The Picture of Dorian Gray: Extensive Study Guide
THE PREFACE: AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES OF THE ARTIST AND THE CRITIC
The Roles of Artist and Critic:
The artist is defined solely as the creator of beautiful things.
The primary aim of art is to "reveal art and conceal the artist."
The critic is defined as one who translates their impression of beautiful things into a different manner or new material.
Criticism, in its highest and lowest forms, is categorized as a mode of autobiography.
On Beauty and Corruption:
Those who find "ugly meanings in beautiful things" are considered corrupt and lacking charm, which is a fault.
Those who find "beautiful meanings in beautiful things" are the cultivated; they are the elect for whom beautiful things mean only beauty.
Morality and Literature:
Wilde asserts: "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all."
The nineteenth-century dislike of realism is compared to the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.
The nineteenth-century dislike of romanticism is compared to the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.
The Artist's Perspective and Sympathies:
The moral life of man is part of the subject matter, but the morality of art lies in the "perfect use of an imperfect medium."
No artist desires to prove anything, nor do they have ethical sympathies, which are viewed as unpardonable mannerisms of style.
The artist is never morbid and can express everything. Thought and language are instruments; vice and virtue are materials.
Form, Symbol, and Utility:
From the point of view of form, the type of all arts is the musician's art. From the point of view of feeling, it is the actor’s craft.
All art is simultaneously surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface or read the symbol do so at their own peril.
Art mirrors the spectator, not life. Diversity of opinion indicates a work is new, complex, and vital.
The final axiom: "All art is quite useless." A man can be forgiven for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it; the only excuse for making a useless thing is intense admiration.
CHAPTER I: THE STUDIO AND THE REVELATION OF THE PORTRAIT
Setting and Atmosphere:
The scene opens in Basil Hallward’s studio, filled with the odor of roses, the scent of lilac, and the perfume of pink-flowering thorn.
Lord Henry Wotton lies on a divan of Persian saddle-bags, smoking innumerable cigarettes. He observes the blossoms of a laburnum and the Japanese effect created by bird shadows on tussore-silk curtains.
The "dim roar of London" is described as the bourdon note of a distant organ.
The Masterpiece:
In the center of the room stands a full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty.
The artist, Basil Hallward, whose disappearance years ago caused public excitement, sits before it.
The Debate on Exhibition:
Lord Henry praises the work as Basil’s best and insists he send it to the Grosvenor, dismissing the Academy as too large and vulgar.
Basil refuses to exhibit the picture anywhere, stating: "I have put too much of myself into it."
Lord Henry scoffs at this, noting no physical resemblance between Basil’s rugged face and the "young Adonis" in the painting, whom he compares to a Narcissus made of ivory and rose-leaves.
Intellect vs. Beauty:
Lord Henry posits that "beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins." He claims intellect destroys the harmony of a face, making successful men in learned professions, except in the Church, look hideous.
Basil argues that there is a fatality about physical and intellectual distinction that dogs kings through history. He claims "the ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world," as they sit at ease, gape at the play, and are spared the knowledge of defeat.
The Discovery of Dorian Gray:
Basil accidentally reveals the subjects name is Dorian Gray.
Basil explains his love for secrecy, claiming it makes modern life mysterious. He never tells his people where he is going when he leaves town.
Lord Henry agrees, remarking that the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception necessary.
The Secret of the Artist's Soul:
Basil defines the nature of portraiture: "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion."
Basil confesses he will not exhibit because he is afraid he has shown the "secret of his own soul" in the work.
The First Meeting at Lady Brandon’s:
Basil met Dorian two months ago at a "crush" at Lady Brandon’s. Upon seeing him, Basil felt a sensation of terror, realizing Dorian’s personality was so fascinating it would absorb his whole nature and soul.
He describes his struggle to escape the room, which Lord Henry equates to cowardice (calling conscience the "trade-name of the firm").
Basil asked Lady Brandon to introduce him. She described Dorian in fragments: "Charming boy—poor dear mother and I absolutely inseparable… plays the piano—or is it the violin, dear Mr. Gray?"
Dorian’s Influence on Basil’s Art:
Basil sees Dorian every day; he is "absolutely necessary" to him.
Basil claims the appearance of a new personality for art is as significant as the invention of oil painting for the Venetians or the face of Antinous for Greek sculpture.
Dorian suggests an entirely new manner and mode of style to Basil, allowing him to see things and recreate life differently.
Basil cites a landscape he painted while Dorian sat beside him, stating Dorian’s influence allowed him to see "the wonder I had always looked for and always missed."
CHAPTER II: THE INFLUENCE OF LORD HENRY WOTTON
Dorian Gray’s Introduction:
Lord Henry and Basil enter the studio to find Dorian Gray at the piano, turning over Schumann’s "Forest Scenes."
Dorian is described with finely curved scarlet lips, frank blue eyes, and crisp gold hair. He possesses the "candour of youth" and "passionate purity."
The Philosophy of Influence:
Lord Henry asserts: "There is no such thing as a good influence. All influence is immoral… because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul."
He argues the aim of life is self-development and to realize one's nature perfectly. He laments that society is governed by the "terror of society" (the basis of morals) and the "terror of God" (the secret of religion).
The Hellenic Ideal and Temptation:
Lord Henry believes if one man were to live out his life fully, giving form to every feeling and expression to every thought, the world would return to the "Hellenic ideal."
He claims: "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing."
He tells Dorian that in his "rose-red youth," he has had passions and thoughts that filled him with terror.
Dorian’s Reaction:
Dorian is bewildered and stands motionless for ten minutes. He feels "entirely fresh influences" at work within him.
He realizes the power of words: "Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel!"
The Secret of Life:
In the garden, Lord Henry tells Dorian: "Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul."
Lord Henry praises Dorian's beauty, calling it a form of genius that is "higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation."
The Warning of Age:
Lord Henry warns Dorian that youth is short. He describes the future: "Some day, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, when thought has seared your forehead with its lines, and passion branded your lips with its hideous fires, you will feel it terribly."
He urges Dorian: "Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing… A new Hedonism—that is what our century wants."
The Finishing of the Portrait:
Basil finishes the portrait, writing his name in "long vermilion letters" on the bottom left corner.
Lord Henry declares it the "finest portrait of modern times."
The Fatal Wish:
Dorian, realizing the reality of Lord Henry's warning, looks at his portrait and is struck by a "sharp pang of pain."
He cries: "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young… 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!"
Dorian grows jealous of the portrait's immortality, stating it will mock him one day.
Conflict and Departure:
Basil, seeing the distress the picture has caused, tries to destroy it with a palette knife. Dorian stops him, crying: "It would be murder!"
Lord Henry invites Dorian to the theatre. Basil begs Dorian to stay and dine, but Dorian chooses to go with Lord Henry.
Basil's parting words to Lord Henry are: "I trust you," to which Lord Henry laughs: "I wish I could trust myself."
CHAPTER III: DORIAN’S LINEAGE AND THE LUNCHEON AT LADY AGATHA’S
Lord Fermor (Uncle George):
Lord Henry visits his uncle, Lord Fermor, a "genial if somewhat rough-mannered old bachelor" in the Albany.
Fermor is a retired diplomat and a Tory who bullys his relations. Lord Henry seeks "useless information" regarding Dorian Gray.
The Story of Dorian’s Parentage:
Dorian is the grandson of the last Lord Kelso. His mother was Lady Margaret Devereux.
Margaret was extraordinarily beautiful and ran away with a "penniless young fellow," a subaltern in a foot regiment.
The subaltern was killed in a duel at Spa a few months after the marriage. Rumors suggest Kelso paid a "Belgian brute" to insult and kill him.
Margaret died within a year of returning to her father, leaving Dorian to be raised by the "mean dog" Kelso.
Dorian inherits the Selby property through his mother’s grandfather.
Luncheon Guests at Lady Agatha’s:
Dorian Gray is present, along with the Duchess of Harley, Sir Thomas Burdon (a Radical MP), Mr. Erskine of Treadley, Mrs. Vandeleur, and Lord Faudel.
Discussion on America:
The group discusses the marriage of Lord Dartmoor to an American girl. Sir Thomas Burdon and Lord Henry exchange quips.
Lord Henry's wit: "When good Americans die they go to Paris… bad Americans go to America."
Mr. Erskine notes that America was not discovered, but merely "detected."
Lord Henry’s Philosophical Improvisation:
Lord Henry critiques the modern sympathy with pain, arguing: "One should sympathize with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life’s sores, the better."
He advocates for science as the solution to the 19th century’s bankruptcy of sympathy.
He tells the Duchess: "To get back one’s youth, one has merely to repeat one’s follies."
He describes a philosophy where folly becomes a Bacchante dancing over the hills of life, mocking the sober Silenus.
Dorian is mesmerized by Lord Henry's talk and abandons his plans with Basil to go to the park with Lord Henry.
CHAPTER IV: SIBYL VANE AND THE ADVENTURE TO THE EAST END
Meeting with Lady Henry:
A month later, Dorian waits for Lord Henry at his Mayfair home. He meets Victoria (Lady Henry), described as a curious woman who looks like a "bird of paradise that had been out all night in the rain."
She has a "mania for going to church" and adores Wagner because his music is so loud she can talk through it.
Dorian’s Engagement:
Dorian tells Lord Henry he is in love with an actress named Sibyl Vane.
Lord Henry dismisses women as a "decorative sex" representing the "triumph of matter over mind."
Dorian explains his "passion for sensations" and how he wandered into a "labyrinth of grimy streets" in the East End.
The Theatre and the "Jew" Manager:
Dorian found a "shabby little theatre" where a "hideous Jew" (Mr. Isaacs) in an amazing waistcoat stood at the entrance. The manager has had "five bankruptcies" due to his passion for "The Bard" (Shakespeare).
Inside, the play was Romeo and Juliet. Romeo was a "stout elderly gentleman" like a beer-barrel.
Only Sibyl Vane, barely seventeen, was a "creature from a finer world." Dorian describes her voice as ranging from the "low music of a flute" to the "wild passion of violins."
Dorian’s Courtship:
Dorian went back every night. On the third night, the manager took him behind the scenes. Sibyl called him "Prince Charming."
Dorian views Sibyl not as a person, but as all the heroines of romance: Rosalind, Imogen, Juliet. He says: "When I think of the wonderful soul that is hidden away in that little ivory body, I am filled with awe."
Lord Henry’s Analysis:
Lord Henry views Dorian as a psychological study. He feels Dorian is his own creation.
He ponders the mystery of the soul and body: "Was the soul a shadow seated in the house of sin? Or was the body really in the soul, as Giordano Bruno thought?"
At the end of the chapter, Dorian sends a telegram: he is engaged to be married to Sibyl Vane.
CHAPTER V: THE VANE FAMILY AND JAMES’S VOW
Sibyl’s Ecstasy:
Sibyl tells her mother of her happiness. Mrs. Vane is a "faded, tired-looking woman" who focuses on the 50 advance given to them by Mr. Isaacs to pay debts and outfit James.
Sibyl is disinterested in money: "Love is more than money."
James Vane’s Departure:
James (Jim) is a thick-set sixteen-year-old with large hands and feet, going to sea to seek fortune in Australia.
He is stern and protective of Sibyl. He hates the "gentleman" (Dorian) without knowing his name.
The Walk to the Park:
Sibyl and James walk to the park. Sibyl imagines James becoming a rich sheep-farmer or finding a gold nugget to rescue her from the stage.
They see Dorian Gray driving past in an open carriage. Sibyl points him out, but a carriage (the Duke of Berwick's four-in-hand) blocks James's view.
The Death Vow:
James tells Sibyl: "As sure as there is a God in heaven, if he ever does you any wrong, I shall kill him."
Sibyl laughs it off, calling him a "bad-tempered boy."
The Secret of the Vanes' Birth:
James asks his mother: "Were you married to my father?" Mrs. Vane confesses: "No."
The father was a gentleman of high connection who died before he could provide for them. James repeats his threat against Dorian before leaving.
CHAPTER VI: THE DINNER AT THE BRISTOL
Basil’s Concern:
Basil meets Lord Henry at the Bristol and learns of the engagement. He is horrified: "I hope the girl is good… I don’t want to see Dorian tied to some vile creature."
Lord Henry argues that marriage is an experience that makes temperaments more complex and highly organized.
Dorian’s Account:
Dorian arrives, ecstatic. He describes seeing Sibyl as Rosalind in a moss-colored velvet jerkin.
After the performance, they kissed. Dorian says: "It seemed to me that all my life had been narrowed to one perfect point of rose-coloured joy."
He tells Basil: "I have had the arms of Rosalind around me, and kissed Juliet on the mouth."
The Nature of Pleasure:
Lord Henry defines goodness as being "in harmony with one's self." He claims modern morality is merely accepting the standard of one's age.
He claims women "invariably want [the gold of their lives] back in such very small change."
CHAPTER VII: SIBYL’S FAILURE AND THE PORTRAIT’S CHANGE
The Performance:
Dorian, Basil, and Lord Henry attend the theatre. The house is crowded; the "fat Jew" manager is beaming. The heat is oppressive.
Sibyl Vane appears as Juliet. She is beautiful but acts "thoroughly artificial" and "absolutely incompetent."
The audience becomes restless and whistles. Basil and Lord Henry are disappointed and leave early. Dorian stays, cold and bitter.
The Confrontation:
Dorian goes to the greenroom. Sibyl is triumphant, explaining that her love for Dorian made her realize the hollowness of the stage: "To-night, for the first time, I became conscious that the Romeo was hideous, and old, and painted."
She says she can no longer mimic passion because she feels it like fire.
Dorian's reaction is cruel: "You have killed my love… Without your art, you are nothing. I would have made you famous… What are you now? A third-rate actress with a pretty face."
He leaves her sobbing on the floor "like a trampled flower."
The First Change in the Portrait:
Dorian returns home at dawn. As he passes the portrait, he notices a change: "The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth."
He compares his face in the mirror to the portrait. His lips are unchanged; the portrait's mouth has a "cruel smile."
He remembers his wish in Basil's studio. He realizes his wish has been granted. The picture will bear the burden of his sins.
Resolution:
Filled with pity for the image, he decides to go back to Sibyl, marry her, and resist Lord Henry’s poisonous theories. He covers the portrait with a screen.
CHAPTER VIII: SIBYL’S DEATH AND THE APARTNESS OF TRAGEDY
The Morning After:
Dorian wakes past noon. He writes a "passionate letter" to Sibyl imploring forgiveness.
Lord Henry arrives and delivers the news: "Sibyl Vane is dead." She died in her dressing-room after swallowing prussic acid or white lead.
Lord Henry’s Consolation:
Dorian feels he has murdered her but notes: "It seems far too wonderful for tears." He views the event as a "wonderful ending to a wonderful play."
Lord Henry helps him rationalize it: "The only way a woman can ever reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life."
He tells Dorian that Sibyl "never really lived" and was only a "dream, a phantom that flitted through Shakespeare's plays."
Acceptance of the Mirror:
Dorian checks the portrait again. No further change occurred after the news, suggesting the cruel lines appeared at the moment she drank the poison.
He decides to accept the arrangement: "Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secret, wild joys and wilder sins—he was to have all these things. The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame."
CHAPTER IX: BASIL HALLWARD’S VISIT AND CONFESSION
Basil’s Grief:
The next morning, Basil visits. He is shocked to find Dorian eating breakfast and planning to go to the opera. He calls Dorian's heartlessness "Harry’s influence."
Dorian claims: "A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure."
Basil’s Artistic Idolatry:
Basil asks to see the portrait to prepare it for exhibition at Georges Petit’s in the Rue de Sze.
Dorian threatens never to speak to him again if he touches the screen.
Basil confesses his secret: Dorian was the "visible incarnation of that unseen ideal." He admits to an "idolatry" that he put into the picture. He now agrees not to exhibit it because it reveals his own soul.
Dorian’s Security:
Dorian is relieved his own secret is safe. He feels pity for Basil but laughs at his confession.
CHAPTER X: HIDING THE PICTURE
The Schoolroom:
Dorian decides to hide the picture in the old schoolroom at the top of his house, unused for five years since his grandfather, Lord Kelso, died.
He gets the key from Mrs. Leaf. He wraps the portrait in a "large, purple satin coverlet" embroidered with gold (Venetian work).
Mr. Hubbard:
The celebrated frame-maker, Mr. Hubbard, and an assistant carry the picture up. Dorian helps them, despite the frame's bulk.
Dorian locks the door, realizing the picture will grow "bestial, sodden, and unclean" while he keeps his youth.
The Yellow Book:
Lord Henry sends Dorian a yellow-paper book. It is a psychological study of a young Parisian who tries to realize all the passions of every century.
Dorian becomes absorbed in it, finding it "poisonous" and multifaceted. The style is full of argot, archaisms, and Symboliste metaphors.
CHAPTER XI: THE EIGHTEEN YEARS OF EXPERIMENT
Influence of the Book:
Dorian procures nine large-paper copies of the yellow book, binding them in different colors to suit his moods.
The Dual Life:
For years, Dorian remains unspotted in face while increasing in corruption. He would return from "mysterious and prolonged absences" to compare the aging face on the canvas with his own young face in the mirror.
Dorian’s Collections:
Perfumes: He studies distillation and the psychology of scents (frankincense, ambergris, violets, spikenard, hovenia).
Music: He collects barbaric instruments (juruparis, teponaztli, yotl-bells, snake-skin drums) and hosts concerts with Tunisians and Indians.
Jewels: He studies gems mentioned in history, like the serpent with eyes of jacinth or the King of Malabar’s rosary of 304 pearls. He appears as Anne de Joyeuse in a dress of 560 pearls.
Textiles: He accumulates Delhi muslins, Dacca gauzes, and ecclesiastical vestments (copes of crimson silk, orphreys with the life of the Virgin, chasubles of gold brocade).
Social Ruin:
By age twenty-five, rumors circulate. The Duke of Berwick leaves clubs when Dorian enters. Lord Staveley says Dorian is a man no "pure-minded girl should be allowed to know."
Dorian studies his ancestors (Philip Herbert, Sir Anthony Sherard, Lady Elizabeth Devereux), wondering if their sins flow in his blood.
CHAPTER XII: THE CONFRONTATION WITH BASIL
The Encounter:
On November 9th, the eve of his 38th birthday, Dorian meets Basil in the fog. Basil is leaving for Paris on the 12:15 train.
Basil’s Warning:
Basil confronts Dorian about his reputation. He lists the "fatal friendships": the boy in the Guards who committed suicide, Sir Henry Ashton who left England, the young Duke of Perth.
Basil says: "Before I could answer [the charges], I should have to see your soul."
The Offer:
Dorian, in a moment of "madness of pride," cries: "You shall see it yourself to-night!" He leads Basil to the schoolroom.
CHAPTER XIII: THE MURDER OF BASIL HALLWARD
The Reveal:
Dorian reveals the picture. Basil is horrified to see the "face of a satyr" with the "eyes of a devil." He recognizes his brushwork and signature.
Basil begs Dorian to pray: "Though your sins be as scarlet, yet I will make them as white as snow."
The Crime:
A feeling of uncontrollable hatred for Basil seizes Dorian. He picks up a knife from a chest and stabs Basil in the great vein behind the ear, repeatedly.
He listens to the blood drip on the carpet. He hides Basil's bag and coat in a secret press.
The Alibi:
Dorian slips out of the house and rings the bell. His valet, Francis, lets him in at 2:10 AM. Dorian pretends he forgot his latch-key, establishing that Basil left at 11:00 PM.
CHAPTER XIV: THE DISPOSAL OF THE BODY
Alan Campbell:
Dorian sends for Alan Campbell, a scientist and former friend. Once inseparable through music, their intimacy ended five years prior.
Dorian tells Alan there is a dead man upstairs and he must "change him… into a handful of ashes."
The Blackmail:
Alan refuses until Dorian pushes a folded piece of paper across the table. Alan is ghastly pale and surrenders. (The content of Dorian's leverage is not explicitly stated in the text but is absolute).
The Process:
Alan spends five hours in the schoolroom with a large mahogany chest of chemicals and equipment. At 7:30, Alan leaves. The room smells of nitric acid; Basil Hallward is gone.
CHAPTER XV: DINNER AT LADY NARBOROUGH’S
Social Performance:
Dorian attends dinner, wearing Parma violets. He feels a "terrible pleasure of a double life."
The party includes Lord Henry, Lady Ruxton, and Mrs. Erlynne.
Nervousness:
Dorian is thirsty and cannot eat. Lord Henry notices he is "out of sorts."
He returns home and burns Basil's things. He feels a "mad craving" for opium and takes a small Chinese box of green paste from a cabinet.
CHAPTER XVI: THE OPIUM DEN AND JAMES VANE
The Journey East:
Dorian takes a hansom to the quays. He repeats the mantra: "To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul."
In the Den:
He finds Adrian Singleton in a low den. A woman calls Dorian "Prince Charming" and the "devil’s bargain."
The Attack:
James Vane, having heard the name "Prince Charming," follows Dorian and pins him to a wall under an archway with a revolver.
James explains his sister died 18 years ago. Dorian realizes he is safe: "Set me under the lamp and look at my face!"
James is fooled by Dorian's youthful appearance (looking 20, though he is 38) and lets him go.
The woman at the bar tells James: "It’s nigh on eighteen years since Prince Charming made me what I am… He hasn’t changed much since then."
CHAPTER XVII–XVIII: THE SHOOTING PARTY AND JAMES’S DEATH
Fainting at Selby:
A week later, at Selby Royal, Dorian faints when he sees James Vane’s face pressed against the conservatory window.
The Accident:
Dorian joins a shooting party. Sir Geoffrey Clouston shoots a hare, but hits a beater hiding in the thicket. Two cries are heard: the hare and a man.
Dorian fears it is an omen of his own death.
The Resolution:
The dead beater is unidentified. Dorian rides to the Home Farm to see the body. He identifies the man as James Vane. Dorian is overcome with tears of joy, knowing he is safe.
CHAPTER XIX–XX: THE FINAL ATTEMPT AT REFORMATION AND DEATH
The "Good" Deed:
Dorian tells Lord Henry he has begun his good actions. He met a village girl, Hetty Merton, who was like Sibyl. They were to elope, but he spared her and left her "as flowerlike as I had found her."
Lord Henry mocks him, suggesting Dorian did it for a "new sensation."
The Soul’s Mirror:
Dorian walks home and checks the portrait, hoping it has improved because of his deed. Instead, he sees a look of "cunning in the eyes" and the "curved wrinkle of the hypocrite" in the mouth.
The blood on the hand is "brighter, and more like blood newly spilled."
The End of the Portrait:
Dorian realizes only confession will cleanse him, but he refuses. He decides to destroy the only evidence left against him: the picture.
He stabs the painting with the same knife that killed Basil.
The Transformation:
A "horrible cry" is heard. The servants find a "splendid portrait" of their master in his youthful beauty.
On the floor is a dead man "withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage" with a knife in his heart. They recognize him only by the rings on his fingers.