Over the Christmas holidays our homework was to pick from a list of books, based on Gothic Horror, read the book and describe and analyse a character from that book.
I chose 'The Portrait Of Dorian Gray' written by Oscar Wilde written in 1890.
I chose this book because some of the books I knew, for example Frankenstein, some of them I had no idea what they were and some I was a bit unsure of as I had heard of them but didn't really know much about them.
I wanted to pick one that I didn't know what the story was and didn't know any characters and so I could push myself in to reading and looking in to something new.
I chose Dorian Gray because I liked the sound of the book, it looked interesting and mysterious.
To see if this was the right book for me I watched the 2009 film adaptation of the book starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth. I really liked the film I thought it was a very scary yet seductive film which was very interesting. I liked the film therefore I bought the paper back version of the book and began to read.
Basic Plot
The basic plot of the story is a man who very good looking and charming moves to London, he has a portrait made of himself by a painter who befriended him, called Basil Hallward. Dorian makes a wish that will change his life forever in which he soon becomes to realise.
The painter then introduces Dorian to some one called Lord Henry Wotton. They become best friends, also known as Harry, teaching him about life and exploring London.
Dorian falls in love with an actress who plays the lead female role in the plays she acts such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.
Events happen and change the way in which Dorian acts, which he comes to notice some thing strange in the portrait he had made of him.
Events through out the book are very detailed and you have a feel as though you were there in the room with Dorian. Where as the film has more to it, more of the secret life and lies he creates. The story is very much the same but more characters and more events happen in the film which make it very interesting to watch.
- All through the film Dorian is "charming", "wonderfully handsome" and was called "Prince Charming" by his lover Sibyl. He was very nice too look at with "finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair". Everyone would stop and stare at his beauty. He was a very nice character in the beginning, listening and taking advice from Harry.
- When he was disappointed in Sibyl's last show he spoke to her "bitterly", "Dorian Grey, with his beautiful eyes, looked down at her, and hid chiselled lips curled in exquisite disdain." This was the man under the beauty coming through.
- After his outburst "it had made him conscious how unjust, how cruel, he had been to Sibyl Vane." "He had been selfish and cruel to her."
- Realising what was happening in the portrait after that moment of rage he sat and looked at it "sickened in horror", he knew what he did was wrong to Sibyl and now he realised "he had uttered a mad wish that he himself might remain young, and the portrait grow old".
- As many years passed and Dorian looked as young as ever the portrait was changing, It had a "hideous face", Basil described it as "the face of a satyr" and "the eyes of the devil".
- In the room where the portrait was hiding the sudden unexpected murder of Basil took place, Dorian was "strangely calm". Getting Alan Campbell to clean the mess and remove and destroy the body was next on the list.
- As time passes he realises he wants to leave London, "in three days he would be free", repeating to himself "to cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the souls."
- His moods start to change quickly getting irritated by simple things, a woman in a bar spoke of him and he replied "what do you want? Money? Here it is. Don't ever talk to me again."
- On his travels back home a man with a revolver aimed at his head down an alley, he was "paralysed with fear" and "grew sick with fear". The man who was Sibyl's brother, James Vane, had him against a wall, Dorian saying "Set me under the lamp and look at my face" persuading the man he had the wrong person James saw "the bloom of boyhood, all the unstained purity of youth. He seemed little more than a lad of twenty summers, hardly older, if older indeed at all, than his sister had been when they had parted many years ago. It was obvious that this was not the man who had destroyed her life."
- The woman appeared again out of the alley to James telling him "they say he has sold himself to the devil for a pretty face." James then knew that he did indeed have the correct person.
- A week later with Henry, Dorian was talking about himself, Henry then told Dorian a truth "besides, what on earth could happen to you, Dorian? You have everything in the world that a man could want. There is no one who would not be delighted to change places with you."
- When out shooting a man was shot by accident, when Dorian came to realise who was shot, James Vane, "a cry of joy broke from his lips". "As he rode home, his eyes were full of tears, for he knew he was safe".
- Dorian knows this was a sign, he knew he was safe and trying to do good was his new resolution explaining to Lord Henry, "no, Harry, I have done too many dreadful things in my life. I am not going to do any more. I began my good actions yesterday."
- Reading through the book they began to talk about Basil, when Dorian suddenly asks Harry - "What would you say, Harry, if I told you I had murdered Basil?" Which shocked me as I thought he was going to fully confess. Dorian went on saying the portrait he did ruined his life, describing and quoting Hamlet, "like the painting of a sorrow, a face without a heart."
- By the end of the book, Dorian wants to check out the painting one last time, to see if the recent events had changed the image of it even more. He saw it and "the thing was still loathsome - more loathsome", he wanted to destroy it, picking up the knife he killed Basil with "he seized the thing, and stabbed the picture with it."
"There was a cry heard, and a crash." People outside heard and the house servants woke, when some one finally got into the locked room by the window "When they entered, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Laying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognised who it was."
Character Analysis
I feel as though Dorian is a charming man, as he is described numerous times as "Prince Charming", he has youth and beauty behind him. Everyone wanted to know him and befriend him, wanting to be in his presence in the beginning of the book.
So innocent and pure, Lord Henry took him under his wing taking him out, introducing people to him and teaching him life lessons. They became really good friends doing most things and socialising together a lot, Harry taught Dorian a lot of things which he stuck to and thought about a lot.
When he fell in love a new leaf was turned, he wanted to marry her and be with her for ever, getting his friends to watch her act was going to be one of the best nights of his life until she came out and was dreadful.
Seeing how Dorian changed from then on in the book was interesting. It reminded me of many different books and films that I have seen especially Fifty Shades of Grey. Dorian and Christian Grey both have a lot in common, very easy on the eye yet they have this big secret about their life that they want no one to know about. The film especially reminds me of Fifty Shades, the film has more events in and you see what he gets up to at parties and social events with the women.
This big secret about the portrait was beginning to eat at him and he grew conscious that he was a bad person, doing all these bad things such as murdering Basil, being horrible to Sibyl and may other bad decisions made him turn in to some one he decided he didn't want to be no more.
I feel Dorian was loved by every one but as time went by he became a man no one wanted to mess with, the lovely pure man had changed in to some one people didn't want to be around. Hearing his name in the street by woman who wanted him and men who were jealous of him turned in to people saying his name in whispers about his behaviour. He was hated and people didn't want to be in the same room as him no more.
The night he realised he needed to move on and move away, Sibyl's brother tried to kill him, he was terrified he was going to loose his life and since then he was very scared of dying or being killed. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to be killed by some one either. So staying home and not leaving the house made him feel safer. He always had a look over his shoulder when he left the house too.
The weekend he had with his friends was a big revelation for him when he found out his friend had shot James. He knew he had nothing to worry about now but changing his behaviour and how we was in life was going to have to change.
He told Harry he needed to change and his best friend was to carry on saying how wonderful he is, how men would kill to have his life and wealth. He was alone in his home and knew what he had to do, destroy the painting that was secretly ruining his life. Only he didn't know if that was destroyed, he was to die.
Harry made Dorian into the man he was, he told him everything, spoke of everyone and introduced him to a way of life. I think if they never met Dorian's life would be so different. Maybe he wouldn't have made the wish on the portrait to stay young and the portrait grow old but I do think that some of the things Dorian did was due to Harry influencing him. Although Harry was unaware anything was going on, he knew he wasn't ageing like he was but he didn't know the secrets Dorian was hiding. I don't think everything was Harry's influence but without Harry 'guiding' Dorian, he would still be the innocent, pure gentleman who would have married, settled down and be happily in love.
I really liked this book, considering I knew nothing about the story line when I chose it, I really enjoyed it. The film was very good too, very dark and gloomy as it was back in those days. The book however was very descriptive, I loved how good it was at describing how Dorian felt and what he was thinking throughout the book. It really made you get a feel for how he was, what he was doing and why he was doing it. The book is slightly different to the film but I think the book is better than the film. Even though it is visual and you can faces to names, I loved how the book was written.
I think the modern take is definitely Fifty Shades of Grey books and film and also the TV series Dexter, the stories are so different but very similar too, by having a mysterious male lead with a big secret. I really enjoyed the story line and I would definitely recommend this book.
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