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The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1891)
Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, Forever is a long time... I get bored at cocktail parties!--Submitted by Tequila Mockingbird.
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Oscar Wilde's perfectly charming and witty manner of expression will enchant you in more ways than one. He is a master storyteller and drifts through the story like a gentle summer breeze through odour filled roses, giving you the feeling that you can literally smell the flower he is describing. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a masterpiece. A beautiful story, based in a beautiful era. The story focuses on an extremely handsome young man, who at the beginning is naively not aware of the power this brings. Through his friend Basil, the artist who is to blame for the exquisite portrait of Dorian, he meets Lord Henry, the fun loving, dangerously influential gentleman who takes a liking to Dorian and makes him a sort of protégé of his. It is Lord Henry that takes Dorian's innocence and teaches him the way of the world, or British society, and sparks the light of vanity and pride in Dorian. This magical story enters into the fragile world of youth and old age, the thirst to maintain the former and the fear of the inevitable latter, accompanied with dreadful emotions of love, shame, hate, fear...I can't imagine why no one has made a movie of it yet. This is one book that will stand on your shelf with pride, and will be the most worn and torn one there. Enjoy the genius of Wilde.--Submitted by Ivana Magdenoska.
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Dorian Grey&Why Devil didn't play his key role?
I just posted my first blog here.I can't say it is a Review of the book,i call it Abstract and i wrote a few already on my favorite masterpieces. My review is named *Dorian Grey&A Conversation with Oscar Wilde* I don't know if you asked yourself why Mr.Wilde didn't give the Devil an active role in his novele-i think Devil was not present as a character who take part in events. Goethe and Mikhail Bulgakov gave Devil a key role to act from the very beginning of their works. i would like to know your thinking on this theme. To read my abstract,please visit my blog here. If i posted this on wrong place,then a thread could be :What is your thinking about Abstracts? How do you like my writing and what do you think about such method of expression?
Posted By rima at Wed 1 Oct 2008, 3:48 PM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 5 Replies
Essay Help!!
Hi, Im writing an essay for my english class and I was wondering if someone could help me out on the following topics... 1. Comment on Lord Henry and Dorian as "artists of their own lives." 2. Discuss in depth the "terrible moral" in Dorian Gray. 3. Explain how and why Dorian has "sold his soul to the devil." If anyone can help and send me feedback on these topics it would be great and I would really appreciate it
Posted By Dirtbikedude13 at Fri 14 Dec 2007, 12:42 AM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 1 Reply
Lord Henry
Lord Henry: Love him or hate him? I think he's a thoroughly disgusting, slimy dandy of a man. I don't care if he's witty, he messed up Dorian entirely. Though perhaps that's the whole point to the story.
Posted By andave_ya at Mon 22 Oct 2007, 7:53 PM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 3 Replies
Shallowness?
"The supreme vice is shallowness" - Wilde wrote this in De Profundis. Somehow I think PoDG's theme is in this quote. Lord Henry was a shallow person who cares about nothing but external beauty and almost-sadistic pleasure. He corrupted Dorian and turns him into a shallow person obsessed with something as irrelevant as appearance. In the end it destroyed Dorian. So I think it's to show how shallowness is the most evil of all vices. It stops us from looking deep within and see our soul. Anyone agrees?
Posted By Clover_K at Thu 4 Oct 2007, 5:10 AM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 2 Replies
Can a book corrupt?
The main point of this post was to see if anyone knows what book it was that Lord Henry gave Dorian that so fully changed him? Was it purely ficticious or a partially fictionilized yet real book? I would love to know. Also, though, as I side note... when lord henry claimed that books cannot corrupt, that they are infact steryl, it started me on a very interesting train of though... i was wondering if anyone else was struck by this... To sum it up: Name that book Are books steryl?
Posted By hfischbach at Sat 14 Apr 2007, 1:22 AM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 11 Replies
Concerning Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray is indeed a good book. It is brilliant how the message of it is brought to the reader.
Posted By africana at Wed 4 Apr 2007, 12:37 PM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 1 Reply
Link to Contemporary Celebrity Culture
Hi there, I am currently writing my dissertation on the Picture of Dorian Gray, and how the novel relates to the more current ideals of celebrity culture, and the ideas of the 'newness' of celebrity at the time it was written and how it is an accurate comparison to society today. And perhaps how the downfall of Dorian (as a form of celebrity) is almost a warning against it? Any help/ideas would be much apprechiated, Thanks, xx
Posted By foxynats at Thu 22 Feb 2007, 8:07 AM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 4 Replies
Book Report
Hi! . I read "The portrait of Dorian Grey" last year and I really like it. So I would like to make a book report of it for my english class in rusia. Can anyone help me please? First I need to describe the main characters´ personalities and phisical appearence(only Dorian :blush: , Basil, and Henry) . I also need to write briefly the general background (settings). Plz , plz help me ! or I won´t pass :sick: . luv ya bye. PS Sorry for my terrible english.
Posted By idontknow at Tue 21 Nov 2006, 6:26 PM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 1 Reply
Essay Help
Hi, I am writing an essay on the following question: "In Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray, does the picture itself contradict the aesthetic theory that art and morality are divorced? Does it reveal the dangerous consequences of blurring the distinction between art and life? In short, does the overall context of the novel offer a repudiation of extreme aestheticism?" Any suggestions? Much appreciated.
Posted By Samsung at Thu 20 Jul 2006, 1:29 PM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 1 Reply
What class?
Sorry, this probably sounds like a really stupid and pointless question, but what class were Dorian and Lord Henry in? Was is the middle class or the upper class? Sounds irrelevant, but it's an important part of an essay I need to write and I can't seem to find any clue in the book itself. Either that or I'm just missing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Posted By lemon the kitty at Fri 14 Jul 2006, 1:26 PM in The Picture of Dorian Gray || 5 Replies