The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde


One night I was up reading on Wikipedia, as I am wont to do occasionally, about the Faustian legend. Now, how I came to be doing this, or why escapes me at the present time, perhaps I’d been listening to that Police song and as wondering who exactly Mephistopheles was, perhaps something else prompted this subject matter, but regardless I ended up perusing a list of works with Faustian elements—a long list to be sure, including operas, movies, books, and other things. The only thing that really jumped out at me was The Picture of Dorian Grey. The basic idea behind the Faust Legend, for those who may not know, is selling your soul to the devil for something. You can see why the list is so long.

My only previous experience with Dorian Grey comes from that excellent Sean Connery film, his last I believe, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  Dorian Grey in that work is a little different than in the original. While in both he has his portrait age instead of himself, the effects somewhat differ. In the movie he covered the portrait because if he ever saw it, his age would return to himself, which is how he died in the movie. In the book, not only does the portrait age, it also bears his sins. When he kills the artist who painted it, for example, in the portrait his hands drip with blood. Also in the novel, Dorian is free to look at the picture as he pleases, and he does. In fact, the way he dies he in the book is when he decides to destroy the picture, plunging a knife into it.

While I somewhat infrequently read the classics, this particular book well, it was short, but not enjoyable enough for me to read quickly. I kinda trudged through it the best I could. That’s not to say the story wasn’t good, or it wasn’t well written. It was actually quite good. I simply struggle adjusting to that older style of language. And it’s not like Dorian Grey is even that old—about a hundred and twenty years. If I struggle with that, it goes without saying I struggle a bit with even older works.

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