The Picture of Dorian Gray (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Oscar Wilde
- First Published: 1890
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—cautionary
- Time of Work: The 1870’s and 1880’s
- Setting: London and the British countryside
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Murder or homicide, Nineteenth century, Guilt, England or English people, Good and evil, Moral conditions, London, Youth, Ethics, Painting or painters, Pictures
- Locales: London, England
The Plot
Basil Hallward, a painter, reluctantly introduces his jaded friend, Lord Henry Wotton, to the young man Basil is painting. Dorian Gray, at the age of twenty, is outstandingly beautiful, wealthy, and inexperienced. Lord Henry tells him that “beauty is a form of genius” and that he must live the wonderful life inside him, giving form to every feeling, expression to every thought, and reality to every dream. Lord Henry believes that this form of fulfillment results in an ideal life.
Dorian realizes with horror that he will grow old as the portrait stays young...
[The entire page is 1279 words long]
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