*****THE NOVEL*****
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a truly fascinating piece of fiction. Of all the books we've read for class, it is my favorite by far. Watching the turn of the main character, Dorian, from a naive, well-meaning, impressionable young man into a horrible, evil person concerned solely with himself was what I found most interesting. The reader can pinpoint exactly where Dorian begins to change into a different person in chapter seven. A night out to the theater to show off his new love, the young actress, Sybil Vane, turns out to be disastrous on many levels. First, Sybil is awash in her love for Dorian and no longer has the desire or ability to act with the same brilliance as she had before. Thus, she embarrasses Dorian in front of his friends. This is where we see the sudden and drastic change in our main character: he goes backstage and tears the girl apart with quotes such as "you have killed my love"; "you are shallow and stupid"; "you have spoiled the romance of my life"; and the best of all: "what are you now; a third rate actress with a pretty face." These harsh and cruel words, so uncharacteristic of our sweet young Dorian thus far, were such a quick about-face that I hardly even believed he was serious. Sadly, he was, and the young Sybil ended up killing herself because of it.
Now the book really becomes captivating. Dorian goes home on this night, after behaving so callously, so brutally. He takes a look at the painting Basil Hallward made of him and notices the most subtle change in his smile.... a cruelty is present. This is my favorite part of the book. After first being so struck by Dorian's behavior, then seeing the result in the painting, bringing in the horror element to the novel- it's deliciously terrifying! We think that maybe it's all in Dorian's imagination, but we continue to read and see that indeed it's not Dorian going insane, but some mystical, ghastly thing that has happened to this painting, exchanging Dorian's youth and beauty for his soul's tarnish.
There has been much debate in this class as to whether or not the book is gothic, or filled with ideas of realism. In hindsight, after reviewing chapter seven of the novel, I feel that whatever people may glean from reading the novel in present day, Oscar Wilde was writing this for the purposes of producing an excellent story, like a gothic fairy tale. I compare it to a fairy tale because they both have the element of the moral element to the story, and the consequences faced by those who do cruel deeds. The evil characters always get it in the end, so to speak, and my opinion of Wilde's gothic intentions are reinforced by this analogy.