book report by Danielle Tillinger

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.

Dorian Grey was beautiful man that came to London for   Get the inheritance from his grandfather , A huge mansion and lots of money. Where he met a painter named Basil Hallward , Basil  saw Dorian as an inspiration and drew a portrait of him. It was a beautiful portrait of perfect person . Every people came to see that portrait and every one agree that this was perfect. One of the people was Lord Henry that was a owned a large company,They had stayed in good contact ever since and Lord visited him every day. One night Dorian and Lord  strolled through the alleys of London and entered some theater enjoyed the show. after the show Dorian went behind the scenes to see who this beautiful actress was. Her name was Sybil, beautiful and special women. It was his first love. They went out together and fell in love with each other. One day the Lord decided to take Dorian to the bar he loved very much, and from there everything changed. Lord told him something he had not forgotten since, “Beauty is the most important” since everything that interested Dorian was his beauty. 

• Dorian Gray – a handsome, narcissistic young man enthralled by Lord Henry’s “new” hedonism. He indulges in every pleasure and virtually every ‘sin’, studying its effect upon him, which eventually leads to his death.

• Basil Hallward – a deeply moral man, the painter of the portrait, and infatuated with Dorian, whose patronage realises his potential as an artist. The picture of Dorian Gray is Basil’s masterpiece.

• Lord Henry “Harry” Wotton – an imperious aristocrat and a decadent dandy who espouses a philosophy of self-indulgent hedonism. Initially Basil’s friend, he neglects him for Dorian’s beauty. The character of witty Lord Harry is a critique of Victorian culture at the Fin de siècle – of Britain at the end of the 19th century. Lord Harry’s libertine world view corrupts Dorian, who then successfully emulates him. To the aristocrat Harry, the observant artist Basil says, “You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing.” Lord Henry takes pleasure in impressing, influencing, and even misleading his acquaintances (to which purpose he bends his considerable wit and eloquence) but appears not to observe his own hedonistic advice, preferring to study himself with scientific detachment. His distinguishing feature is total indifference to the consequences of his actions. Scholars generally accept the character is partly inspired by Wilde’s friend Lord Ronald Gower.

• Sibyl Vane – a talented actress and singer, she is the beautiful girl, of a poor family, with whom Dorian falls in love. Her love for Dorian ruins her acting ability, because she no longer finds pleasure in portraying fictional love as she is now experiencing real love in her life. She kills herself on learning that Dorian no longer loves her; at that, Lord Henry likens her to Ophelia, in Hamlet.

• James Vane – Sibyl’s brother, a sailor who leaves for Australia. He is very protective of his sister, especially as their mother cares only for Dorian’s money. Believing that Dorian means to harm Sibyl, James hesitates to leave, and promises vengeance upon Dorian if any harm befalls her. After Sibyl’s suicide, James becomes obsessed with killing Dorian, and stalks him, but a hunter accidentally kills James. The brother’s pursuit of vengeance upon the lover (Dorian Gray), for the death of the sister (Sibyl) parallels that of Laertes vengeance against Prince Hamlet.

• Alan Campbell – chemist and one-time friend of Dorian who ended their friendship when Dorian’s libertine reputation devalued such a friendship. Dorian blackmails Alan into destroying the body of the murdered Basil Hallward; Campbell later shoots himself dead.

• Lord Fermor – Lord Henry’s uncle, who tells his nephew, Lord Henry Wotton, about the family lineage of Dorian Gray.

• Adrian Singleton – A youthful friend of Dorian’s, whom he evidently introduced to opium addiction, which induced him to forge a cheque and made him a total outcast from his family and social set.

• Victoria, Lady Wotton – Lord Henry’s wife, whom he treats disdainfully; she later divorces him.

Dorian was innocent and thoughtful, he was young in spirit, just a good person.

The book was very interesting, I learned that it is not always good to be different and not always good to listen to other people, to you according to your way, I enjoyed reading the book.