Dorian Gray Read Along 2021 discussion

The final chapters! Tell us your thoughts on those and the book as a whole!

I finished the novel yesterday and the ending made me think a lot:
For me, Basil is the only character of moral integrity. He adores/loves Dorian for his beauty and innocence, but he also sees Dorians moral weakness. He doesn't want Dorian to meet Lord Henry because he anticipates that Henry will spoil him. When Basil sees the changed portrait, he urges Dorian to take responsibility for his dreadfull actions: "The prayer of your pride has been answered. The prayer of your repentance will be answered also." (Chapter XIII) But this impertinence infuriates Dorian and signs Basil's death.
Lord Henry is for me the personification of immorality. For him life seems to be nothing but a game that has to be played artfully. Repentance is preposterous: "What an exquisite life you have had! You have drunk deeply of everything...Nothing has been hidden from you. And it has all been to you no more than the sound of music." (Chapter XIX)
But I wonder if Lord Henry's immorality is less a practical than a theoretical one. Has he ever done something dreadful himself except for spoiling others and then observing their moral degradation?
And Dorian himself? After the murder of Basil and the encounter with James Vane Dorian realizes that he can't go on as before. He is haunted by dark premonitions. He decides to reform himself and to become 'good'. But even though he is aware of the terrible things he has done, he does not really regret. His wish to become good is a selfish one: "It was better not to think of the past. Nothing could alter that. It was of himself, and his own future, that he had to think." (Chapter XX) He still is not willing to take responsibility for his past and to repent what he has done. Nothing has been his own fault, "it was the portrait that had done everything", or it might be Basil or the mysterious book to be blamed. Dorian has no pity for the people he has abused and corrupted and at last killed - they are "nothing to him".
Dorian believes that he will be able to whitewash the past by becoming better in the future. After the first little action of self-denial he expects the portrait to have changed to the better. But the portrait is not corrupt - on the contrary, the bloodstains on it have become even more obvious. Frustrated by this, Dorian decides to destroy the picture in order to get rid of his own conscience and to become free. But in killing his conscience, he kills himself.
"Und die Moral von der Geschicht'?" as we would ask in Germany:
For me the moral of the story seems to be that a life without feeling of responsibility for the consequences of the own actions is at long last self-destructive.
That's the impression the novel has given to me. I've read it for the first time.
I'm sorry that my skill to express my thoughts in English is so bad!

Gaby wrote: "I finished the novel yesterday and the ending made me think a lot:
For me, Basil is the only character of moral integrity. He adores/loves Dorian for his beauty and innocence, but he also sees Dori..."
You expressed yourself far more eloquently than I could! I think you raise some very interesting points here about the morality of Lord Henry and whether he actually commits immoral acts or just urges others on to do so. I would see that as the ultimate immoral act - the corruption of others. And yet, so much of what struck me in the last few chapters was Dorian's inability (as a complete sociopath - let's face it!) to take any responsibility for his own actions. He blamed Basil for the portrait, the portrait for his descent into complete hedonism and debauchery, Lord Henry for his influence and even the book that he gave him, but he can never accept that he had a choice in his actions. He even says of Alan Campbell that "his suicide had been his own act. He had chosen to do it. it was nothing to him." So when others commit acts which Dorian does not wish to see his part in, it is 'their choice', yet when Dorian acts it is 'because of so and so'. Therefore, the point you make fits entirely - Lord Henry merely planted ideas. It was the choice of others to be influenced by them. And, if that is the case, was he as immoral as Dorian? It's an interesting argument!

I have been mulling this over for a couple days now as I finished this on Monday. This is a book that warrants more than one reading and I will definitely be returning to it again at some point. So many themes and ideas, but, ultimately, this is a story of morality, corruption and the consequences of a purely hedonistic lifestyle, which, unchecked, led to Dorian's downfall. But who or what is it that corrupts Dorian? What is it that makes a person who they are? What influences us? Moulds us? Were we all to be as rich as Dorian and to remain eternally young and beautiful, how would we spend our lives? The discussions within the book of morality, beauty, youth, art and influence are thought provoking and fascinating.

Both Henry and Basil were counterpoints to one another in this moral tug of war for Dorian's soul: I felt as though they were the proverbial angel and devil sitting on his shoulders! Lord Henry was both despicable and mesmerizing and he certainly had the lion's share of fantastic lines! I began this book wondering if Henry was Wilde's fictional alter ego, but as his character revealed itself to be that of a misogynistic sociopath, I felt perhaps that was a stretch too far! It was also pointed out to me by Claudia, that many of the famous lines that I recognised Henry uttering were lines that are often attributed to Wilde himself, which definitely caused a crossover in my mind between character and author.

Basil was the most sympathetic of those characters whose attempts to influence Dorian for the better sadly fell on deaf ears. I did often wonder though why he would be friends with Henry who, it would seem, was the opposite of Basil in his values and principles. His deep and unrequited love for Dorian was heartbreaking. However, it could also be argued that he was actually in love with the image of Dorian, not Dorian himself. Much as Dorian was in love with the image of Sybil Vane, rather than her true self. When she announced her love to him and he scorned her , it was one of the most vicious monologues I have ever read! Perhaps the only other truly sympathetic character in the novel.

At the end of the book, I was struck by Dorian's hypocrisy when talking of the death of Alan Campbell as his choice, when Dorian refused to take any responsibility for the choices he himself had made, seeking instead to blame all of those around him. His blame of Basil leading to such a brutal and graphic murder scene was a real shock to me when I read it! Such a graphic scene! Dorian's internal thoughts after the murder, where he referred to Basil's body continually as a 'thing', were particularly chilling.

Dorian Gray ruined many lives with a level of detachment and lack of empathy that is a trait I find terrifying. Even when he seeks to be good, it is for the good it will do him in relieving him of any guilt he might be tempted to feel or the fear of any further consequences, such as James Vane tried to deal out to him. In the end, when in seeking to rid himself of the portrait and kill this visible representation of his soul or conscience, Dorian kills himself. I found this very abrupt when it happened but not unsatisfying as an ending - poetic justice indeed.