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A review by yourstrulyemi
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This is probably the hardest review I’ve ever written. Why? Because, usually when you finish a book, you’re left with some thoughts like an after-taste, ones that will probably remain with you for a long time. They make you ask questions, view life through new lenses, or teach you new experiences or knowledge that you’ve never touched before. This is what I was expecting with The Picture of Dorian Gray, the well renowned classic. But it simply failed in its mission.
Oscar Wilde observed and documented the follies of the society of his time, the people’s indulgence in sins, hiding behind a hypocrisy that fools even themselves. He uses Dorian, a dashingly handsome man, making him navigate through different classes, taking notes of his effects on them and theirs on him, in order to highlight the faults of the higher class, and maybe even mocking the dandyism in vogue back then.
The first chapters introduce three key characters, Dorian himself, Henry and Basil. What’s interesting about the latter two is that we’re given very few background details about them. Their actions outside their interaction with Dorian don’t matter. All this for a good reason, they’re both meant to fulfill a particular role for Dorian. Basil represents goodness, but one that yields pathetically to beauty and worships, and because of it can’t dominate Dorian and make him see reason. Henry, on the other hand, is the evil that whispers sweet dreams to Dorian, to tempt him into corruption. And he succeeds because Henry is confident, he wears the coat of a sinner with pride, and that is what wins Dorian over.
Written like this, it sounds like a wonderful story dealing with how a man surrenders to sin and corruption, killing his soul and turning him into the most horrible abomination. But as I said earlier, it just didn’t deliver.
The start was agonizingly slow, the process of brainwashing of Dorian by Henry boring and tasteless. Dorian’s sheer stupidity of believing every word that Henry says, without second guessing. For a tale that’s supposed to reflect and comment on a real society, it lacked realism and was oversimplified. And that alone killed all its charm.
The blatant misogyny could be excused given the time period the book was written in, but having no other element to cling into to enjoy the read, it was just another infuriating thing to loathe.
The end is probably the only redeeming quality of this book. It was just. It hurt the sinner in the worst possible way, and it’s the thing he prided in the most that brought his demise. So with that, I was satisfied.
But that’s all there is. Once I closed the book, I didn’t think back on it, didn’t reflect on what I had just witnessed. It just got quickly wiped out from my memory before I even realized it. (It’s only thanks to my self-imposed task of writing a review of every book I read that I didn’t completely forget it).
There are countless classics books out there, and I’m sure there are better books out there that deal with this theme better than The Picture of Dorian Gray did, so I won’t even bother mentioning it to anyone, let alone recommend it.
Oscar Wilde observed and documented the follies of the society of his time, the people’s indulgence in sins, hiding behind a hypocrisy that fools even themselves. He uses Dorian, a dashingly handsome man, making him navigate through different classes, taking notes of his effects on them and theirs on him, in order to highlight the faults of the higher class, and maybe even mocking the dandyism in vogue back then.
The first chapters introduce three key characters, Dorian himself, Henry and Basil. What’s interesting about the latter two is that we’re given very few background details about them. Their actions outside their interaction with Dorian don’t matter. All this for a good reason, they’re both meant to fulfill a particular role for Dorian. Basil represents goodness, but one that yields pathetically to beauty and worships, and because of it can’t dominate Dorian and make him see reason. Henry, on the other hand, is the evil that whispers sweet dreams to Dorian, to tempt him into corruption. And he succeeds because Henry is confident, he wears the coat of a sinner with pride, and that is what wins Dorian over.
Written like this, it sounds like a wonderful story dealing with how a man surrenders to sin and corruption, killing his soul and turning him into the most horrible abomination. But as I said earlier, it just didn’t deliver.
The start was agonizingly slow, the process of brainwashing of Dorian by Henry boring and tasteless. Dorian’s sheer stupidity of believing every word that Henry says, without second guessing. For a tale that’s supposed to reflect and comment on a real society, it lacked realism and was oversimplified. And that alone killed all its charm.
The blatant misogyny could be excused given the time period the book was written in, but having no other element to cling into to enjoy the read, it was just another infuriating thing to loathe.
The end is probably the only redeeming quality of this book. It was just. It hurt the sinner in the worst possible way, and it’s the thing he prided in the most that brought his demise. So with that, I was satisfied.
But that’s all there is. Once I closed the book, I didn’t think back on it, didn’t reflect on what I had just witnessed. It just got quickly wiped out from my memory before I even realized it. (It’s only thanks to my self-imposed task of writing a review of every book I read that I didn’t completely forget it).
There are countless classics books out there, and I’m sure there are better books out there that deal with this theme better than The Picture of Dorian Gray did, so I won’t even bother mentioning it to anyone, let alone recommend it.