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The Picture of Dorian Gray

(Penguin Readers, Level 4)

By Oscar Wilde

(1655)

| Paperback | 9780582418080

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Book Description

Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something oContinue

Critics

"Dorian Gray" as Wilde actually wrote it

More than a century after its publication, Oscar Wilde's novella "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is recognized as one of the classics of English literature, a masterpiece of fin-de-siècle aestheticism and in many respects a harbinger of the modernist mo ... (read full critics)

salon published on Fri, 13 May 2011

"Dorian Gray" as Wilde actually wrote it

More than a century after its publication, Oscar Wilde's novella "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is recognized as one of the classics of English literature, a masterpiece of fin-de-siècle aestheticism and in many respects a harbinger of the modernist mo ... (read full critics)

salon published on Mon, 2 May 2011

See all critics

40 Reviews

5 people find this helpful

When I was 16, if you didn't read Oscar Wilde and love The Smiths I wouldn't acknowledge your existence.
Well, I think I've grown out of that now somewhat. Morrissey's star has kinda fizzled after releasing some truly awful shit in the 90s, although his last couple albums were pretty decent. B ... (continue)

When I was 16, if you didn't read Oscar Wilde and love The Smiths I wouldn't acknowledge your existence.
Well, I think I've grown out of that now somewhat. Morrissey's star has kinda fizzled after releasing some truly awful shit in the 90s, although his last couple albums were pretty decent. But yeah, if you don't like this book, I still won't talk to you.

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Danelectrico said on Dec 6, 2007 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

4 people find this helpful

The reason why I love novels

Melancholic, romantic, spooky - classic Oscar Wilde.

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s tsui said on Mar 3, 2006 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

3 people find this helpful

When I first read The Picture of Dorian Gray, I was fascinated and mesmerised. I read it again a few years later. And this is my 3rd time. Read it in two days and couldn't put it down. Filled with epigrams, it is an epigram in itself. A masterpiece of chilling and evil.

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Lunarossa said on Sep 11, 2009 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

I just don’t understand how some people can live without having read ‘The Picture of Dorian
Gray’ at least once in their life. This is simply one of the most charming,
interesting, captivating, enjoyable and meaningful books I’ve ever read.
We all know the story: Basil Hallward, a painter, portra ... (continue)

I just don’t understand how some people can live without having read ‘The Picture of Dorian
Gray’ at least once in their life. This is simply one of the most charming,
interesting, captivating, enjoyable and meaningful books I’ve ever read.
We all know the story: Basil Hallward, a painter, portraits Dorian Gray, a beautiful and
young man. A friend of Basil’s, Lord Henry, who is going to influence Dorian a
lot, makes him conscious of his beauty and youth by making him look at his own
portrait. Dorian understands that beauty and youth are precious but fleeting,
so he wishes to be young and handsome forever and that his portrait pays for
his old-age and sins. “I would give my soul” he says. This will sign (and ruin)
his life forever. His portrait starts changing while Dorian stays the same, and
leads an immoral and dissipated life, until he realises… but then it’s too late.
We can all understand Dorian’s craving for beauty and youth, and what he does truly
fascinates and scares us at the same time.
The characters, not many but very well portrayed by Wilde, are charming and influential
personalities, especially Lord Henry, whose opinions are completely opposite to
the common sense and are consequently fascinating and enjoyable. He is probably
my favourite character.
What else shall I say? This is definitely a MUST-READ.

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MoonyBen said on Sep 30, 2011 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

I loved this book the first time I read it in 2007 and now I'm wondering why. I must have thought that it was deep, that it explained life to me, and I was captivated by all the great quotes. Now I see it as superficial and jaded-- probably one of the most depressingly jaded novels I've ever read. I ... (continue)

I loved this book the first time I read it in 2007 and now I'm wondering why. I must have thought that it was deep, that it explained life to me, and I was captivated by all the great quotes. Now I see it as superficial and jaded-- probably one of the most depressingly jaded novels I've ever read. It tries to be too clever with all of Lord Henry Wotton's insights, but they’re so obnoxious! No one could ever be that indifferent and witty. Not to mention that he's about the most loathsome character in literature. I absolutely hate him, probably more than I hate Dorian (though I hate him too). So two of the main characters were selfish, vain, and with an apathy towards others that was chilling.
Dorian Gray blames everyone for his troubles-- he's nothing but a whiny, blame shifting child. He says it's the fault of Lord Henry for telling him things and making him want to seek out pleasure, he blames Basil Hallward for making him vain about his good looks, he even insists that a book poisoned him. The only one he should be blaming is himself for being so weak and easily influenced. I didn't feel sorry for him at all. Sybil Vane and Basil Hallward are the only sympathetic characters in the book, because who hasn't been enamored by someone who is completely undeserving at one point? The fates of those two characters is absolutely heartbreaking.
It was very hard for me to get through this for the second time. I kept wanting to stop or throw the book across the room (never a good sensation, which luckily has only happened to me with a few books in my lifetime). So I really had to push myself to finish this. And by the end, I had grown numb and felt absolutely nothing, not even triumph at the end that Dorian Gray met. If Oscar Wilde wanted to create a lifeless book, then he certainly accomplished it, but I don't know what Wilde was thinking when he wrote this. I hope that it's supposed to be a warning to people and that he didn't actually believe a lot of the things he was talking about. If he did believe in the worldview that is presented here, then that's extremely worrying. This is what I was wondering about as I read.
I don't think I've ever had such differing reactions to a book before... where I loved it at first and then hated it a few years later. It's certainly well written, but when the subject matter is so dark and without hope, how can you enjoy it?

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Moirne Stark said on Sep 10, 2011 | Add your feedback

Read and keep as resource

Like Ecclesiastes in novel form without any relationship with God. Good picture of the disgusting end of trying only pleasure and living for self-indulgence. The end is numbness to all beauty and no reference point for an ideal. Also a good picture of hardening your own conscience. The picture of si ... (continue)

Like Ecclesiastes in novel form without any relationship with God. Good picture of the disgusting end of trying only pleasure and living for self-indulgence. The end is numbness to all beauty and no reference point for an ideal. Also a good picture of hardening your own conscience. The picture of sin is gut turning without being graphic. The sentences are beautiful with words that are as much poetry as prose.

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Brandon Current said on Sep 2, 2011 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback