Oscar Wilde’s celebrated book is a Gothic horror novel with the central theme of the effects of evil and debauchery. Dorian Gray is a young, extremely good-looking man with an appreciation of art and beauty. His friend, the artist Basil Hallward, paints a portrait of Dorian. While Dorian poses for the portrait, he meets Hallward’s friend, a Lord Henry Wotton.
At the meeting, Dorian becomes enthralled with Lord Henry’s world view, which is a form of radical hedonism, and outright rejection of all that would be classified a “decent” behaviour, and posits that the only worthwhile life is one spent pursuing beauty and satisfaction for the senses.
When Basil gifts Dorian the portrait, Dorian strikes a Faustian bargain: “If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old!”
As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world.
And this is where the real depravity begins. Dorian’s world has no consequences. Everything he does is attributed to the painting, everything. Any regret or malice leaves him quickly and is transferred to the canvas. So he can’t technically feel emotion for an extended period of time; thus, his attitude becomes one of nonchalance. He becomes a shell, an emotionless creature who can only seek his sin: vanity.
Interestingly, even at his worst, he retains a semblance of the original innocence, a part of him believing that he may be redeemed. He is fighting the inner struggle, and constantly asking himself, “Do I want to be good?” “Can I resist being bad?”
A classic must read book.