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The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and
philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first
published complete in the July 1890 issue of
Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Fearing the
story was indecent, the magazine's editor
deleted roughly five hundred words before
publication without Wilde's knowledge. Despite
that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray
offended the moral sensibilities of British book
reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde
merited prosecution for violating the laws
guarding public morality. In response, Wilde
aggressively defended his novel and art in
correspondence with the British press, although
he personally made excisions of some of the
most controversial material when revising and
lengthening the story for book publication the
following year.
PLOT:
Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length
portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist
impressed and infatuated by Dorian's
beauty; he believes that Dorian's beauty is
responsible for the new mood in his art as a
painter. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord
Henry Wotton, and he soon is enthralled by
the aristocrat's hedonistic world view: that
beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only
things worth pursuing in life . Newly
understanding that his beauty will fade,
Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul,
to ensure that the picture, rather than he,
will age and fade. The wish is granted, and
Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied
amoral experiences while staying young and
beautiful; all the while, his portrait ages and
records every sin.
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LANGUAGE:

The language style in the novel is often quite

florid, sensuous and dreamy, in keeping with
Wilde’s aesthetic sensibilities, and at other
times epigrammatic, reflecting his celebrated
wit. These two styles are exemplified in the
character of Lord Henry, who is given to ironic
utterances on the conventions and foibles of
society, as well as being prone to musings on
beauty and art, most notably addressed to
Dorian.

Life has been your art. You have set yourself to

music. Your days are your sonnets. (chapter 19)

This description, particularly the long

meandering first sentence, is calculated to
overwhelm the senses, after the usual fashion
of the aesthetic literary movement, for which
Wilde came to be regarded as the standard-
bearer. The heady sensibility of such a passage
as this can also turn quickly to melodramatic
excess as the book’s gothic and sensationalist
plot unfolds, for example when Dorian recalls
murdering Basil:

Each hideous detail came back to him with

added horror. Out of the black cave of Time,
terrible and swathed in scarlet, rose the image
of his sin. (chapter 18)
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TRANSLATE:
The Preface:
 “Those who find ugly meanings in
beautiful things are corrupt without
being charming. This is a fault”
 “Cei care descoperă sensuri josnice in
lucruri frumoase sunt corupți, fără să
aibă acea calitate de a fi încântători.
Acesta este un defect.”
 “This is the spectator, and not life, that
art really mirrors.”
 “ Arta nu reflect viața, ea reflectă de
fapt pe spectator.“
CHAPTER I:
 “The studio was filled with the rich
odour of roses, and when the light
summer wind stirred amidst the trees
of the garden, there came throught the
open door the heavy scent of the liliac,
or the more delicate perfume of the
pink-flowering thorn.”
 “Atelierul era îmbibat de mireasma
bogată a rozelor și în clipa in care briza
ușoară de vară flutură printer crengile
copacilor, prin ușa deschisă pătrunse
mirosul greu al liliacului si parfumul
ceva mai subtil al florilor roz de spin.“
CHAPTER VII:
“Although I joy in thee,
I have nu joy of this contact to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
Ere one can stay, ‘It lightens.’ Sweet, good-
night!
This bug of love by summer’s ripening breath
May prove a beauteous flower when next we
meet-“
“Oricâtă-I fericirea
Pe care-o simt acuma lângă tine,
Dar legământul astei nopți îmi vine
Prea iute, nu știu cum, prea fără de veste,
Prea ca un fulger care nu mai este
Pân’ce zici: fulger! – O, du-te dar,
Dulcele meu! Și-a verii adiere
Învoltă floare face din bobocul
Iubirii noastre pân’la revedere!-“
CHAPTER XX:
 “When they entered they found,
hanging upon the wall, a splendid
portrait of their master as they had last
seen him, in all the wonder of his
exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the
floor was a dead man, in evening dress,
with a knife in his heart. He was
withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of
visage. It was not till they had examined
the rings that they recognized who it
was.”
 “Când intrară găsiră, atârnat pe perete,
un splendid portert al stăpânului lor,
așa cum îl văzuseră ultima oară, în
floarea tinereții și a frumuseții lui
extraordinare. Pe podea zăcea un om
mort în haine de seară, cu un cuțit în
inimă. Era veștejit, ridat și cu fața
dezgustătoare. Numai după ce-i
examinară inelele il recunoscură“
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QUOTES:
“No artist is ever morbid. The artist can
express everything.”

“All art is at once surface and symbol.”

“All art is quite class.”

In my opinion, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a

story about a young boy who choose to sell his
soul for eternal beauty. This book represents a
complex dilemma about real meaning of life.
Throught Basil we have the ocasion to see the
way Oscar Wilde thinks. It is a controversial love
story between an artist and a muse. I really
enjoyed this book, and I believe it is a real piece
of art.
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By Adina Chirilă 11s1