There's something transporting about reading a piece of classic literature. It takes one back in time to shine a spotlight on all the cultural changes that have occurred since being published, in this case, 1890. As I was reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, I couldn't help but think of how far vanity in our society has gone, since vanity is the main theme of this novel. What would Wilde think of plastic surgery, extreme dieting trends, Botox and collagen injections, the age of selfies, outlandish and revealing clothing, social media posturing, etc.?
Dorian Gray gets his portrait painted by his artist friend, Basil Hallward. Being just twenty years old, Dorian is struck by his own beauty upon laying eyes on the painting. Perhaps being influenced by their mutual friend Lord Henry Wotton telling him, "We never get back our youth", Dorian proclaims that he would give his soul if he could always stay young, and if the figure in the portrait would grow old instead. It seems that someone is listening.
Dorian goes through the next decades of his life pursuing pleasures of the senses while seemingly corrupting anyone else with whom he comes in contact. While Dorian himself stays youthful looking and beautiful, the figure in the portrait grows old, ugly and evil looking, reflecting every cruel deed that Dorian enacts. It seems that the portrait is conscious of the events of Dorian's life as they occur. Wilde writes, "What the worm was to the corpse, his sins would be to the painted image on the canvas". Dorian is repulsed and frightened by the painting and keeps it hidden away but continues his narcissistic ways.
Lord Henry (an unsympathetic character), though not knowing about the magical painting, encourages Dorian by urging him to think only of himself and speaking in absolutes. At one point he says, "I am afraid that women appreciate cruelty more than anything else". When he tells Dorian, "Art has no influence on action", Dorian proves him wrong. When Dorian breaks off a romantic relationship with a young woman, thinking it was a good deed because he was "sparing her" (although in reality breaking her heart), he notices it has no reversal effect on the painting. This proves to be his downfall as he tries to destroy the painting and only succeeds in destroying himself.
The message on conceitedness is timeless, and Oscar Wilde delivers it in a novel that stand up to the years. This reader's late father (an English professor and poet) and dear uncle (a philosophy professor and accomplished writer) get my thanks for the encouragement to read The Picture of Dorian Gray. This classic gets five stars out of https://youtube.com/shorts/MQRg4Mg-oJ0?si=fNdEkbT0RVARwwvG
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