The Picture of Dorian Gray

268 Pages·1982·37.584 MB·English

by  Oscar Wilde

THE WORLD'S CLASSICS,
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THE PICTURE OF
DjORIANGRAY
i
THE WORLD'S CLASSICS
OSCAR WILDE
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
OSCAR FINGALLO'FLAHERTIEWILLSWILDEwasbornin
Dublin in 1854. He was educated at Trinity College,
DublinandMagdalenCollege,Oxfordwhere,adiscipleof
Pater, he founded an aesthetic cult. His first volume of
poems appeared in 1881, and between 1887-91 he
published anumberofshort stories. In 1884 hemarried
ConstanceLloyd,andhistwosonswerebornin 1885and
1886.
Hisnovel,ThePictureofDorianGray(1891),andsocial
comediesLady Windermere'sFan(1892),A WomanofNo
Importance (1893), The Ideal Husband (1895), and The
Importance ofBeing Earnest (1895), established his re-
putation. In 1895, following his libel action against the
Marquess ofQueensberry, Wilde was sentenced to two
years' imprisonment forhomosexual conduct, asaresult
ofwhichhewrote TheBalladofReadingGaol(1898),and
the remarkable DeProfundus(1905). On his release from
prisonin1897helivedinobscurityinEurope,anddiedin
Parisin 1900.
isobel Murray, Senior Lecturer in English at the
UniversityofAberdeen,liasedited ThePictureofDorian
Gray in the Oxford English Novels series, and Oscar
Wilde'sCompleteShorterFictionfortheWorld'sClassics.

THE WORLD'S CLASSICS
OSCAR WILDE
The Picture of
Dorian Gray
Editedwithan introductionby
ISOBEL MURRAY
Oxford New York
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1
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SelectBibliogr©aphy,Chronology,andExplanatoryNotes
IsobelM©urray1974, 198
Introduction IsobelMurray1981
ThiseditionofThePictureofDorianGrayfirstpublishedby
OxfordUniversityPress, 1974
FirstissuedwithrevisionsasaWorld'sClassicspaperback1981
Reprinted1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987(twice)
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
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Thisbookissoldsubjecttotheconditionthatitshallnot,byway
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Wilde, O—scar
ThePictureofDorianGray. (Theworld'sclassics)
I. Title. II.Murray,Isobel
823'.8[F] PR5819 80-41840
ISBN0-19-281553-9
PrintedinGreatBritainby
HazellWatson&VineyLimited
Aylesbury, Bucks
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION Vll
NOTE ON THE TEXT xvii
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY xviii
A CHRONOLOGY OF OSCAR WILDE XX
THE PREFACE xxiii
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
i
EXPLANATORY NOTES 225
1

INTRODUCTION
Early critical reaction to The Picture ofDorian Gray was
almost unanimously hysterical. One review began: 'Why go
grubbing in muck-heaps?' Another considered whether the
bookshouldbeprosecuted.Typicalofthegeneraloutragewas
an unsigned review intheDaily Chronicle, whichcondemned
the novel on all counts, and chiefly as 'a poisonous book, the
atmosphere of which is heavy with the mephitic odours of
moralandspiritualputrefaction'. Inafollow-uptoonereview
the critic asserted that the novel 'constantly hints, not
obscurely, at disgusting sins and abominable crimes'.
Wilde enthusiastically plunged into correspondence over
different reviews, and prolonged the extra publicity. Charac-
teristically, he did not confine himself to self-defence, but
went on to the attack:
It was necessary, sir, for the dramatic developmentofthis story to
surround Dorian Gray with an atmosphere of moral corruption.
Otherwise the story would have had no meaning and the plot no
issue. To keep this atmosphere vague and indeterminate and
wonderful was the aim ofthe artist who wrote the story. . .. Each
man sees his own sin in Dorian Gray.
The furore about the 'poisonous' book obscured the fact
that Dorian Gray is actually a very moral book in a
conventional sense: Wildeclaimed indeed that the moral was
too obvious, the only artistic weakness in the book.
Andthemoralisthis:Allexcess,aswellasallrenunciation,bringsits
own punishment. Thepainter,Basil Hallward, worshippingphysi-
calbeautyfartoomuch,asmostpaintersdo,diesbythehandofone
inwhosesoulhehascreatedamonstrousandabsurdvanity.Dorian
Gray, having led a life ofmere sensation and pleasure, tries to kill
conscience, and at that moment kills himself. Lord Henry Wotton
INTRODUCTION
viii
seekstobemerelythespectatoroflife.Hefindsthatthosewhoreject
thebattlearemoredeeply wounded than thosewho takepartinit.
Thehystericalcriticsalsofailedtounderstandthenatureof
The Picture ofDorian Gray, which is very much a novel of
sensibilities rather than a novel ofaction: it has only enough
action to reveal the essential natures of the characters, and
theirdevelopment. Agreatdealoftheactionissuppressedor
anticipated, sothat it providesmotives forDorian'sdevelop-
ment rather than an interest in itself. Indeed, almost every
detailofplotor actionthatisunnecessarytoourunderstand-
ingofDorianorofhis relationships with Basil Hallward and
Lord Henry Wotton is suppressed. We never know, for
example, the natureofthehold Dorian hasover the scientist
Alan Campbell, and the necessary fact ofhis later suicide is
dropped casually into a conversation which is packed with
other interest (Chapter xix). A synopsis ofthe novel would
have to include one murder, one attempted murder, one
accidental homicide and two suicides (not to mention the
'ruin' ofyoung men like Adrian Singleton and the 'disgrace'
ofwomenlikeLordHenry'ssisteraslisted byBasilinChapter
xii), and the mysterious death ofDorian Gray himself.
The experience ofthe novel is quite different from such a
synopsis:thenovelisnotsensationalatall.Whatitamountsto
is adescription ofthe growth, education and developmentof
an exceptional youth, who, through personalities, a book, a
picture, is moulded or moulds himself, discovering himself
and what he believes in. In his dialogue The Critic as Artist
Wildesuggestedthatthefutureroleoffictionwasto'revealto
usthesoulofman initsinnermostworkings'. Dorian Grayis
to be, in Wilde's phrase, 'The Story ofa Soul'. It is chiefly
concerned with the impact on Dorian of Lord Henry's
personality,ofBasil'spictureandofthestrange'poisonbook'
Dorian blames for his corruption, and Dorian's subsequent
self-conscious and deliberate progress in evil.
At this most basic level it is easy to trace Wilde's