“The picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde

“The picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest. As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years hard labor after being convicted of "gross indecency" with other men. He never returned to Ireland or Britain.

One of the most famous Wilde’s  works and also his only published novel was “The picture of Dorian Gray”. There are displayed such topics as: beauty, art and vanity in this novel.

In the novel “The picture of Dorian Gray”, Oscar Wilde tells a story of a young handsome man named Dorian Gray. Dorian is admired by many people because of his beauty. He meets a famous artist Basil Hallward, who decides to draw Dorian’s portrait, which becomes a real masterpiece. Gray becomes friends with Basil’s friend Lord Henry, who has great influence on him and opens a world full of vanity, idleness and immorality for him. Dorian makes a wish to be always young and handsome and his dream comes true. His portrait grows old and he stays young. But living a life full of vanity, lies, indecency and even murders, his portrait becomes as ugly  as Dorian’s soul. The main character can’t stand himself anymore, so he tears his own portrait and ends his truly indecent life.

The main idea of a novel is that true art is not a beauty of your appearance, but it’s a beauty of your soul.

To my mind, this novel by Oscar Wilde shows the drawback of people in the society – people’s vanity. It has great morality: you should live your life decently , because if you are a mean person and don’t care about anyone but yourself, these qualities won’t bring you happiness. It also reveals, that beauty doesn’t always mean something good, it’s the art of virtue in your personality that makes you beautiful.