Book of the Week

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Recommended by Mani Collins

The character of Lord Henry in Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is seen by some as autobiographical: the flurry of languid witticisms, the lavish and extravagant lifestyle, the amused fascination with sin.

Lord Henry serves as the main influence for Dorian Gray's flirtation with the perilous mysteries of life and sin. His counterpart, Basil Hallward, is the principal of moral probity in a book exhibiting the romance of sin. If Lord Henry comes to represent all the sins, you [Dorian Gray] have not the courage to commit, Basil Hallward is an emblem of all those he hadn't the courage to commit.

In the eyes of Wilde, however, this antithesis in fact displays two incarnations of the same sin. Dorian Gray is described to us as akin to a young Adonis and the Bithynian slave of Hadrian. The repeated reference to such historical symbols of male beauty shows the extent of Dorian Gray's wondrous physical appearance. The key component to his absolute charm, however, is not his beauty but his nature. When we first meet Dorian Gray he is neither spoiled by the wearisome burden of conscience nor made distant and passionless by self-satisfied morality. Through his innocence Dorian Gray dominates Basil Hallward, and through his ignorance he fascinates Lord Henry.

For Wilde, though, he is above both of them. He is an angel of beauty with a nature so delicate that the slightest of touches can turn his head. The elusive game of interaction Lord Henry plays with Dorian Gray corrupts and stains his beauty: 'sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face,' says Wilde. Basil Hallward too seeks to taint Dorian Gray with his own beliefs - perhaps more out of compulsive desperation than intrigue. But Dorian Gray is a symbol of purity, free from the influences and prejudices of common men. He is at heaven's highest summit but it will only take the merest temptation and he will fall to Hades.

Although Wilde is enamoured of what Dorian Gray represents, he is also wary of it. He is aware of the tension of Dorian Gray's existence. The book is a brilliant acceptance that the high beauty that Wilde finds in Dorian Gray is unsustainable, a stunning ray of light immediately lost to the shadows behind the trees. The beauty that is lost in life is, however, forever preserved in the work of art. As this book proves, when life and art are swapped around terrible things can happen.