The picture of Dorian Gray

Plot

Dorian kills Basil when he sees the signs on the portrait

Later Dorian wants to free himself from the portrait and stabs it but, doing so, he kills himself

The signs of ages and vices start to appear on the portrait while Dorian remains young and handsome

Meanwhile Lord Henry Wotton throws Dorian into a life of pleasure

Basil makes a portrait of the young man

Dorian Gray moves to London where he fascinates the painter Basil Hallward

Characters

Lord Henry Wotton

Basil Hallward

Dorian Gray

He represents the ideal of youth, beauty and innocence

He teaches Dorian about hedonism and throws him into a life of pleasures

He represents how a good artist can be destroyed in a sacrifice for art

Narrative technique

unobtrusive third person narrator (he does not gives opinions in the story)

identification between the reader and the character

Allegorical meaning

new version of the legend of Faust

Art survives people

The portrait can be regarded as the man's soul

22. Gray

21. Gray

23. Gray

Analysis

The painter's studio