The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a work of Gothic horror by fin-de-siècle Irish writer Oscar Wilde. Originally released as a novella in 1890, it was published in its complete form in 1891 and sparked public outcry for its perceived amorality. The work chronicles the life of Dorian Gray, a fictional 19th-century British aristocrat, in his pursuit of beauty and pleasure—a pursuit he shared with Wilde, who was a leading figure in the aesthetic literary movement. Though The Picture of Dorian Gray was the only novel written by an author whose oeuvre encompassed plays, poetry, short stories, and essays, it remains among Wilde's best-known works, alongside titles like The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere's Fan.

Content Warning: The source material and this study guide contain references to suicide, murder, and drug use.

Plot Overview

When the narrative opens, a somewhat successful painter named Basil Hallward is painting the portrait of a young man named Dorian Gray. A frivolously provocative aristocrat named Lord Henry Wotton—a friend of Hallward’s—sees Dorian’s almost supernatural beauty in the painting and is intrigued, as he himself prizes beauty above all else. He asks to meet Dorian, and influenced by what Lord Henry says about the pursuit of pleasure, Dorian impulsively wishes that the painting might age instead of him, allowing him to retain his beauty.

Dorian soon falls in love with a penniless, beautiful, and skilled actress named Sybil Vane. However, when Sybil falls in love with Dorian, she no longer feels passionate about acting. Dorian, having only liked her because her acting transported him to a place of pure pleasure, coldly rebuffs Sybil following her disastrous performance as Shakespeare’s Juliet. This leads to Sybil’s suicide, and her brother, James, pledges to hunt down and kill Dorian—although he only knows him by Sybil’s moniker for Dorian: “Prince Charming.” Dorian takes no responsibility, but he detects that Hallward’s painting has altered since Sybil's death: A streak of evil cruelty can now be seen in the portrait’s smile.

As the years pass, Dorian retains his princely beauty while his painted visage grows increasingly wicked, ugly, and aged in appearance. Scandals begin to amass around Dorian, as his close associates meet with social and economic ruin, and some even die. Dorian grows paranoid about the portrait, locking it away in one of his mansion’s disused rooms. He turns to opium to escape his anxiety.

Meanwhile, James overhears someone calling Dorian Prince Charming in an opium den. He is about to shoot Dorian when Dorian persuades James that, because of his youthful appearance, he could not possibly be the 40-year-old man that James is pursuing. James lets him go only to later learn that Dorian was lying. James continues to pursue Dorian and is accidentally shot and killed at a hunting outing that Dorian is attending.

Dorian celebrates James’s death but feels weighed down by Sybil’s. He soon becomes interested in a woman named Hetty. This time, he lets her down gently when they part, though this seemingly kind act isn’t enough to reverse his fate.

Soon, Hallward visits Dorian. He tells Dorian that his enduring beauty makes it impossible for Hallward to believe the now numerous and vicious rumors that swirl throughout London about Dorian’s poor character and his deleterious effect on those around him. Dorian wrathfully shows Hallward the enchanted painting—partially because he blames Hallward for the enchantment and partially because he cannot bear holding his secret alone. He then murders Hallward by stabbing him in the neck.

Dorian blackmails a former associate and chemist named Alan Campbell into helping him dispose of Hallward’s body. Campbell performs this deed and then later dies by suicide. Dorian sees that his hand in the painting now drips with blood—a symbol of his crime. Dorian tries to destroy the painting with the murder weapon but ends up dead with the knife in his heart. His body transforms into the one the painting had depicted, and the painting once more shows an angelic, beautiful 20-year-old.