The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray is by far one of the best books that I have ever read. I am a writer, and the clever use of words in this books astounds me, as well as the way that Oscar Wilde weaves description with emotions that every human being experiences in their lives. When I was younger, perhaps my understanding of the book was limited, although as I grow older and see the age lines start to appear, his writing makes great sense, because it is ...
...growing old himself, the portrait that he has commissioned of himself at an age when he is young and in his prime would age in his place. The book begins with beautiful description of surroundings and Oscar Wilde cleverly pulls you in to the story as any good writer tries to. I am envious of his seemingly simple invitation to read on. The story begins "The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst ...

thingywhatsit 02.04.2004 (29.04.2004) · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ “It is the spectator, and not life that art really mirrors”. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In “The Picture of Dorian Gray” the wonderful fop Oscar Wilde paints a bleak picture of the repellent side of human nature as the beautiful hero Dorian Gray ages not one jot between lewd acts and malefaction but the sinister portrait of him hanging in the attic takes on all the pestilence, age and filth that ...
...is an iconoclastic image of the age: it matters little if you have ever read the book but I would be surprised if many English-speaking adults did not know at least the central theme of this most famous of short stories. The once pure “child” that is the early Dorian reveals all the stains on his blackened soul through the hidden picture. There are many themes, if you chose to follow them, that bring a multi-layered offering to the reader, and it ...

Kirsty1 24.02.2003 (18.09.2004) · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...you were to think of the classic horror stories of the nineteenth century, I am sure you would be in mind of…say, Dracula or Doctor Jeckle and Mr Hyde. You will think the names Poe and Lovecraft. Some of you might even think of Oscar Wilde and ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey.’ Grey by the way seems to be spelt both as Grey and Gray! This is the book that I had promised myself I would read at least five years ago, and now I have done just that. But was ...
...as being? The first sketches to be put on the canvas that is ‘The Picture of Dorian Grey’ are an introduction to three main characters. Three friends, all of different personalities… to begin with anyway. We have the young, naïve Dorian of the title, sitting for a portrait by top artist Basil Hallward and we have Lord Henry Wotton. Basil has become quite fond of the young Mr Grey, and Lord Henry is curious of the gentleman. Dorian appears to him ...

Borg 25.03.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...consider myself well-read, compared with the number of books on the market I feel I?m hardly literate. Rarely do I read a book a second time although I´ve got lots which would be worth it. Why have I decided to honour this novel with a second perusal? I read the German translation in my teens and since then Oscar Wilde has always been with me, so to speak. I´ve read his children´s stories, seen on the stage and read with my students The Importance ...
...Windermere´s Fan and have seen the film on Oscar Wilde starring Stephen Fry. What has always pleased me is Wilde´s use of the English language, his witty apercus and aphorisms. I like using those myself with the difference that I don´t invent many not being a genius ;-), luckily I´m able to pick them up, store them and use them when appropriate. The Picture Of Dorian Grey then. Wilde´s only novel created a scandal when it appeared in 1890, difficult ...

MALU 12.12.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...Extraordinary Gentleman" (which had the good fortune of starring Sean Connery), and was interested in the story. So having found it I settled in to read. Not having read much Oscar Wilde, I did not know what to expect, but I did expect a bit more than what I got. Young Dorian Gray is a very beautiful youth, in whose looks his friend, Basil Hallward, finds the perfect muse for his painting. Due to Basil's flattery, he becomes very vain and very fond ...
...an oath, that he wished the painting could age while he kept his youthful looks. They say be careful what you wish, for it might come true. In this case, of course, his wish comes true, otherwise the story would probably have fizzled out rather sooner. Influenced by Lord Henry, he begins to experience all the joys that life can offer him. In the course of experiencing these joys he breaks a girl's heart, which leads to her death. It is then that ...

Rebeccs 18.11.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...just about every genre in the book, and in life he was both amused and pained that many thought this range suggested superficiality. That is one crime of which Wilde can never be justifiably accused. The content of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', a work which is almost semi-autobiographical, works on a multitude of levels. In short, this is the story of a man exposed, through literature given to him by one Lord Henry, to the darker side of life, the ...
...pleasures with vigour and enthusiasm, the once pure-hearted Dorian Gray becomes a black beast. He remains youthful, beautiful and saintly looking, while all the time the titular picture of him grows more and more repellent as it begins to display his true countenance - the stains on his soul, his age and inner ugliness. With this clean, neat metaphor, Wilde allows himself to explore several themes. Firstly, there is the hypocrisy of the individual, ...

RichardW 17.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

..."Lippincott's Monthly Magazine" in 1890. The novel was overwhelmingly condemned by British journals of the time because it failed to show "a single good and holy impulse in human nature" We first meet Dorian as a young man who has agreed to sit for the painter Basil Hallward. Basil is captivated by his beauty and paints him several times before attempting a huge full-length portrait of amazing quality and depth; in fact Basil thinks it's his best ...
...gift and forms the focal point of Dorian?s undoing. Basil has taken great care that Dorian should never meet Lord Henry Wotton, but Lord Henry visits Basil at his studio when Dorian is doing a sitting and so the pair meet. Basil knows that meeting Lord Henry is going to have unwanted consequences and so tries to prevent further meetings, however Dorian is interested in the things Lord Henry has to say. Lord Henry causes Dorian to think about how ...

Azurel 12.04.2002 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...autobiorgathy connected to one of the best books I've ever read and admired. “The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.” Looking for beauty in everything that surrounds you is a noble and useless ...
...Who can deny the power of words? They make you act, but more importantly, they make you think. Most people cannot thrive on any other types of art. A vast museum or a good concert of classical music makes us feel our own good-for-nothingness. Books heal. As an example of a really healing, beautiful and immortal book I would strongly recommend “The Portrait of Dorian Grey” by Oscar Wilde. Of course all of you know the thrilling story, ...

happy_hamster 20.03.2001 (16.05.2001) · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

This was the first book by Oscar Wilde I ever read, it was an absolute pleasure to read. There is such descriptive beauty captured within Wilde's words, the way he describes Mr Gray, the inspiration for the paintings of Basil Hallward. The story begins with an artist, (Basil Hallward), finding a,'young man of extraordinary personal beauty', who is his model for his art. It is a story of innocence being lost by living. Basil paints a portrait, Dorian ...
...see all his wrongs on the canvass. The portrait grows so ugly Dorian hides it from the world, but still it taunts him. I am not going to tell you too much about the plot because it will spoil the story for those who have not read the book. This is a tale of life, love, betrayal, death and vanity. I can not imagine that Oscar Wilde could have written so passionately about his subject, without knowing someone very beautiful to base Dorian on. This ...

singingsnail 15.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...I think I would enjoyed the novel more than I have. But the basic story plot is Basil Hallward artfully put the finishing touches on his full-length portrait of an extraordinarily beautiful young man, Lord Henry Wotton paid him a call. Lord Henry much admired the painting and desired to meet the subject. The artist objected, knowing the poisonous influence of which Lord Henry was capable; young Dorian Gray was his ideal of purity and had inspired ...
...Dorian Gray. Against Hallward's wishes, the two met, and Dorian was immediately taken by Lord Henry's fascinating words, presence and wittiness. Henry flattered Dorian with his comments on the virtues of beauty, the charms of youth, and expressed his sadness at the thought that such youth should fade into the ugliness of age. This caused Dorian to plummet into melancholy. Seeing his portrait for the first time, Dorian gasped at his own beauty. He ...

Samurai_Sam 19.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old… I would give my soul for that’ This is the wish uttered by Dorian Gray as gazes on his portrait painted by the amazing artist Bazil Hallward, and with out realizing sells his soul to the devil. As the story continues his need for vanity increases as well as his need to be vicious even to his so called friends. This story is set in Victorian times and therefore portrays the way that upper ...
...prosperous young man’s descent into the low society in London. During this story He is inspired by two things: the book Lord Henry sends him that seems to predict his own life in ‘dissecting every virtue and every sin from the past’; and secondly the picture of himself which grows steadily older and more vicious looking compared to his own mirror image which remains young. Fanatical about the portrait, he is driven to murder and deception. This ...

chocolatecookymonster 22.04.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

**This is an opinion on the movie adaption of the book** Oscar Wilde wrote this simple tale about a handsome man who wishes to retain his looks and youth. The suspence thriller is extremely long, detailing the story of Dorian Grey, a man who through strange magic and a mysterious pact, manages to stay youthful as all around him grow old. The script is well written adapted from Oscar Wilde's novel. and although I found it a little too obvious, I ...
...script and the outcome. The movie is filmed in Black and White, but with a little cinema magic, part of the film, perhaps the key to the whole movie, is filmed in color. An artist paints a portrait of Dorian Grey, this painting is a key part to the movie, I won't reveal the secret here otherwise I will ruin the story. Suffice to say that the painting is the only item of the movie in color. Lovers and friends grow old as Dorian Grey remains youthful, ...

Simoncook1 01.02.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

What strikes me most about The Picture Of Dorian Gray is that it was Wilde's only novel. It astounds me that any author can produce such a work of art, let alone as a first novel and I wonder whether it's better that Wilde never wrote another one because it may be a disappointment in comparison or whether we've been robbed of more brilliant novels by this incredible writer. I love Oscar Wilde and have never read anything by him which didn't amuse ...
...excellency is consistent throughout. The story is unique and I love the supernatural nature of the painting aging and showing Dorian Gray's blemishes (both physical and personal) while Gray himself remains young and beautiful. If you're too literal, you may find the plot hard to digest, but I don't think that all literature is supposed to be realistic - there's plenty of room for fantasy and suspension of disbelief. Just don't get caught up in thinking ...

DoubleFantasy11 13.08.2005 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

I was engulfed from the start. Oscar Wilde has such an enchanting way of writing that is simple to comprehend, flowery in words, colourful in imagination and seamless in chapters. I could not put this book down. The story of a young man in the socially aware and decadent late 19 Century who is awakened to his own physical beauty and is led to a path of self destruction fuelled by his insatiable appetite for all that is exquisite, all that is beautiful, ...
...only by his looks. The story of a young man who steadily slides into depravity and late night shadows in his quest to devour all life experiences while desperately clinging onto the daytime sham of respectability. The book wonderfully encapsulates a warning to those who possess an aptitude for social gluttony and a disrespect for any repercussion which may ensue in their lust to pursue it. The literature reminds me of a splendid velvet cape adorned ...

TitusThunderwulf 28.05.2009 (29.05.2009) · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

...this is priceless. This is the only work where I have gasped out aloud whilst reading it. The final chapter is dark and beautiful and has a twist in the tail that will shock even the most hardened reader of fantasy literature. The work is typically funny and is punctuated by a mass of Wildean aphorism and maxims commenting on women, marriage and art. Though there are parts of this book which are hard going it is well worth the slog. ...

lewiscrofts 17.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde