THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY - PLOT OVERVIEW
In the
stately London home of his aunt, Lady Brandon, the well-known
artist Basil Hallward meets Dorian Gray. Dorian is a cultured,
wealthy, and impossibly beautiful young man who immediately
captures Basil’s artistic imagination. Dorian sits for several
portraits, and Basil often depicts him as an ancient Greek
hero or a mythological figure. When the novel opens, the
artist is completing his first portrait of Dorian as he truly
is, but, as he admits to his friend Lord Henry Wotton, the
painting disappoints him because it reveals too much of his
feeling for his subject. Lord Henry, a famous wit who enjoys
scandalizing his friends by celebrating youth, beauty, and the
selfish pursuit of pleasure, disagrees, claiming that the
portrait is Basil’s masterpiece. Dorian arrives at the studio,
and Basil reluctantly introduces him to Lord Henry, who he
fears will have a damaging influence on the impressionable,
young Dorian.
Basil’s fears are
well founded; before the end of their first conversation, Lord
Henry upsets Dorian with a speech about the transient nature of
beauty and youth. Worried that these, his most impressive
characteristics, are fading day by day, Dorian curses his
portrait, which he believes will one day remind him of the
beauty he will have lost. In a fit of distress, he pledges his
soul if only the painting could bear the burden of age and
infamy, allowing him to stay forever young. In an attempt to
appease Dorian, Basil gives him the portrait.
Over the next few weeks, Lord Henry’s influence
over Dorian grows stronger. The youth becomes a disciple of the “new Hedonism”
and proposes to live a life dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure. He falls in
love with Sibyl Vane, a young actress who performs in a theater in London’s
slums. He adores her acting; she, in turn, refers to him as “Prince Charming”
and refuses to heed the warnings of her brother, James Vane, that Dorian is no
good for her. Overcome by her emotions for Dorian, Sibyl decides that she can
no longer act, wondering how she can pretend to love on the stage now that she
has experienced the real thing. Dorian, who loves Sibyl
because of her ability to act, cruelly
breaks his engagement with her. After doing so, he returns home to notice that
his face in Basil’s portrait of him has changed: it now sneers. Frightened
that his wish for his likeness in the painting to bear the ill effects of his
behavior has come true and that his sins will be recorded on the canvas, he
resolves to make amends with Sibyl the next day. The following afternoon,
however, Lord Henry brings news that Sibyl has killed herself. At Lord Henry’s
urging, Dorian decides to consider her death a sort of artistic triumph—she
personified tragedy—and to put the matter behind him. Meanwhile, Dorian hides
his portrait in a remote upper room of his house, where no one other than he
can watch its transformation.
Lord Henry gives Dorian a book that
describes the wicked exploits of a nineteenth-century Frenchman; it becomes
Dorian’s bible as he sinks ever deeper into a life of sin and corruption. He
lives a life devoted to garnering new experiences and sensations with no
regard for conventional standards of morality or the consequences of his
actions. Eighteen years pass. Dorian’s reputation suffers in circles of polite
London society, where rumors spread regarding his scandalous exploits. His
peers nevertheless continue to accept him because he remains young and
beautiful. The figure in the painting, however, grows increasingly wizened and
hideous. On a dark, foggy night, Basil Hallward arrives at Dorian’s home to
confront him about the rumors that plague his reputation. The two argue, and
Dorian eventually offers Basil a look at his (Dorian’s) soul. He shows Basil
the now-hideous portrait, and Hallward, horrified, begs him to repent. Dorian
claims it is too late for penance and kills Basil in a fit of rage.
In order to dispose of the body, Dorian employs
the help of an estranged friend, a doctor, whom he blackmails. The night after
the murder, Dorian makes his way to an opium den, where he encounters James
Vane, who attempts to avenge Sibyl’s death. Dorian escapes to his country
estate. While entertaining guests, he notices James Vane peering in through a
window, and he becomes wracked by fear and guilt. When a hunting party
accidentally shoots and kills Vane, Dorian feels safe again. He resolves to
amend his life but cannot muster the courage to confess his crimes, and the
painting now reveals his supposed desire to repent for what it is—hypocrisy.
In a fury, Dorian picks up the knife he used to stab Basil Hallward and
attempts to destroy the painting. There is a crash, and his servants enter to
find the portrait, unharmed, showing Dorian Gray as a beautiful young man. On
the floor lies the body of their master—an old man, horribly wrinkled and
disfigured, with a knife plunged into his heart.
