The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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Oscar! Oscar!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is about the timeless quest for youth and beauty. The desire to find a fountain of youth rings as true today as it did in 1890 when the story was first published. Dorian Gray is a young and dashingly handsome man. When he looks at a portrait that was painted of him it stirs up the regrettable fact that he’s at the top of his game now and will never look better.  He’s irritated that the portrait will continue to look the same and in a sense mock him as he ages in real life. What’s a man to do?  There was no such thing as plastic surgery back then, and Botox was unheard of. Dorian laments: “Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now!”[1]Boom. He gets his wish. That brings us to the old adage, be careful what you wish for. While he stays crispy, fresh, and pure, his painting bears the devastatingly hideous marks of age and the dark bubbling hot tub of sin into which Dorian is submerging himself.  He comes to hate the painting that reflects the likeness of his true soul, and this does not make for a happy life. It haunts him and drives him on to self-destruction.
I truly enjoyed this story, and thought it was definitely worth reading, such an interesting concept. Who wouldn’t be tempted by the power to conquer wrinkles and sagging skin?  

The book was made into a movie in 1945 starring Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray.  I’ve never seen the movie, and I’ve never heard of Hurd.  But I have heard of Angela Lansbury who played Sibyl Vane, Dorian’s love interest. She was up for best supporting actress in the 18thAcademy Awards. Angela lost to Anne Revere in National Velvet, but Dorian Gray wasn’t left out in the cold.  The Picture of Dorian Gray did win for best black and white cinematography.  

Get ready for the 85th Academy Awards this Sunday, February 24, 2013 at 7:00pm Eastern time, 4:00pm Pacific time on ABC! 

Happy reading!
Annette

[1]Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray(Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, 1890; reprint, Cleveland, OH: The World Publishing Group, 1944; reprint, New York: A Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster, 1990), 16.

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