I got curious about this novel while watching the movie ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,’ where Dorian Gray is the turncoat of the League. Oscar Wilde’s controversial novel which brought him into the limelight, both harsh and otherwise, traces the corruption of the innocence of youth in the backdrop of a Victorian moral system, ending in a nerve-jerking conclusion. The plot is Faustian if you know what I mean, soul bartering and all. The novel is replete with Grecian homosexuality, so that men are falling in love with our hero all over the place. Hats off to Wilde’s courage, who was a self-pronounced bisexual in Victorian times and was tried for homosexuality around the time that this novel was published.
The story begins when, Basil Hallward, an artist, creates a portrait of a young man, Dorian Gray, endowed with matchless beauty; a beauty that reflects the inner peace and innocence of the youth. The youth’s flawless beauty matches his heart’s innocence. When Lord Henry Wotton is introduced to Basil’s latest model, and the latest love of his life (homosexuality very verrry pronounced) Dorian Gray, he is intrigued by an uncanny desire to influence Dorian’s perception of moral values. His smooth tongue fills Dorian’s mind with curiosity and twists his world view. Dorian starts idolizing physical beauty and rues its short-lived reality. In his despair, he wishes his portrait would decay instead of his body. Dorian’s fervent wish to live the life of the portrait comes true and thence begins the decay of his inner self as he gives in to hedonism, living a double life. While his physical features remain intact, preserving his innocence, his portrait starts reflecting the aging that his sins bring.
The Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen seems to be at the apex of evil, as much as the portrait can be capable of holding. Stuart Townsend’s devilish dark looks with his brunette hair don’t match the Dorian in the book, who is blonde and pretty.
Wilde’s language is beautiful. He chooses mouthful and delicious words that you crave to read aloud. Descriptions of beauty, innocence, tragedy, horror are elaborate yet complete.
In my opinion, Dorian’s beauty is hardly what the present day woman (and gay men, I am guessing) would covet. He is cute maybe. And Oscar Wilde does use up all the vocabulary in the dictionary describing the purity of his beauty. But I do get his point.
-Jo
2 Comments
February 12, 2009 at 9:16 am
That’s really nice, precise and interesting. I have always known Mr. Gray from the movie, but I must say if the movie changed my perspective of Dr. Jekyll, this one here makes Dorian Gray much more human and lovable (now.. don’t get me ‘wrong’ there guys
February 15, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Thanks Goldy! Thats encouraging. and if the review was powerful enough to render you on the verge of shifting your preferences, I’d take that as a compliment too.