The Picture Of Dorian Gray Example of an Victorian gothic horror...Greatest novel about decadence, sin and aestheticism....Also, such an inspring novel and full of literary creativity. It's been common to see haunted portraits in Gothic Literature as in The Oval Portrait (Edgar Allan Poe), The Judge's House (Bram Stoker), and Picture in the House (H.P. Lovecraft). I'm in love with the language and rhetoric of the author. Wilde achieved to show us how he created modern Faust with this one. As we can see, Dorian Gray's transformation from an innocent shy painter's fancy-sick lust to heartless villain is engraved on his soul without any blemish on his pure face.
In the preface, Wilde states "there is no such thing as a moral or immoral book" which he quoted later as “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
There are 3 main characters in the book which I appreciate a lot, since more can be confusing for me. Wilde even affiliates himself with the characters by commenting “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me: Dorian is what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.” after the publication.
The masterpiece still remains like a monument to the power of vanity, the hope of love, and the tyrannic decay of the human soul. I can't wait to reading the novel again and watching film adaptations.
