In the stately London home of
his aunt, Lady Brandon, the well-known artist Basil Hallward meets
Dorian Gray. Dorian is a cultured, wealthy, and impossibly beautiful
young man who immediately captures Basil’s artistic imagination.
Dorian sits for several portraits, and Basil often depicts him as
an ancient Greek hero or a mythological figure. When the novel opens,
the artist is completing his first portrait of Dorian as he truly
is, but, as he admits to his friend Lord Henry Wotton, the painting
disappoints him because it reveals too much of his feeling for his
subject. Lord Henry, a famous wit who enjoys scandalizing
his friends by celebrating youth, beauty, and the selfish pursuit
of pleasure, disagrees, claiming that the portrait is Basil’s masterpiece.
Dorian arrives at the studio, and Basil reluctantly introduces him
to Lord Henry, who he fears will have a damaging influence on the impressionable,
young Dorian.
Basil’s fears are well founded; before the end of their
first conversation, Lord Henry upsets Dorian with a speech about
the transient nature of beauty and youth. Worried that these, his
most impressive characteristics, are fading day by day, Dorian curses
his portrait, which he believes will one day remind him of the beauty
he will have lost. In a fit of distress, he pledges his soul if
only the painting could bear the burden of age and infamy, allowing
him to stay forever young. After Dorian’s outbursts, Lord Henry
reaffirms his desire to own the portrait; however, Basil insists
the portrait belongs to Dorian.
Over the next few weeks, Lord Henry’s influence over
Dorian grows stronger. The youth becomes a disciple of the “new
Hedonism” and proposes to live a life dedicated to the pursuit of
pleasure. He falls in love with Sibyl Vane, a young actress who
performs in a theater in London’s slums. He adores her acting; she,
in turn, refers to him as “Prince Charming” and refuses to heed
the warnings of her brother, James Vane, that Dorian is no good
for her. Overcome by her emotions for Dorian, Sibyl decides that
she can no longer act, wondering how she can pretend to love on
the stage now that she has experienced the real thing. Dorian, who
loves Sibyl because of her ability to act, cruelly
breaks his engagement with her. After doing so, he returns home
to notice that his face in Basil’s portrait of him has changed:
it now sneers. Frightened that his wish for his likeness in the
painting to bear the ill effects of his behavior has come true and
that his sins will be recorded on the canvas, he resolves to make
amends with Sibyl the next day. The following afternoon, however,
Lord Henry brings news that Sibyl has killed herself. At Lord Henry’s
urging, Dorian decides to consider her death a sort of artistic
triumph—she personified tragedy—and to put the matter behind him.
Meanwhile, Dorian hides his portrait in a remote upper room of his
house, where no one other than he can watch its transformation.
Lord Henry gives Dorian a book that describes the wicked exploits
of a nineteenth-century Frenchman; it becomes Dorian’s bible as
he sinks ever deeper into a life of sin and corruption. He lives a
life devoted to garnering new experiences and sensations with no regard
for conventional standards of morality or the consequences of his
actions. Eighteen years pass. Dorian’s reputation suffers in circles
of polite London society, where rumors spread regarding his scandalous
exploits. His peers nevertheless continue to accept him because
he remains young and beautiful. The figure in the painting, however,
grows increasingly wizened and hideous. On a dark, foggy night,
Basil Hallward arrives at Dorian’s home to confront him about the
rumors that plague his reputation. The two argue, and Dorian eventually
offers Basil a look at his (Dorian’s) soul. He shows Basil the now-hideous
portrait, and Hallward, horrified, begs him to repent. Dorian claims
it is too late for penance and kills Basil in a fit of rage.
In order to dispose of the body, Dorian employs
the help of an estranged friend, a doctor, whom he blackmails. The
night after the murder, Dorian makes his way to an opium den, where
he encounters James Vane, who attempts to avenge Sibyl’s death. Dorian
escapes to his country estate. While entertaining guests, he notices
James Vane peering in through a window, and he becomes wracked by
fear and guilt. When a hunting party accidentally shoots and kills
Vane, Dorian feels safe again. He resolves to amend his life but
cannot muster the courage to confess his crimes, and the painting
now reveals his supposed desire to repent for what it is—hypocrisy.
In a fury, Dorian picks up the knife he used to stab Basil Hallward
and attempts to destroy the painting. There is a crash, and his
servants enter to find the portrait, unharmed, showing Dorian Gray
as a beautiful young man. On the floor lies the body of their master—an
old man, horribly wrinkled and disfigured, with a knife plunged
into his heart.
