Picture Of Dorian Gray (1891 Version)
Picture Of Dorian Gray (1891 Version)
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a haunting Gothic fable about the price of eternal youth and the corruption of the soul. When the beautiful Dorian Gray sits for Basil Hallward's portrait, he makes a desperate wish: that he might remain forever young while the painting bears the marks of time and sin. His wish is granted. As Dorian descends into a life of hedonism and moral decay, encouraged by the dangerously charming Lord Henry Wotton, his portrait becomes a grotesque mirror of his soul, hidden away in the attic, screaming. Wilde's only novel is a virtuosic display of wit and a dark meditation on vanity, hedonism, and the masks we wear. The prose crackles with epigrams even as the story slides toward something like tragedy. It remains a chilling exploration of what we sacrifice for beauty and what we become when we believe we're beyond consequence.
X-Ray
