: The Secret
The novel begins with Dorian Gray, a very handsome young man, having his picture painted by Basil Hallward. Dorian is still in a state of innocence. However, he is subjected to a demonic sermon by Lord Henry Wotton, in which Lord Henry preaches to him that he should live a complete life devoted to the pursuit of sensations.
Lord Henry’s sermon has a corrupting influence on Dorian, and when the youth sees his completed picture, he wishes that he could remain eternally young while the picture grows old instead.
He then accepts Lord Henry as his guide and tutor in life, and so he starts his gradual descent into evil.
He falls in love with a very innocent and immature young actress, Sibyl Vane to satisfy a new ‘passion for sensations’, but he soon rejects her, and she commits suicide. After Sibyl’s suicide, Dorian’s picture changes, acquiring a touch of cruelty, and so Dorian realizes that the wish he made in Basil Hallward’s studio has been granted. He locks the picture up in the attic of his home.
Bit by bit, Dorian begins to pursue a double life: he presents a moral face to respectable society, but also pursues a secret life of sin, while his picture reflects the corruption of his soul while he himself remains young and innocent-looking.
Dorian lives like this for twenty years, until he murders Basil Hallward. This fact creates a feeling of revulsion in him and he tries to recapture his lost innocence. He fails, and finally, in despair, he stabs his picture, identifying it with his conscience.
The result is that Dorian the man ages suddenly and dies, while the picture regains its initial appearance of youth and innocence.
Mixture of styles, lists of expensive objects and furniture mixed with pateresque reflection on beauty, Victorian melodrama, common place gothic references.
Tone is lofty (sublime, high, elegant).
Artist is speaking to the common man from higher intellectual and aesthetic level.
1° The immortality of art is represented in the final scene of the book. Art is thus more true to life than life itself.
2° The divided self of psychology is represented by the character of Dorian.
3° Narcissus and Faustus are represented by Dorian Gray; he falls in love with himself (when he sees Basil portrait).
: The Secret