The Picture of Dorian Gray

Submitted by ThatxBritishxBoy t3_125b2p6 in books

Dorian Gray realises early on that his beauty is finite and won't last forever. He compares it at one point to a flower which is temporary and splendid. He knows that once his looks fade, what would he have left? So he decides to sell his soul for eternal youth and beauty. The fascinating thing is that the portrait Dorian's friend, Basis has painted of him is fading all the while revealing his true sins, malice and depravity. So while Dorian is an emotionless creature, any regrets he has are transferred to the canvas.

This book is simply amazing because Dorian is transfixed on beauty and even his house is full of art, amazing music and luxuries upon luxuries. He's an interesting study as it shows how a seemingly innocent soul can be corrupted by terrible guidance and by succumbing to his own impulses. The novel tackles a variety of interesting themes such as identity, experience, beauty, accountability and many more. It's complex characters coupled with its multifaceted plot, transfixed writing and messages which are relevant even now, makes this a masterpiece for me. While there are an abundance of great quotes in this book, one of my favourites is the following:

" Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul."

5/5

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ohboop t1_je4ica6 wrote

Lord Henry wasn't trying to guide Dorian, he was just spouting bullshit he thought Dorian would resonate with, and Dorian Gray took it way too seriously. I thought the character Dorian Gray was an excellent study of a shallow narcissist. For him, beauty could only ever be skin deep, and that's the level he enjoyed all art in his life.

I loved the plausible deniability of the painting's transformation throughout the book, and I found it interesting that Dorian's first and only thought was to live a life that would make him ugly on the inside, rather than one that would have his outer beauty reflect his inner self.

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W3remaid t1_je4sz3v wrote

Yeah definitely, Lord Henry was an edgelord who liked the sound of his own voice, and took advantage of Dorian’s immaturity because he found it amusing to see him take Henry’s bullshit to heart. It’s like when you tell your younger cousin that babies get shat out like turds and then watch in glee when they go ask their mom about it. Despite his words, he lived a very conventional life, he was married to a woman who matched his social standing, and he attended social functions as expected.

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darkwitch1306 t1_je51bgr wrote

Lord Henry loved all the attention he got when he was with Dorian.

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BrassTact t1_je88311 wrote

Even while married to woman who matched his social standing and attended social functions as expected...

Something something representation of true self hidden away in the closet.

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darkwitch1306 t1_je9lhup wrote

Lord Henry was getting older. Not as much attention. He tells him that the world is his for the taking and he will show him. What does Henry get in return? More invitations, more attention, more of everything due to reflected glory from Dorian. He got a kitten for company that turned into a tiger which he couldn’t tame or keep up with.

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Rourensu t1_je3wqgf wrote

Probably my second favorite Classic book.

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Chesssgurl t1_je416m9 wrote

Now, I'm intrigued what's the first? I am trying to get into classics but they tend to be super slow for my taste...

So, if u could suggest any it would be great :)

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Rourensu t1_je418nf wrote

My first is Frankenstein.

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WonderWeeble t1_je45gkq wrote

Good choice! Hard to believe Shelley wrote that when she was only 19!

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supergamernerd t1_je4bc1p wrote

One of the only two podcasts I listen to reads that, and Dorian Gray (and a bunch of other books and stories). It's called Definitely Storytime.

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WonderWeeble t1_je45dkh wrote

You could also try War of the Worlds, or The Invisible Man, Both by HG Wells. I'm also fond of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is flat out amazing.

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Cuddle_grub t1_je80bfi wrote

It's been a long time since I've read all of those titles, but your recommendations look like my childhood reading list when I would spend long hours in the library going through the adults' section of fiction and science fiction. I don't know if I'll have the same fondness for those authors if I decided to re-read them again. They left a crater impact on my imagination for the hungry reader I was.

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BrunoEye t1_je4rgeg wrote

I was made to read it when I was around 14 and absolutely hated it. I remember finding it very cumbersome to read and slow paced. A few years later I had the same issue with Lord of the Rings, though I found Jekyll and Hyde somewhat enjoyable.

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TLtomorrow t1_je44tih wrote

One of the best books ever. Every time I read it I notice new themes it covers, and watching Dorian's ironic transformation into something horrendously ugly in his insatiable pursuit of vain, shallow beauty is amazing. And Lord Henry has the some of the best one-liners in fiction.

Probably my second favorite classic book as well (pretty sure nothing will ever beat The Brothers Karamazov for me).

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ashisteru t1_je50srt wrote

I can’t wait to read the brothers karamazov!

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Theresa6868 t1_je3q9mg wrote

Yes, to all of this and well said too. I'm going to crop this and send it to my Daughter. That was once one of her favorites and I love the quote.

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Beiez t1_je4atob wrote

I hate that I‘m like the only person to ever not love this book

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junjunjenn t1_je4q90f wrote

I really didn’t like this book. But I also abhor reading about the lazy lifestyles of upper class Europeans of this time. They literally just sit around eating and drinking for hours and I feel nothing towards them.

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Beiez t1_je50x91 wrote

Yeah this about sums up my feelings towards a majority of the book. Reading about people either salivating or being shocked over Lord Henry‘s fancy preaching became tedious quite quickly.

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UseMoreLogic t1_je55719 wrote

I found it unrealistic. People who are as into hedonism as Dorian usually don't suddenly have this desire for moral reformation.

They just... die from the hedonism/old age while still being into hedonism.

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Relative-Disaster-87 t1_je6imh0 wrote

I hated it so much I rage finished it and made my husband read it just so I could have someone to rant to about it. The bare bones of the story are great and the language is great but it reads like a giant soup of quotes. You can pick out great one liners and descriptive paragraphs but it feels to me like it needed pruning. People accuse you of not understanding it for not liking it though.

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Septymusmyth t1_je6h4e9 wrote

Well, now I'm glad that I AM not the only one who doesn't love it.

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sawyer1027 t1_je4ypto wrote

Can't get through one chapter without falling asleep another of the classics that is a full letdown for me. absolute snoozefest.

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Sqeeter t1_je4iks9 wrote

I didn't care much for it either. I kept waiting for him to actually do something salacious and it's like "oh no, he did drugs and had sex"

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Hazakurain t1_je4jfzx wrote

Yeah, in the Victorian era, it's the equivalent of slashing someone's throat in the streets.

So it was something extremely salacious in the context in which the book has been written

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W3remaid t1_je4tojd wrote

He’s a (wealthy) dope fiend who takes advantage of poor women in a time when even the implication of sexual activity outside of marriage meant ostracization and poverty for them. He betrays his friends and straight up murders one of them. He’s a massive piece of shit even for current standards

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albertossic t1_je9ocgr wrote

He stabs his friend to death and drives a young girl to suicide, following which her brother goes crazy and is killed in his pursuit

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Moonlightvaleria t1_je4r2bc wrote

This is the my favorite book. How basil admired dorian will always stay with me

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National-Muffin-8465 t1_je473rb wrote

I really enjoyed the plot and the message of the book but was anyone else bothered by how Dorian’a character was written? He didn’t seem to speak, he just cried constantly? After half of the stuff he was saying was “Dorian cried” or stuff like this and it really irked me 😅

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algebruvlar t1_je4alet wrote

In my memory Dorian was a very petulant, spoiled, dramatic kind of character. He pouts, he whines and he is vain. It has been a decade, but that's what I remember mostly from the book. Great read. I'll see if I can find a copy again.

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mindmountain t1_je4dfct wrote

Apparently inspired by 'Against Nature' by Joris-Karl Huysmans

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mancrab t1_je5gexr wrote

Just finished this book and really enjoyed it. So many prosaic passages and well formed sentences.

What stuck with me was Dorian’s attempt at a good deed towards the end of the book. It did nothing to change the portrait and he wonders to himself if he really only did it out of self-preservation/to make himself feel better about his past transgressions.

This book asks some great questions.

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bwanabass t1_je4jla9 wrote

Nothing gold can stay.

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algebruvlar t1_je4ajcb wrote

Haven't read anything by Oscar Wilde since I was a teenager. Might be time again.

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Concussed-duckling t1_je4c2ae wrote

Slightly unrelated but if anyone ever has the opportunity to see the Dorian Gray stage show by the Sydney Theatre Company, you absolutely should. It is AH-MAY-ZING.

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multigrain-pancakes t1_je56tm5 wrote

I couldn’t get into it. So much pretentious long-winded dialogue. Like the author was trying to sound deep by having Henry have something philosophical to say about absolutely everything and basically have everyone around him slow clap every time when it really was just pompous drivel

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ohboop t1_je630f2 wrote

Lord Henry represented how Oscar Wilde thought other people saw him. Basil was closer to how he saw himself.

I loved Lord Henry, personally. I don't think he took himself at all seriously, and was amused that other people did, when really his only goal was to entertain himself.

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Earthwick t1_je4xhe2 wrote

I went through a phase where I wanted to read all the old "Horror" classics. There were a bunch of older novels set together at my then local library. Don't really think Dorian Gray should be classified as a horror novel but I enjoyed it. The Dorian Charecter is regularly added to novels and stories however it seems they slowly turned it into a caricature of the original version.

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yossarian_livs t1_je6gw1v wrote

"Dorian Gray never took his gaze
off him, but sat like one under a spell, smiles chasing
each other over his lips and wonder growing grave in his
darkening eyes."

3

Cuddle_grub t1_je824z8 wrote

Dorian Gray I didn't discover until a few years ago. I blazed through it how much I liked it. The transformations of Dorian's soul on a canvas is fantastic stuff.

Imagine if someone made a video game based on this idea. You put your soul on a canvas and throughout the game your choices reflect the good or bad endings you get from your actions. Add some horror elements to it. Maybe throw in some other people who made similar deals as Dorian. Maybe a boss fight with yourself since you are battling your conscience and desires. Just a thought.

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eat_vegetables t1_je4otua wrote

Phuc Tran does an amazing job in the prologue to “Sigh, Gone” (Prologue is entitled The Picture of Dorian Gray) in extending the themes of identify and allusion to the admittance of another Vietnamese refugee in his small-town.

After years, of dire-less attempts at American assimilation, the presence of Hoang Nyguyen (new refugee) takes on the fun-house mirror reflection of everything Phuc Tran attempted to discard in building new identify; thus the new student reflects the underlying (self-perceived) ugliness of his soul as a refugee.

> Hoàng was a fun-house mirror’s rippling reflection of me, warped and wobbly. I was Dorian Gray beholding his grotesque portrait in the attic, and I was filled with loathing. My disgust for Hoàng was complicated and simple at the same time: I was the Vietnamese kid at Carlisle Senior High School. Just me. Fuck that new Vietnamese kid.

> When Dorian Gray beholds his portrait in the attic and shows his friend Basil the horror of the painting, Basil is sickened. The portrait reflects the rot of Dorian’s soul, and it repels Basil just as I was repulsed by Hoàng.

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DevilsAdvocate0189 t1_je4x6fc wrote

'Transfix'. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

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GoldNewt6453 t1_je5472v wrote

I love this book. I like how it doesn't shy away from emphasizing how shitty Dorian and his philosophy are right to the end.

I even watched the movie too and it holds up well.

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foxyfree t1_je57nwd wrote

The painting in the movie is pretty cool too

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Open_Budget_9893 t1_je4ihwh wrote

I once created a unit based on this book, all about art, the soul, self reflection, art’s role in society, love, beauty, good and evil…this book is amazing.

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MagicYio t1_je99j2d wrote

The premise of the book is great, but god do I hate that massive amount of random infodumping in the middle of the novel. That was really hard to get through and I hated every moment of that part.

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[deleted] t1_je9dfq7 wrote

I literally started reading the book today. I am fascinated by Oscar Wilde's writing. This one is going to be a good read, for sure.

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Conscious-Ball8373 t1_je4ad2o wrote

Might consider a spoiler warning.

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LittleSnops t1_je4ddoy wrote

Really? This book is 130 years old.

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Conscious-Ball8373 t1_je4mw34 wrote

Which... means everyone's read it?

−1

NobleSavant t1_je54o3q wrote

Which means that if you open up a thread about it on reddit, it should be assumed spoilers could be there.

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Open_Budget_9893 t1_je4if63 wrote

It’s not about how it ends. You know it ends tragically. You know the titanic sinks. It’s about the journey of the character and the realization of the end.

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[deleted] t1_je3n532 wrote

[deleted]

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_PeanutButterVibes_ t1_je3skq6 wrote

I'm so sorry but this is so painfully written from the perspective of a man. Women don't just wither and die when they hit 30.

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[deleted] t1_je3svgf wrote

[deleted]

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JustWonderPhil t1_je478ye wrote

You might not realise this now, but I hope that one day you'll figure out that your view on women is being shaped by frequenting parts of the internet which are populated by misogynistic men who have no understanding of, or empathy for real women, and instead have built a false idea of what women are like which makes them feel better about themselves.

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Revcondor t1_je4ltho wrote

TIL

The next time I need to know what all the pretty girls are feeling I know who to ask. /s

EDIT: I can’t decide if the saddest thing about this person’s post history is the AI Waifu shitposting, the statement about Ayn Rand’s “unfortunate inability to abandon femininity,” or the implication that Dorian Gray is about all women in their twenties

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[deleted] t1_je4sld4 wrote

[deleted]

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Revcondor t1_je5kgo7 wrote

This is a social media website, having a consistent record that people can comment on and build relationships over is the whole point. If you don’t want people to see your shitty personality as a consistent continuation of behavior then go to 4chan where people can experience it in anonymous bursts.

Also, I’m allowed to see you as a chud without being a girl. The fact that those two categories of people largely overlap isn’t a coincidence per se but it’s a silly assumption to make and only further illustrates how out of touch you are.

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NobleSavant t1_je55370 wrote

If it reminds you of women, that is something about you and something you need to examine about yourself. I'm also happy to tell you that most women don't think they 'lose it all' at 30. That's mostly incels who think that.

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