Table of Contents
What does Basil Hallward symbolize?
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a kind of morality tale, in that Basil represents God the Creator of Art. Dorian, or his portrait at least, represents Adam. Lord Henry represents Satan, he who appeals to Dorian’s vanity and corrupts the lad. It is also a re-telling of the Faust legend.
What has the painting come to represent for basil?
Basil translates these highly emotional and physical feelings into his art; his act of painting is an expression of his love for Dorian. This romantic devotion to Dorian becomes clear when he admits his reason for not wanting to exhibit the painting: he fears that people will see his “idolatry.”
Is Dorian Gray based on a true story?
Dorian Gray was clearly based on a living person, a member of Wilde’s literary homosexual circle in the early 1890s when the story was first published. If Wilde’s fiction is strange, the real life story of John Gray, Dorian’s original, is even more bizarre.
Who painted The Picture of Dorian Gray in the book?
Ivan Albright
Ivan Albright painted this lurid portrait for the Oscar-winning movie adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. In Wilde’s tale, Dorian Gray commissions a portrait of himself as an attractive young man and later trades his soul for an ever-youthful appearance.
Is Dorian Gray in love with Lord Henry?
Men do have relationships with women in the novel—Dorian falls in love with Sibyl and Lord Henry himself is married—but the novel’s heterosexual relationships prove to be rather superficial and short-lived. If the novel is homoerotic, it is also misogynistic.
How can we describe the influence that Dorian has over Basil Hallward?
At first, Basil is influenced by his model Dorian. On a personal level, he is confused and changed by his romantic feelings, but Dorian’s influence is also more far-reaching, actually seeming to change Basil’s ability for painting, and to change the painting itself in an almost supernatural way.
Why did Dorian show Basil the painting?
With a mocking laugh, Dorian invites Basil to see his soul because even if he tells others what he will soon view, no one will believe him. Feeling that Basil is the “origin of his shame,” Dorian leads the artist to the room where he hides his evil portrait.
What is the message in Dorian Gray?
Wilde himself admits, in a letter to the St. James’s Gazette, that Dorian Gray “is a story with a moral. And the moral is this: All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment” (Wilde 248).
What happened to Dorian Grays father?
What happened to Dorian Gray’s father? Dorian’s father was killed in a duel. It was rumored, but never proved, that this duel was set up by Dorian’s grandfather because he despised the young man who had married his daughter.
Why is Dorian so in love with Sibyl Vane?
As Dorian describes Sibyl and his love for her, Dorian admits that he is entranced partly because Sibyl Vane is an actress and, thus, a different woman every night. From his own description, Dorian’s “love” for Sibyl has more to do with the affectations of her profession than with her as a person.