Table of Contents

  From the Pages of The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Oscar Wilde

  The World of Oscar Wilde and The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Introduction

  The Preface.

  Chapter I.

  Chapter II.

  Chapter III.

  Chapter IV.

  Chapter V.

  Chapter VI.

  Chapter VII.

  Chapter VIII.

  Chapter IX.

  Chapter X.

  Chapter XI.

  Chapter XII.

  Chapter XIII.

  Chapter XIV.

  Chapter XV.

  Chapter XVI.

  Chapter XVII.

  Chapter XVIII.

  Chapter XIX.

  Chapter XX.

  Endnotes

  Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Comments & Questions

  For Further Reading

  From the Pages of

  The Picture of Dorian Gray

  All art is quite useless. (page 2)

  “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” (page 4)

  “Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know.” (page 7)

  “She tried to found a salon, and only succeeded in opening a restaurant.” (page 10)

  “I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.” (page 11)

  “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

  (page 21)

  “Beauty is a form of Genius—is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned.”

  (page 24)

  She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray, with his beautiful eyes, looked down at her, and his chiseled lips curled in exquisite disdain. There is always something ridiculous about the emotion of people whom one has ceased to love. (page 92)

  “Life has always poppies in her hands.” (page 105)

  No theory of life seemed to him to be of any importance compared with life itself. (page 136)

  Is insincerity such a terrible thing? I think not. It is merely a method by which we can multiply our personalities. (page 146)

  Oscar Wilde, 1894—This is the last photograph taken of Wilde before his trials.

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  The Picture of Dorian Gray originally appeared in the July 1890

  issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. The present text is that of

  the first volume edition, published the following year.

  Published in 2003 by Barnes & Noble Classics with new Introduction,

  Notes, Biography, Chronology, Inspired By, Comments & Questions,

  and For Further Reading.

  Introduction, Notes, and For Further Reading

  Copyright © 2003 by Camille Cauti.

  Note on Oscar Wilde, The World of Oscar Wilde and The Picture of Dorian Gray,

  Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Comments & Questions

  Copyright © 2003 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

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  The Picture of Dorian Gray

  ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-025-9 ISBN-10: 1-59308-025-5

  eISBN : 978-1-411-43291-8

  LC Control Number 2003100879

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  17 19 20 18

  Oscar Wilde

  Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on Octo ber 16, 1854, to an intellectually prominent Dublin family. His father, Sir William Wilde, was a renowned physician, who was knighted for his work as medical adviser to the 1841 and 1851 Irish censuses; his mother, Lady Jane Francesca Elgee, was a poet and journalist. Wilde showed himself to be an exceptional student. While at the Royal School in Enniskillen, he took First Prize in classics. He continued his studies at Trinity College, Dublin, on scholarship, where he won high honors, including the Demyship Scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford.

  At Oxford, Wilde engaged in self-discovery, through both intellectual and personal pursuits. He fell under the influence of the Aesthetic philosophy of Walter Pater, a tutor and author who inspired Wilde to create art for the sake of art alone. It was during these years that Wilde developed a reputation as an eccentric and a foppish dresser who always had a flower in his lapel. Wilde won his first recognition as a writer when the university awarded him the Newdigate Prize for his poem “Ravenna.”

  Wilde went from Oxford to London, where he published his first volume of verse, Poems, in 1881. From 1882 to 1884, he toured the United States, Ireland, and England giving a series of lectures on Aestheticism. In America, between speaking engagements, he met some of the great literary minds of the day, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Walt Whitman. His first play, Vera, was staged in New York but did poorly. After his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884 and the birth of his two sons, Wilde began to make his way into the London theater, literary, and homosexual scenes. He published Intentions, a collection of dialogues on Aesthetic philosophy, in 1891, the year he met Lord Alfred Douglas, who became his lover and his ultimate downfall. Wilde soon produced several successful plays, including Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and A Woman of No Importance (1893).

  Wilde’s popularity was short-lived, however. In 1895, during the concurrent runs of his plays An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, he became the subject of a homosexual scandal that led him to withdraw all theater engagements and declare bankruptcy. Urged by many to flee the country rather than face a trial in which he would surely be found guilty, Wilde chose instead to remain in England. Arrested in 1895 and found guilty of “homosexual offenses,” Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labor and began serving time in Wandsworth prison. He was later transferred to the detention center in Reading Gaol, where he composed De Profundis, a dramatic monologue written as a letter to Lord Alfred Douglas that was published in 1905. Upon his release, Wilde retreated to the Continent, where he lived out the rest of his life under a pseudonym. He published his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, in 1898 while living in exile.

  During his lifetime, Wilde was most often the center of controversy. The Picture of Dorian Gray, which appeared as the lead story in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine on June 20, 1890, and was published in book form the next year, is considered to be Wilde’s most personal work. Scrutinized by critics who questioned its morality, the novel portrays the author’s internal battles and arrives at the disturbing possibility that “ugliness is the only reality.” Oscar Wilde died penniless of cerebral meningitis in Paris on November 30, 1900. He is buried in Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

  The World of Oscar Wilde and

  The Picture of Dorian Gray

  1854 Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde is born on Octo ber 16 in Dublin to William Wilde, a prominent oph thalmologist, and Jane Francesca Elgee, a renowned poet and journalist.

  1864 Wilde enters the Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, where he excels, and subsequently takes First Prize in classics and Second Prize in drawing.

  1867 On February 23 Wilde’s sister Isola dies of a sudden fever. Profoundly affected by the death, Wilde keeps a lock of her hair until the end of his life.

  1871 Wilde enrolls as a Royal School Scholar at Trinity College, Dublin, where he earns the Foundation Schol arship (the highest honor bestowed on an under graduate) as well as the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek and the Demyship Scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford.

  1874 As a student at Magdalen College, Wilde finds a mentor in Walter Pater, a tutor and writer whose works, along with those of the Pre-Raphaelites, inspire Wilde to sub scribe to the Aesthetic movement, which promotes “art for art’s sake.” Wilde develops a reputation for his flam boyant mannerisms, including his dandyism and long hair.

  1876 Wilde’s father dies.

  1878 Wilde wins the Newdigate Prize for his poem “Ravenna,” as well as “First In Greats” by his examiners. Wilde’s eldest brother, Henry Wilson, dies.

  1879 Upon graduation, Wilde moves to London with Frank Miles, a friend and portrait painter, and begins his writ ing career.

  1881 Wilde publishes his first volume of verse, Poems, which is well received by critics. He becomes the subject of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operetta Patience, which sati rizes the Aesthetic movement.

  1882 Wilde embark
s upon a series of lectures in the United States. Originally scheduled to last only four months, the tour is extended to fifty lectures and lasts nearly a year. Wilde meets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Walt Whitman, and Henry James. He also arranges for his first play, Vera, to be staged in New York; it is a commercial flop.

  1883 Wilde continues his lecture tour throughout the United Kingdom.

  1884 On May 29 Wilde marries Constance Lloyd, the heiress of a Dublin barrister. The couple resides in Chelsea, a London neighborhood popular with artists, writers, and intellectuals. Wilde writes his second unsuccessful play, The Duchess of Padua.

  1885 Wilde’s first son, Cyril, is born. The Criminal Law Amendment Act, under which Wilde would later be prosecuted for engaging in “gross indecency,” is passed.

  1886 Another son, Vyvyan, is born.

  1887 Wilde accepts an editor’s position with Woman’s World, a popular magazine, where he remains for two years.

  1888 A collection of fairy tales, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, is published.

  1889 Wilde’s story “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” appears in Blackwood’s Magazine; it asserts that the poems have a hooerotic subtext. “The Decay of Lying,” a dialogue on Aesthetics and other subjects, is published in The Nine teenth Century, a literary review.

  1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray appears in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, published in Philadelphia.

  1891 The publication of The Picture of Dorian Gray, an ex tended version of the magazine piece and Wilde’s only novel, arouses controversy over the work’s morality but makes little money. Wilde also produces several works that reflect his varied interests: Intentions, a collection of dialogues on Wilde’s Aesthetic philosophy, and Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories, a volume of short fiction. He meets Lord Alfred Douglas, an undergradu ate at Oxford, and they soon become lovers. Wilde also befriends André Gide, the French writer and spokesman for homosexual rights. The House of Pomegranates, a collection of short stories, is published.

  1892 In February the first of Wilde’s domestic comedies, Lady Windermere’s Fan, opens at the St. James’ Theatre to ac colades. The financial success enables him to continue writing plays, and he completes Salomé, a reinterpretation in French of John the Baptist’s martyrdom; he is unable to produce the play because of a law prohibiting theatrical depictions of biblical characters.

  1893 Wilde again enjoys theatrical success with his second do mestic comedy, A Woman of No Importance. He becomes friendly with Max Beerbohm, a fledgling writer at Ox ford who soon becomes Britain’s foremost caricaturist; his first subject is Wilde.

  1894 In Paris, actress Sarah Bernhardt gives a performance of Salomé. In April “A Defence of Cosmetics,” Beerbohm’s parody of Wildean Aestheticism, appears in The Yellow Book, an alternative journal.

  1895 Wilde is immensely popular on the London theater cir cuit: An Ideal Husband is performed at the Haymarket Theatre, and The Importance of Being Earnest is at the St. James’. Wilde becomes involved in three trials: In the first he sues the Marquess of Queensbury, the father of his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, for libel after the mar quess refers to him in a note as a “somdomite” (sic). The defense counsel denounces Dorian Gray as an im moral book, and enough evidence is presented to try Wilde for engaging in homosexual activity. After two tri als he is sentenced to Wandsworth prison for two years’ hard labor. Wilde’s wife and sons relocate to Switzerland and adopt an old family name, “Holland.” Wilde is transferred from Wandsworth to Reading Gaol.

  1897 While detained, he writes De Profundis, a dramatic monologue and biography addressed to Alfred Douglas that is published in part in 1905. Upon his release from prison, Wilde goes into exile to the Continent, where he lives under the alias “Sebastian Melmoth.”

  1898 The Ballad of Reading Gaol, Wilde’s final work, is pub lished. Wilde also publishes two letters on prison re form. Constance dies. Wilde briefly reunites with Douglas but spends most of his time traveling through out Europe, occasionally writing for Parisian journals.

  1900 Wilde converts to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed, after a lifelong flirtation with the religion. He dies of cerebral meningitis at the Hotel D’Alsace in Paris on November 30. He is buried at Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

  1905 Wilde’s play Salomé inspires German composer Richard Strauss to write a one-act opera of the same name.

  Introduction

  Who is the infamous Dorian Gray, and how can we begin to classify his story? Dorian is obviously a beauty, a dandy, an impressionable, petulant boy who mutates into a wicked hedonist. He also breaks hearts, takes drugs, tortures his friends, and murders with nigh-impunity. Is Oscar Wilde’s only novel, then, a neo-Gothic horror chiller about a cursed antihero, as many like to think? A science-fiction fantasy about a magical painting, which realizes a wish that never should have been spoken? A homosexual allegory of doomed, forbidden passion? A cautionary tale about a soul’s corruption, meant to remind the reader of conscience, karma, politesse, and the dangers of excessive aesthetic glorification? Or is it the reverse: a thinly disguised manifesto, an abstract embrace of sheer gorgeousness, paradox, and the art of personality construction, a celebration of the artificial, the unnatural, the beautifully false? Ultimately Wilde’s story remains sufficiently flexible to accommodate each of these judgments, and consequently The Picture of Dorian Gray has been horrifying, warning, enchanting, occasionally boring, obsessing—and, some would argue, perhaps even corrupting—readers for well over a hundred years.

  The Picture of Dorian Gray first appeared in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, based in Philadelphia. The journal’s publisher sought out short novels to promote the magazine, and when he heard the story of Dorian Gray, which Wilde apparently had been telling for years, he accepted the idea immediately. When asked for a text of 100,000 words, Wilde replied, “There are not 100,000 beautiful words in the English language.” In this one sentence we can foresee much about Wilde’s novel: its economic length, its precise selection of detail (generally self-contained, with the one notable exception of Chapter XI’s logorrhea), and its prioritizing of beauty over all other considerations, narrative or moral.

  Dorian Gray caused an immediate sensation upon its publication. Wilde plainly expresses his exalted aesthetic theories, and even demonstrates them—and their risks—through Dorian’s actions, and provides guidelines for living a beautifully useless life. The reader has only to digest them and, if pressed, to synthesize their occasionally contradictory recommendations. But much of the reading public, and many who claimed they would never read the novel, generated near-hysteria by railing against the immoral artistic practice of allowing an evil protagonist not to be punished satisfactorily, in their view, for his heinous crimes. Escaping the repercussions of his actions through death constituted too generous a penalty, they maintained. Dorian should be forced to suffer further by having to live with his horribly deformed face!

  Wilde incensed reviewers in particular with his apparent confidence that he should cross the (not entirely) heretofore-solid line of unimpeachable English propriety by writing about, or implying, certain kinds of unmentionable, scandalous behavior. (Also, because Wilde was in fact Irish and not English—which denoted, as he once put it, “quite a different thing”—his lifelong critique of English social mores won few sympathies outside avant-garde circles.) Of course, many of these reviewers already counted themselves his enemies. Am brose Bierce’s review in The Wasp of Wilde’s 1882 San Francisco lecture on aesthetics was typical of its ilk, if much more creative than most; it also helps a reader to better appreciate Wilde’s side of his troubled relationship with the press. Bierce accosted Wilde with, to cite a very few, the following over-achieving insults: He was the “sovereign of insufferables,” the “littlest and looniest of a brotherhood of simpletons,” and an “intellectual jellyfish” who “pos[es] as a statue of himself” and possesses “a knowledge that would equip an idiot to converse with a cast-iron dog.” Wilde’s clearly justifiable righteous anger only exacerbated the problem, however, because Wilde refused to accept not only personal remarks but also most criticism that he found to be moralistic, insipid, or simply incorrect. He usually felt compelled to respond with letters to the newspaper editors who printed such negative reviews.