“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture Of Dorian Gray.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is verily Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece – a book that deals with so many things, and in such subtle yet intricate detail and with such a force, that one is left wondering about the integrity of one’s opinion after having read the entire novel. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray.”Dealing with things in ever-double shades, of both a subjective and objective viewpoint, and through both art and faith, Wilde’s work has a jostling affect on the reader. He constructs a typical modern man’s life which is based upon a mode of existence vested entirely in subjective experiences and divorced of anything otherwise. A hedonism that is both very dark yet very attractive, very pleasant and enticing – a religion of faithlessness that removes all limits, save those of one’s mortality, and even they are pushed the farthest with the fictitious character of Dorian Gray whose exuberant youth never withers.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is verily Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece – a book that deals with so many things, and in such subtle yet intricate detail and with such a force, that one is left wondering about the integrity of one’s opinion after having read the entire novel. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray.”Dealing with things in ever-double shades, of both a subjective and objective viewpoint, and through both art and faith, Wilde’s work has a jostling affect on the reader. He constructs a typical modern man’s life which is based upon a mode of existence vested entirely in subjective experiences and divorced of anything otherwise. A hedonism that is both very dark yet very attractive, very pleasant and enticing – a religion of faithlessness that removes all limits, save those of one’s mortality, and even they are pushed the farthest with the fictitious character of Dorian Gray whose exuberant youth never withers.
What adds the tinge of deliciousness to the pages are Lord Henry’s dialogues, him being undoubtedly one of the wittiest characters I have read of and who utters most of the sentences which are then to become eternal ‘golden quotes’ of Wilde, to be quoted and re-quoted in fiction magazines and essays. Being a hedonist who wouldn’t accept even the very brand, Henry is a befitting example of one who consumes himself entirely in pleasure, even when restrained and somewhat refined. He refuses to belong to any faction, of any nature whatsoever, and lives life at the whim – ‘living in the moment’ to quote the popular cliché.
Wilde quite beautifully depicts the dullness of the persistence, even of the most exquisite pleasures, and through that, provides the best argument against hedonism itself – but he seems more inclined to give the ruling in the hedonist’s favor, conceding with the proper sentence that life would be but worthless without such joys, such wonders, such passionate undertakings and sinful indulgences as had been committed by Dorian Gray. In a way, he expounds both the argument and the counter-argument side-by-side until each is consumed by the other and their product, Gray, is consumed by their contest.
Around 20 movies and plays have been made based on this indispensable classic.
If you have enjoyed and understood this piece of literature, you won´t lose your time reading other literary pieces of work by Oscar Wilde, as The Phantom Of Canterville.
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