A
PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY
By Oscar Wilde
Abstract by Manda
Djinn
Basil has a new model. His name is Dorian and his face is the
face of an angel. Basil flatters and worships his model and waits every day for
the sight of him. Finally, he paints the
portrait. It is by far the best work he’s
ever done but he’ll never exhibit it, too much of his soul is there.
Basil’s friend, Lord Henry, an amoral man about town, meets
Dorian at Basil’s studio. His worldly talk excites Dorian who is innocence
personified. Lord Henry becomes Dorian’s mentor in spite of Basil’s plea for
Dorian’s innocence.
Dorian regards the finished portrait and is
overcome by its flawless beauty. Spontaneously he declares he’d give his soul
to keep his youth and have the portrait age instead.
Basil’s
friendship is thrust aside and Lord Henry squires him about town. One night,
alone at the opera, Dorian falls in love with Sibyl Vane, an exquisite young
actress unknown but talented. They are continually together and plan to
marry which surprises Lord Henry since he knows Dorian better than Dorian
knows himself. Lord Henry tells Basil about the forthcoming marriage and
they plan to attend the opera, with Dorian, to meet Sibyl.
But love
has changed Sibyl. The need for role - playing has disappeared and that night
her shallow performance is worthless, boring the three friends. Basil and Lord
Henry leave. Backstage, while Sibyl is happy and radiant because of the
change wrought in her by his love, Dorian dismisses her, refusing to see her
again. She is heartbroken.
Sibyl’s brother, James Vane, vows to
avenge any harm done to her.
Dorian leaves the theater and later,
in his room, notices a change in his portrait: a cruel sneer twists the mouth.
Is this imagination? The memory of his wish on first seeing the portrait
returns. He covers the portrait. Remorse envelops him; he will marry Sibyl;
devote his life to her. Lord Henry arrives with the news of Sibyl’s suicide.
Dorian knows he is lost; the sneer in the portrait is the result of his meeting
with Sibyl.
He slips deeper under Lord Henry’s influence. His
reputation declines though it is difficult to reconcile the stories of drugs and
debauchery with his youthful, innocent beauty. The portrait now resides in
the dusty
attic behind a velvet drape. Only the
old butler knows of the attic so
Dorian dismisses him, keeping his secret safe. He checks the picture
periodically. Lines of old age etch the once beautiful face, now twisted and
ugly with the marks of his sins: the state of his soul.
Basil visits
him, insisting he reform his life. Where is the portrait? Basil plans to center
his next exhibit around it.
In the attic, Dorian unveils the portrait
to Basil who mourns the innocent boy he once painted. Dorian stabs Basil
again and again then leaves the corpse and the weapon in the attic. Later he
calls Alan, a former friend – with knowledge of chemistry - and blackmails
him into dissolving the body.
He now lives the writings in
Satyricon, a reading present from Lord Henry. Much time is spent collecting
beauty, being flattered by old and young women alike and losing himself in
opium dens.
Occasionally he goes to the top of the stairs, turns
the key in the old lock, opens the door and regards the portrait, wondering at
his soul’s horrid ugliness in the picture suffering his sins.
Twenty
years after her death, Sibyl’s brother finally finds the man responsible for her
suicide and almost kills him. But Dorian appears to be about twenty years old
therefore cannot be the same person.
James learns his mistake and
stalks Dorian to his estate but is killed by an overly anxious hunter during a
hunt.
Dorian rejoices, freedom at last: Basil’s body gone, Alan
dead from suicide, James killed by accident. He will reform, he tells Lord
Henry, who scoffs at this reformation.
Dorian climbs to the attic.
The picture iss worse than before with bright blood dripping from both hands.
Why had he kept this monstrous exhibit until now? Get rid of it. Destroy it. He
takes the same knife used on Basil and stabs the portrait.
Later,
his servants enter the room. They see on the wall, a picture of the beautiful
Dorian Gray and on the floor, a dead man withered with age. Only after
looking at the rings on his fingers do they realize this old man is their
master, Mr. Dorian Gray.
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