The Picture of Dorian Gray Summary: What the Book Is About
The Picture of Dorian Gray is about a beautiful young man who stays young while a portrait of him ages and shows the marks of his cruelty. Dorian is led by the cynical Lord Henry Wotton into a life of selfishness, and in the end the portrait destroys him.
It is Oscar Wilde's only novel, first published in 1890.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Oscar Wilde |
| First published | July 1890, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine |
| Book edition | April 1891, expanded to 20 chapters |
| Setting | Late nineteenth-century London |
| Genre | Gothic and philosophical fiction |
| Central idea | A portrait takes on the signs of age and sin |
How does the story begin?
In a London studio, the painter Basil Hallward finishes a portrait of Dorian Gray, a strikingly handsome young man. Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotton visits and soon charms Dorian with a philosophy of pleasure, in which youth and beauty are the only things worth having.
Dorian realizes that one day he will grow old, and wishes aloud that the portrait would age instead of him. The wish comes true.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens with Sibyl?
Dorian falls in love with Sibyl Vane, a young actress who performs Shakespeare in a poor theater. He brings Basil and Lord Henry to see her, but she acts badly that night because she is too happy in love to act. Dorian cruelly rejects her.
Back at home he notices that the portrait's face has changed, with a cruel line near the mouth. Sibyl dies that night. Dorian decides he does not care, since the portrait now carries his guilt for him.
↑ Back to the topWhat does Dorian do next?
Over the next years Dorian indulges in every pleasure, and his reputation among respectable people begins to suffer while his face stays young. He locks the portrait away in an upstairs room, where it grows older and uglier.
When Basil finally sees what the painting has become, Dorian kills him in a rage and forces an old acquaintance, a chemist, to help hide the crime.
↑ Back to the topWho is James Vane?
Sibyl's brother James has spent years looking for the man she called Prince Charming. He finds Dorian in an opium den and tries to kill him, but Dorian escapes. James later follows him to the countryside and is killed by accident during a hunting party.
↑ Back to the topHow does the novel end?
Dorian resolves to change and tries a good deed, but the portrait shows that even this was vanity. Believing that destroying it will free him, he stabs it with a knife. The servants find the portrait restored to its original beauty and, beside it, a withered, disfigured corpse identified only by the rings on its fingers. It is Dorian.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Picture of Dorian Gray
This guide covers Oscar Wilde's novel in its 1890 and 1891 versions. Page counts vary by edition.