The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Published by Simon & Schuster
WHEN looking to recommend classic novels to young people, I look to the first one I read. While the darker content in this book should be kept in mind when introducing the story to young teenagers, these elements of murder, misogyny and morally abhorrent behaviour are integral parts of its central theme of corruption.
Due to this, it’s perhaps not appropriate for under 12 or 13 but for older teenagers, as this is a gripping gothic horror for autumn and the Halloween season.
Oscar Wilde’s book is far more accessible in language and relatable in themes for contemporary readers, especially young adults studying it in school, or picking it up themselves, and it can serve as an interesting but comfortable introduction to the literary canon.
Even those who haven’t read the book know the story in some way. The idea of a wish gone wrong is the beginning of many of the moral lessons we teach to children.
Dorian Gray is an exceptionally attractive young man, who, while sitting for a portrait, is introduced to a man who changes his whole perspective. Lord Henry calls to Dorian’s attention that the youth and beauty he currently possesses will not last forever, that unlike the portrait of himself he will age, change, and every year, grow closer to death. Horrified by this realisation, Dorian embraces Lord Henry’s philosophy of hedonism – the idea that the pursuit of pleasure holds value above all else.
In order to pursue this, he makes that famous wish that forms the devastating and captivating centre of the story, to reverse the roles of himself and this painting he now resents.
He longs to be able to stay as young and beautiful as he is in that moment while the portrait ages in place of him – and so it is done.
As Gray becomes obsessed with his hedonist lifestyle, the portrait does change, but it is not only the simple ageing process of a mortal. For every sin he commits, the face becomes more distorted and ugly.
This is one of the messages of the story that remains in your mind weeks after the first read, as it is one of the most effective iterations of the importance of one’s personality over physical attractiveness I have read.
Particularly, young people in an era of social media face pressure to conform to current beauty standards and to centre much of their behaviour around aesthetics rather than their own joy or development.
While Oscar Wilde did not know the shifts in culture and technology to come, his words seem to earnestly and impactfully resonate.
The characters, particularly Gray and his transformation from the initial simple, impressionable youth to the monster of his own story, come alive on every page.
The story is haunting, with the addition of an intellectual, nuanced take one would find in reading philosophical theory, and is a fantastic mix of both for young adults getting into classics.
