The Picture of Dorian Gray Entry 3

This is a painting that Ivan Albright did of Dorian Gray.

I am totally surprised by the turn of events. Dorian Gray has turned into a mad man. At first he was just cruel, but now he has no moral standards at all. People start to talk about him behind his back, saying that he's brawling with foreign sailors, that no chaste women should sit in the same room with him, and that he's lurking in the night. Dorian Gray has fallen into a life of crime and he doesn't care who gets hurt in the process. My prediction was right, someone did find out about the portrait, but I never thought it would be Basil and I didn't think he would kill him! This is the lowest that Dorian has stooped. The idea of staying young forever went to his head and then he decided that he could do whatever he wanted. Basil was completely right when he said Dorian lost, " all sense of honor, of goodness, of purity."

Eternal youth corrupted him. The protection of the portrait gave him the licence to do all the bad things he wanted to. He was happy to show Basil the picture, so that he could release the load of the secret, but the horrible things Dorian had done made Basil sick. And again he felt no remorse for being responsible for a death. He was only worried about getting rid of the evidence. He even  blackmailed Alan Campell into getting rid of the body.

Reminders of his corruptness kept popping up. Basil reminded him of all the horrible things he did, so he killed him. James Vane reminded him of how he was responsible for Sibyl Vanes death, but he ended up dying too. Dorian managed to get away with all of the things he did, murder, opium addiction, adultery, and cruelty. I was waiting for him to get busted, but every time he merely avoided it. Dorian has managed to live this double life of class and luxury during the day and cloak and dagger at night.

His youth masks him from being a suspect. There is irony in the fact that the young handsome Dorian Gray turns out to be a cold blooded killer. No one saw that coming, I didn't. Dorian was obsessed with being young and beautiful, but in his pursuit to keep that he becomes hideous at heart. I also observed looking back at the rest of the book Dorian's shift from Basil to Lord Henry. Basil was a good man and a good influence, but Dorian choose Lord Henry. Almost like he had an angle and devil on his shoulders telling him what to do. In the end he chose to listen to the devil. Lord Henry's influence had been the root of his demise from the moment he said, " Youth! Youth! There is nothing in the world but youth!" Lord Henry's words became Dorian's words and thoughts, but yet still Dorian blames  Basil for his misfortune, the only good influence in his life.

Towards the end of the book Dorian makes the decision to be good. He thinks that he can wash clean what he's done and start over. Instead of confessing to his crimes he tries to destroy the portrait. His last reminder of his horrible deeds. He in the end killed himself in the hope of remaining care free and young. Dorian Gray chose looks and money over morals. A pretty face doesn't make a pretty heart. It's better to be ugly and a good person than to be beautiful and a bad person.

Oscar Wilde used a lot of Greek mythology references and culture references in the book to appeal to the audience of the time. All of the details and specifics placed this story in the backyard of wealthy English people in the late 1800's. This theme of beauty vs. the soul was most likely a very relevant topic. He was able to tell the story of Dorian starting out as a normal rich boy of the time and morphing him into a murderous man without losing the touch of reality. At the time Realism was a popular style of writing and the supernatural aspect of his story shows a statement, not only about the way people live their lives, but also about the lack of imagination in literature at the time.