Undying Infamy

The Picture of Dorian Gray must be the only novel in English with its own rules. The first chapter is preceded by a set of aphorisms which tell the reader as much about the mind of its author, Oscar Wilde, as they could want to know. No true artist, Wilde insists, has ethical sympathies as they are ‘an unpardonable mannerism of style’ There can be ‘no such thing as a moral or immoral book,’ because for a real artist vice and virtue are merely artistic materials. In this way, Wilde believes that all art is useless and yet we admire it intensely. But our love of art comes with danger. "All art", Wilde writes, "is at once surface and symbol" and those who go beneath the surface "do so at their peril".

Many have delved into the exotic, shadowy depths of Dorian Gray in search of Wilde’s real meaning, and now that it has been made this year’s One City, One Book, it is the turn of the people of Dublin.

Oscar Wilde’s only novel, Dorian Gray’s scandal-tinged success in 1891 marked the beginning of his rise to international fame. The novel is a peculiar mixture of supernatural horror, witty comedy, artistic and philosophical meditation and ingenious metaphysical allegory. It is also one of the most intensely visual and poetic works of fiction ever written, packed with wondrous descriptions and dazzling imagery. The central question now is, more than a hundred years on, has it anything to say to a contemporary audience?

Dorian Gray’s strange narrative begins in the London studio of bohemian artist Basil Hallward who is close to finishing the painting that he believes is his masterpiece. This is a portrait of Dorian, a young pianist whose unearthly beauty has come to dominate Hallward’s very being. Dorian arrives for another sitting but this time there is a difference. Giving Basil his opinion of his latest work is rake, aesthete, bon viveur and master of sarcasm, Lord Henry Wotton. Purposefully lamenting the transience of youth and seeing how entranced Dorian is with his portrait, Wotton urges the boy to forget about goodness, decency and responsibility and live a life of pure sensation. Intoxicated by this idea, Dorian sells his soul to remain ever-young.  

Much to Hallward’s astonishment, the upstanding young gentleman that enchanted him becomes a complete hedonist. Wandering into the seediest districts of London, he drinks, fights and carouses for the sheer thrill of it. He courts a lovely young actress, Sybil Vane, and then abandons her with tragic consequences. The only thing that records Dorian’s evil conduct is his portrait, which, through some dark alchemy, grows ever more deformed and grotesque. Driven mad by his fixation with his own vile image, Dorian goes to terrible lengths, even murder, to conceal his true self.  Only in a final confrontation with his graven image do Dorian’s crimes, and his mortality, at last catch up with him.

Critics of Dorian Gray have said that the novel fails because it is more a vehicle for Wilde to express his theories than a proper work of fiction. As anyone who has seen one of the numerous film versions will know, the book has little in the way of plot or action and sometimes it’s impossible to decide what’s unfolding. Compensating many times over for this is the brilliance of Wilde’s characterisation, the virtuosity of his dialogue, which cascades like a shower of white-hot sparks across every page, and the formidable strength of his imaginative perceptions. With tremendous skill Wilde navigates through the psychoses of Victorian society, showing the reader how it seesawed from decadence to repression. 

Dorian Gray manages, like few other novels, to transport us into a labyrinth of moral and ethical ambiguities where all our values are put through the wringer. Every time we think we have reached the book’s reality we discover that it is just more smoke and mirrors. This is what makes the novel vigorously relevant to our times. Although the suppression of homosexual love is certainly one of its themes it is not the only one. As the wider injustices of Wilde’s day have only been replaced with new, even more insidious ones, Dorian Gray is a touchstone which exposes the hypocrisy and cant that surrounds our lives for what it truly is. 

In fact, far from being a work in which Wilde makes any claim for his own view of art and life, Dorian Gray demonstrates the very difficulty of maintaining any system of belief when we live in a world that constantly contradicts our basic principles. The novel shatters the simplistic black/white structure which lies behind so many people’s view of life and reveals that we can take nothing for certain, even our emotions. This is the true legacy of Dorian Gray. It compels us to examine the precepts we take for granted and consider life from a different, more disturbing angle. In this, as in so many of his other masterpieces, Wilde achieves his goal with matchless panache. 

Politico discusses Dorian Gray with Dr. Jarlath Killeen here.

A programme of events celebrating Oscar Wilde and Dorian Gray, including performances, concerts, historical walks and lectures, is taking place at various locations across Dublin City from now until the end of the month. Many are free but some events require booking. For full programme information go to www.dublinonecityonebook.ie

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Penguin Classics pp 220

EURO: 10