Lewis' The Monk or Walpole's The Castle of Otranto? It's because, from the bottomless pile of gothic stories we have only some of the authors did something scandalous and different with them. These authors include Stevenson, Stoker, Radcliffe and of course, Wilde. Gothic fiction before Wilde was primarily set in haunting locations such as castles, forts or strongholds. Wilde set his novel in high society London urbanising the once outdated setting and employing the theme of satire into it. This would make sure of the link between Dorian, the Faustian character, and Victorian High Society—the ones who were charmed by his looks.

Identities in Victorian literature are always something quite profound because this is the true height of the novel. We have writers creating characters such as Katherine and Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, Jane and Rochester from Jane Eyre but nowhere in literature, Victorian or Modern, is there quite a pair like Dorian and Sybil. It is Dorian's changing identity that leads Sybil to kill herself; unlike the other gothic novels in which true love is formed at the end.

Scholars normally call his changing identity that leads others to misery, Dorian's Degeneration. Dorian's degeneration, as the dictionary of gothic Literature puts it, "is specifically connected to the unidentified book given to him by Lord Henry... Dorian's depravity is reflected only in the portrait concealed in his attic, which increasingly bears the marks of moral decline spared from his beautiful face" (p. 250).

This means that Dorian's true character is part of the portrait and the ever-changing identity that's influenced by Lord Henry is only something we see on the surface. Again, Dorian presents the prolific criticism of Wide's contemporaries in Victorian high society and the hypocrisies that lived therein.

But what about the other two characters? Lord Henry and Basil Hallward play the angel/devil figures in Dorian's life, both pulling him one way or the other. Basil is, obviously, the one who would rather have Dorian good than beautiful, whereas Henry would rather have Dorian beautiful than good.

When we look at Oscar Wilde, we immediately think about his plays: Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Importance of Being Earnest and the most recently performed, Salomé. Oscar Wilde knew a lot about the stage and one of the strategies used on stage is the "angel and devil"—of course, known in his only novel as Basil and Henry. But, apart from that, Basil and Henry are not just introduced to us in the first chapter as being "the good" and "the bad" or the "one who cares about morals" and "the one who does not."

They are introduced to us in Wilde's preface to the novel. Basil is the sense of realism, creating a painting that is quite realistic and living by a set of morals set by the "real" world. Whereas, Henry is the sense of romanticism, the life of emotion, the belief in the fact that life is short and so one must live how they wish and without the need for realism's morals. Oscar Wilde states this in the preface as "the 19th century's dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass." (Preface to the Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890) Now, this shows us both Basil and Henry in the same phrase.

Basil is the realism and Henry is the previous, romanticism, that dislikes the realistic and moral way of things. Realism is representative of order in the text and as fin-de-siècle novels do, they serve as the criticism that lies upon this tipping point between realism (authors such as Virginia Woolf etc. pioneering this style) and late romanticism (with authors such as Byron, Shelley and Keats).

This differentiation will serve as the main complex for how the book serves its characters to us. The characters of Basil and Henry may be very good friends in the novel itself, but the characters actually serve as complete opposites in every way possible.

The obvious Faustian pact is seen also, through the angel and devil figures in chapters one and two. What we get is an angel figure creating the product and then the devil figure being able to lure the subject into cursing the product. This is a lot like the Faustian pact made in Christopher Marlowe's play Dr. Faustus. In media and film, the Faustian pact is shown much more as being done by Dorian, but in the book it is more so Henry and Basil's own fault. Basil makes the product and Henry influences the subject; none of it is done by Dorian off his own accord. The identities of Basil and Henry remain to work on opposite sides of the field.

Now, Dorian isn't introduced to us until chapter two, but I also mentioned how Chapter one shows this. Chapter one gives us a foreshadowing of exposition to Dorian's Faustian pact and, if we were to read it closely enough, we can actually understand the entirety of the Basil/Henry opposition.

Basil claims that he has "put too much of himself" into the painting. Then he goes on to discuss his love for Dorian and how much he respects Dorian for giving his art meaning. Basil therefore is the producer of this product that will go on to destroy something. He claims that the "thing" he has put into the painting is nothing more than the utmost love and respect for Dorian. Basil warns us about this by stating that he will never exhibit the painting even though it is his best work. A foreshadowing of the fact that Dorian, after all this debauchery he commits in chapters 15 to 20, must live in secrecy as people now are too afraid to be near him. This secrecy is caused by the product, produced by the producer. Therefore, Basil only has a complete impact on the product and not the subject. Henry is the opposite, he has an influence on the subject and the subject only.

Henry, in chapter one, is sitting amongst the flowers with Basil in the studio. He smokes. The garden is being described as blossoming and beautiful. But what does this mean in the context of Dorian? Henry constantly describes Dorian using white flowers and purple flowers, two of the things that can be seen in the first chapter. The lilies and the lilacs in the garden. Henry sits on the divan and he's smoking; polluting this beautiful atmosphere with something that, by even Wilde's time, wasn't considered a very healthy thing to be doing by some but, was still a gentleman's thing and not something done by the lower classes. This symbol of the defiant gentleman is shown through cigarettes and cigars throughout the novel and, in chapter one, it pollutes the beautiful flowers—which symbolise Dorian throughout the text. Therefore, Henry smoking on the divan and the description of the garden near him is a metaphor for the pollution of Dorian's character by Henry.

Therefore, the two sides of the argument of who had the responsibility when it came to Dorian's Faustian pact isn't actually Dorian at all—but the other two men who seemingly fight over two aspects of Dorian's person. A review of the book by Walter Pater in the Bookman's Newspaper of November 1891 makes constant references to this, showing that it wasn't unknown in its day. Dorian's identity is thus not only influenced by these arguments on his character, but changed by the circumstances and events around him.

In the next part, we'll have a look at the circumstances, the different situations in which we see this happening and why exactly it happens at all. Is this completely conscious or is this simply a cause-and-effect narrative?