Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray and De Profundis Study Guide

THE PREFACE TO THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

• The Nature of the Artist: The artist is defined as the creator of beautiful things. The aim of art is to reveal art and conceal the artist.
• The Role of the Critic: The critic is one who can translate their impression of beautiful things into another manner or a new material.
• On Beauty and Corruption:
  • Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are considered corrupt without being charming.
  • Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are cultivated; for them, beautiful things mean only Beauty.
• Morality in Art:
  • There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are either well written or badly written.
  • No artist has ethical sympathies, as such sympathies are considered "an unpardonable mannerism of style."
  • Vice and virtue are materials for an artist, and thought and language are their instruments.
• Utility of Art: Art is described as being at once surface and symbol. Wilde concludes with the assertion that "All art is quite useless," meaning its value lies in its existence as beauty, not in a functional or moral purpose.

CHAPTER I: THE STUDIO AND THE PORTRAIT

• Setting: The novel opens in the lush, sensory-heavy studio of Basil Hallward, filled with the scent of roses, lilac, and the distant hum of London.
• The Characters:
  • Basil Hallward: A talented, somewhat reclusive painter who has created a masterpiece: a full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary beauty.
  • Lord Henry Wotton: Basil’s friend, a nobleman characterized by his languid manner, constant smoking of opium-tainted cigarettes, and cynical, paradoxical worldview.
• The Conflict of Exhibition:
  • Lord Henry insists Basil must exhibit the portrait at the Grosvenor, believing it to be his best work.
  • Basil refuses, stating, "I have put too much of myself into it."
  • Basil explains that every portrait painted with feeling is actually a portrait of the artist, not the sitter. He fears he has shown the secret of his own soul in the canvas.
• Basil’s Revelation of Dorian Gray:
  • Basil describes meeting Dorian Gray at a party hosted by Lady Brandon. He felt a "sensation of terror" and knew that Dorian's personality was so fascinating it would absorb his whole soul and art.
  • Basil views Dorian as an "artistic idolatry." Dorian suggests a new manner of art to him, a "harmony of soul and body."
  • Basil admits he wants to keep Dorian to himself and hide the portrait from the "shallow prying eyes" of the world.
• Lord Henry’s Interest: Despite Basil’s desire to protect Dorian from Lord Henry’s influence, Dorian arrives at the studio, and they are introduced.

CHAPTER II: THE TEMPTATION OF DORIAN GRAY

• Dorian Gray’s Appearance: Dorian is described as wonderfully handsome, with scarlet lips, blue eyes, and crisp gold hair, radiating an air of youth and purity.
• Lord Henry’s Philosophy (New Hedonism):
  • Lord Henry influences Dorian while Basil is painting. He claims that "all influence is immoral" because it takes away a person's soul and makes them an echo of someone else.
  • He argues that the aim of life is self-development and to realize one's nature perfectly.
  • He speaks of the "terror of society" and the "terror of God" as the forces that govern men, preventing them from living fully.
  • Yielding to Temptation: Lord Henry’s most famous advice: "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself."
• The Panegyric on Youth:
  • Lord Henry warns Dorian that his beauty and youth are fleeting. He calls Beauty a form of Genius that needs no explanation but warns that time is jealous of it.
  • He urges Dorian to "Live the wonderful life that is in you!" and calls for a "new Hedonism" for the century.
• The Impact on Dorian:
  • Dorian is deeply affected by Lord Henry’s words, feeling as if they have touched a secret chord in his soul.
  • Upon seeing the finished portrait, Dorian realizes his own loveliness for the first time. The realization is a sharp pang of pain; he realizes he will grow old and horrible while the picture remains young.
• The Fatal Wish: In a moment of passion, Dorian exclaims: "If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that—for that—I would give everything! … I would give my soul for that!"
• Aftermath: Dorian becomes jealous of the portrait and nearly destroys it. Basil decides to give the portrait to Dorian as a gift.

CHAPTER III: THE BACKGROUND OF DORIAN GRAY

• Lord Henry’s Research: Lord Henry visits his uncle, Lord Fermor, to learn about Dorian’s lineage.
• Dorian’s Parentage:
  • Dorian’s mother was Lady Margaret Devereux, a beautiful woman who ran away with a penniless subaltern.
  • The subaltern was killed in a duel rumored to have been arranged by Dorian’s grandfather, Lord Kelso.
  • Lady Margaret died within a year, leaving Dorian to be raised by his loveless, mean-spirited grandfather.
• Lord Henry’s Intentions: Lord Henry finds Dorian’s tragic background fascinating. He decides to seek to dominate Dorian, viewing him as a "marvellous type" that he can fashion.
• Social Interaction: At a luncheon at Lady Agatha’s, Lord Henry charms the guests (including the Duchess of Harley and Sir Thomas Burdon) with his wit and cynical views on suffering, philanthropy, and common sense. Dorian is captivated by him and chooses to spend the afternoon with Lord Henry instead of visiting Basil.

CHAPTER IV: SIBYL VANE

• The Revelation: One month later, Dorian tells Lord Henry that he is in love with an actress named Sibyl Vane.
• Dorian’s Discovery: Dorian found her in a "horrid little theatre" in the slums of London, where she was playing Juliet. He was mesmerized by her beauty and her voice.
• Sibyl Vane’s Character: She is seventeen, innocent, and views Dorian as "Prince Charming." She knows nothing of his real name or life.
• Lord Henry’s Cynicism: Lord Henry mocks Dorian’s infatuation and makes sweeping, derogatory statements about women, calling them a "decorative sex" with no genius.
• Dorian’s Transformation: Dorian believes Sibyl is all the great heroines of drama in one. He is "hungry for her presence" and believes her art spiritualizes the common people who watch her.
• Engagement: At the end of the chapter, Lord Henry receives a telegram from Dorian announcing his engagement to Sibyl Vane.

CHAPTER V: THE VANE FAMILY

• Sibyl’s Joy: Sibyl is ecstatic about her love for Dorian Gray. Her mother, Mrs. Vane, a faded actress, is more concerned with their debts to the theatre manager, Mr. Isaacs, and hopes Dorian is wealthy.
• James Vane:
  • Sibyl’s brother, a rough, thick-set lad of sixteen, who is about to leave for a sea-faring life in Australia.
  • Jim is deeply protective of his sister and suspicious of her "gentleman" lover. He hates the upper class and senses danger for Sibyl.
  • The Threat: Jim tells his mother that if Dorian Gray ever wrongs Sibyl, he will "track him down, and kill him like a dog."
• Family Secret: Jim asks his mother if she was ever married to his father. Mrs. Vane admits she was not; Jim’s father was a gentleman who could not marry her. This reinforces Jim’s hatred for the aristocracy.

CHAPTER VI: CONFLICTING PERSPECTIVES ON THE MARRIAGE

• Dinner at the Bristol: Lord Henry tells Basil about Dorian’s engagement. Basil is shocked and worried about Dorian marrying an actress from the slums.
• Lord Henry’s View: He is indifferent to the morality of the marriage, viewing it merely as an interesting "experience" and a psychological study.
• Dorian’s Arrival: Dorian describes his first kiss with Sibyl, calling it "one perfect point of rose-coloured joy." He believes her love has changed him and made him forget Lord Henry’s "wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories."
• Individuality and Morality: Lord Henry argues that to be good is to be in harmony with oneself and that modern morality consists in accepting the standards of one’s age, which he calls the "grossest immorality."

CHAPTER VII: THE CRUCIAL PERFORMANCE AND THE BREAKUP

• The Performance: Dorian, Basil, and Lord Henry go to the theatre to see Sibyl play Juliet. The setting is tawdry and the audience is rough.
• Sibyl’s Failure: To everyone’s shock, Sibyl acts terribly. Her voice is false, her gestures artificial, and she is completely listless. The audience hisses her.
• Dorian’s Reaction: Dorian is heartbroken and ashamed. He is "hard and bitter" and feels that Sibyl has killed his love.
• The Greenroom Confrontation:
  • Sibyl is radiant after the play, explaining to Dorian that before she knewhim, acting was her only reality. Now that she knows what "real love" is, the theatre seems hollow and the words of the plays are meaningless.
  • Dorian cruelly rejects her: "You have killed my love. … You are nothing to me now." He calls her a "third-rate actress with a pretty face."
  • Despite Sibyl’s desperate pleading and sobbing, Dorian leaves her "crouched on the floor like a wounded thing."

CHAPTER VIII: THE FIRST CHANGE IN THE PORTRAIT

• Discovery of the Change: Upon returning home, Dorian looks at the portrait and notices a change: "there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth." He is horrified, realizing the quivering sunlight shows him the lines of cruelty as clearly as a mirror.
• Conscience Awakened: Dorian realizes his wish in Basil’s studio has been fulfilled—the portrait will bear his shame. He feels a "sense of infinite pity" for the image and resolves to be good, to resist Lord Henry, and to return to Sibyl Vane to make amends.
• The News of Death: Lord Henry arrives the next day and informs Dorian that Sibyl Vane is dead; she swallowed poison at the theatre.
• Lord Henry’s Consolation:
  • Lord Henry prevents Dorian from descending into remorse. He frames Sibyl’s death as an artistic event—the "last act of a wonderful play."
  • He argues that Sibyl never really lived, so she never really died; she was a dream that flitted through Shakespeare’s plays.
• Dorian’s Acceptance: Dorian finds he cannot feel the tragedy as much as he wants to. He accepts Lord Henry’s view: "You have explained me to myself, Harry."
• Final Choice: Dorian decides to pursue eternal youth and pleasure, letting the portrait bear the burden of his life. "The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame: that was all."

CHAPTER IX: THE CONFRONTATION WITH BASIL

• Basil’s Grief: Basil visits Dorian to offer consolation, only to find Dorian seemingly indifferent, eating breakfast and talking about the Opera.
• Dorian’s Defiance: Dorian refuses to talk about "horrid subjects." He tells Basil: "I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them."
• The Screen: Basil notices the screen in front of the portrait and wants to see it, intending to exhibit it in Paris. Dorian reacts with "a cry of terror" and threatens to never speak to Basil again if he touches the screen.
• Basil’s Secret:
  • In the ensuing conversation, Basil confesses his own secret: from the moment he met Dorian, Dorian’s personality dominated him. He had put "too much of himself" into the painting, which is why he originally refused to exhibit it.
  • Basil believes art should conceal the artist, but he feared the portrait revealed his "artistic idolatry."
• Dorian’s Relief: Dorian is relieved that Basil sees nothing changed in the portrait (as he hasn't looked behind the screen). He feels sorry for Basil but is determined to hide his own secret more securely.

CHAPTER X: HIDING THE PORTRAIT

• Security Measures: Dorian decided he must hide the portrait where no one can find it. He gets the key to the old schoolroom at the top of his house, a room he hasn't used since childhood.
• Symbolism of the Room: The room is full of dust and memories of his lonely childhood. He mirrors his current corruption with his past "stainless purity."
• The Shroud: He wraps the portrait in a "large, purple satin coverlet heavily embroidered with gold." He muses that what the worm is to the corpse, his sins will be to the painted image.
• The Yellow Book: Lord Henry sends Dorian a book bound in yellow paper. It is a psychological study of a young Parisian who seeks to realize all the passions and modes of thought of every century but his own. This "poisonous book" has a profound and lasting influence on Dorian, shaping his future library of experiences.

CHAPTER XI: THE YEARS OF DECADENCE

• Influence of the Yellow Book: For years, Dorian is under the spell of the book. He buys multiple copies and binds them in different colors to suit his moods.
• The Contrast: Dorian grows more enamored of his own beauty while the portrait grows more hideous. He frequently checks the portrait to see the new lines of sin or age appearing on it.
• Social Standing: Despite rumors about his lifestyle and the "sordid and sensual" stains on his character, his pure face makes people unable to believe anything dishonorable about him.
• The Pursuit of Sensation: Dorian embarks on a life of intense intellectual and sensory exploration:
  • Catholicism: He is drawn to the ritual and pathos of the Roman ritual but avoids formal acceptance of a creed.
  • Mysticism and Materialism: He dabbles in various philosophies.
  • Perfumes: He seeks to elaborate a "psychology of perfumes."
  • Music: He collects strange instruments from around the world.
  • Jewels: He studies precious stones and their mystical stories.
  • Embroideries and Tapestries: He accumulates exquisite specimens of textile work.
  • Ecclesiastical Vestments: He has a passion for the raiment of the Church.
• DUAL LIFE: While he maintains a high standing in Mayfair society, he also frequents "dreadful places" in the slums, often in disguise. Many of his former friends now shun him, and stories of his corruption spread.
• The Ego: Dorian comes to view the Ego as complex and multiform, bearing legacies of thought and passion from the dead.

CHAPTER XII: THE RECKONING WITH BASIL

• The Chance Meeting: On the eve of his thirty-eighth birthday, Dorian meets Basil Hallward in the fog near his house. Basil is on his way to Paris for six months.
• Basil’s Inquiry: Basil enters Dorian’s home to confront him about the rumors of his lifestyle. He lists several young men whose lives Dorian has allegedly ruined (Adrian Singleton, Lord Kent’s son, the Duke of Perth).
• The Soul’s Visibility: Basil states: "Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed." Since Dorian’s face is innocent, Basil wants to believe he is good, but he concludes, "Before I could answer that, I should have to see your soul."
• Dorian’s Challenge: With the "madness of pride," Dorian tells Basil he shall see his soul that night: "You shall see the thing that you fancy only God can see."

CHAPTER XIII: THE MURDER OF THE ARTIST

• The Reveal: Dorian takes Basil to the locked schoolroom and tears the curtain from the portrait.
• Basil’s Horror: Basil is disgusted by the "hideous face on the canvas grinning at him." He recognizes the work as his own and sees the signature, but the face is that of a "satyr" with "the eyes of a devil."
• Dorian’s Confession: Dorian explains that this is the face of his soul, created by the prayer he made years ago.
• The Call to Repentance: Basil is overcome with grief and urges Dorian to pray for forgiveness: "Though your sins be as scarlet, yet I will make them as white as snow."
• The Murder: Dorian suddenly loathes Basil. A feeling of hatred, suggested by the image on the canvas, overwhelms him. He seizes a knife he had previously used and stabs Basil in the neck repeatedly until he is dead.
• Disposal Preparation: Dorian calmly locks the room, hides Basil’s belongings, and looks up the address of a man he needs: Alan Campbell.

CHAPTER XIV: THE DISPOSAL OF THE BODY

• Alan Campbell: An old friend and scientist with whom Dorian had a falling out. Dorian sends for him to help dispose of Basil’s body.
• The Confrontation: Dorian informs Campbell that there is a dead man upstairs and asks him to use his knowledge of chemistry to "change him … into a handful of ashes."
• Blackmail: Campbell initially refuses, but Dorian blackmails him with a letter he has already written. (The content of the letter is not revealed to the reader, but it causes Campbell to become "ghastly pale.")
• The Erasure: Campbell spends five hours in the schoolroom with a furnace and chemicals. He leaves, telling Dorian, "Let us never see each other again." Basil Hallward is gone, replaced by the smell of nitric acid.

CHAPTER XV: A NIGHT IN SOCIETY

• Social Performance: That evening, Dorian attends a dinner party at Lady Narborough’s. Despite his inner agitation, he appears calm and graceful.
• Dining with Lord Henry: Lord Henry is present and notices Dorian's lack of appetite and irritability. They discuss societal gossip, marriages, and the "New Hedonism."
• Cravings: After returning home, Dorian is consumed by a "mad craving" for something to help him forget. He retrieves a small Chinese box containing a waxy green paste—opium.

CHAPTER XVI: THE OPIUM DEN AND JAMES VANE

• The Journey: Dorian travels by hansom to a sordid part of the city near the river to an opium den.
• Curing the Soul: He repeats Lord Henry’s words to himself: "To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul."
• Meeting Adrian Singleton: In the den, he encounters Adrian Singleton, one of the men whose ruin Basil had attributed to Dorian. Dorian feels a momentary sadness but quickly moves on.
• The Attack: As Dorian leaves the den, he is seized by a man who points a revolver at his head. It is James Vane.
• The Escape:
  • James has been hunting Dorian for eighteen years to avenge Sibyl.
  • Dorian survives by a clever ruse: he asks Jim how long ago his sister died. When Jim says eighteen years, Dorian tells him to look at his face under a lamp.
  • Jim sees a young man who looks no more than twenty. Believing he has the wrong person, Jim lets him go.
• The Truth Revealed: After Dorian leaves, a woman from the den tells James that Dorian is "the devil’s bargain" and that he hasn't changed in eighteen years. James realizes his mistake and pursues Dorian, but he has disappeared.

CHAPTER XVII: TERROR AT SELBY ROYAL

• A House Party: A week later, Dorian is at his country estate, Selby Royal, with guests, including the Duchess of Monmouth and Lord Henry.
• Flirtation: Dorian flirts with the Duchess, and they engage in witty, paradoxical banter with Lord Henry about love, beauty, and the nature of the sexes.
• The Fainting Spell: While in the conservatory to pick orchids, Dorian sees the face of James Vane watching him through the window. He falls in a "death-like swoon."

CHAPTER XVIII: THE DEATH OF THE HUNTER

• Paranoia: For three days, Dorian is sick with terror, haunted by the image of James Vane. He fears his imagination is setting "remorse to dog the feet of sin."
• The Shooting Party: He eventually goes out with a shooting party. Against Dorian’s request, Sir Geoffrey Clouston shoots at a hare but accidentally kills a man hiding in the thicket.
• The Identification: Dorian is initially terrified that the dead man is a servant or a bad omen. However, when he examines the body in a stable, he discovers it is James Vane. He is overcome with joy, knowing he is finally safe.

CHAPTER XIX: THE ATTEMPTED REFORMATION

• A New Ideal: Back in London, Dorian tells Lord Henry he wants to be good and has already begun by sparing a girl named Hetty Merton in the country.
• Lord Henry’s Cynicism: Lord Henry dismisses Dorian’s "great renunciation" as a form of vanity and predicts that the girl will be more miserable for having known him.
• Basil’s Disappearance: They discuss the fact that Basil is still missing. Dorian asks if Lord Henry thinks Basil was murdered. Lord Henry thinks it's unlikely, as crime is "vulgar" and Basil had no enemies.
• The Soul Question: Lord Henry asks Dorian, "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Dorian is startled and insists the soul is a "terrible reality." Lord Henry mocks this as a "fatality of Faith."
• The Perfection of Youth: Lord Henry praises Dorian for his unchanging youth and says, "Life has been your art."

CHAPTER XX: THE END OF DORIAN GRAY

• The Burden of the Past: Late at night, Dorian reflects on Lord Henry's words. He loathes his own beauty and the youth that he prayed for. He realizes that his beauty has been a mask and his youth a mockery.
• Final Inspection of the Portrait:
  • He wonders if his act of "goodness" toward Hetty Merton has changed the portrait. He goes to the schoolroom to look.
  • Instead of improvement, he sees in the eyes a "look of cunning" and in the mouth the "curved wrinkle of the hypocrite." The blood on the hands has spread, appearing "more like blood newly spilt."
• The Conclusion: He realizes his "good deed" was merely vanity and hypocrisy. He decides to destroy the only evidence left against him: the portrait itself.
• The Death Blow: He takes the same knife he used to kill Basil Hallward and stabs the canvas.
• The Transformation:
  • A horrible cry and a crash are heard by the servants and passers-by.
  • When the servants eventually enter the room, they find a portrait on the wall showing their master in all his "exquisite youth and beauty."
  • On the floor lies a dead man in evening dress, "withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage," with a knife in his heart. He is only recognized by the rings on his fingers.

DE PROFUNDIS: INTRODUCTION BY FRANK HARRIS

• Origins: Written by Oscar Wilde during his final months in Reading Prison (c. 1897). It was a letter addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"), though not initially published as such.
• Harris’s Characterization of Douglas: Harris describes Douglas as using Wilde to get back at his father, the Marquis of Queensberry, and then abandoning him in his ruin.
• The Sordid Dispute: Wilde’s letter is a "passionate and terrible indictment" of Douglas’s selfishness, temper, and extravagance, which cost Wilde over £5000 in a few years. Harris notes that Douglas later replied with a book (Oscar Wilde and Myself) that was "livid with hate."
• Theme: The introduction frames the work as a drama of love turned to hate and a study of Wilde’s attempts to find "soul-vivifying tenderness" even in the pillory.

DE PROFUNDIS: THE CORE TEXT

• The Experience of Prison:
  • Time and Suffering: Wilde describes suffering as "one very long moment" where time does not progress but revolves around a center of pain.
  • Sorrow as a Season: In prison, there is no seed-time or harvest; only the "season of sorrow."
• Personal Losses: He speaks of the death of his mother while he was in prison and his communication with his wife. He mentions the "infinite pain" of having his children taken from him by the law.
• Self-Realization and Humility:
  • Wilde admits he ruined himself: "Terrible as was what the world did to me, what I did to myself was far more terrible still."
  • He was a man who stood in "symbolic relations to the art and culture" of his age.
  • He discovers Humility as the "ultimate discovery" at which he has arrived, viewing it as the starting point for a new life (Vita Nuova).
• Perspective on Sin and Experience:
  • He refuses to be ashamed of his punishment or to regret his past experiences.
  • He argues that to deny one's experiences is to "put a lie into the lips of one's own life."
  • The soul can transform base and cruel acts into "noble moods of thought."
• Wilde’s View of Christ:
  • He views Christ as the "supreme of individualists" and a "palpitating centre of romance."
  • Christ is placed among the poets because his whole conception of humanity sprang from the imagination.
  • Wilde notes the "close union of personality with perfection" in Christ's nature.
  • He argues that for Christ, there were no laws, only exceptions, and that "whatever happens to oneself happens to another."
• The Artistic Life:
  • Wilde defines the artistic life as "self-development."
  • He hopes that through his suffering, he has become a "deeper man" and that this will reflect in his future art with a note of "greater unity of passion."
• Conclusion: He looks toward his release in May, hoping to find peace in nature ("the wind and the rain") and the "Mystical in Art."

LETTERS ON PRISON REFORM

• The Case of Warder Martin: Wilde writes to the Daily Chronicle to protest the dismissal of a warder who gave biscuits to a hungry child. He highlights the "cruelty of stupidity" and the terror experienced by children in prison.
• Prison reform proposals:
  • Physical Needs: Improved food (to prevent disease like diarrhea), better sanitary arrangements (access to latrines), and an end to the "plank bed" (to solve insomnia).
  • Mental Needs: Access to more and better books, more frequent visits from friends/family in decent rooms (not "cages"), and an end to the censoring of prisoners' letters.
  • Personnel: Wilde argues that the prison system needs to "humanise the governors … civilise the warders, and Christianise the chaplains."