Illustrate a novel

The novel I decided to research is “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray –interpretation of the book

The story takes place in England, in 1890, in an environment of local high society. Young Dorian, who is just entering the world of social gatherings, is portrayed by the artist Basil Hallward, who is infatuated with an incredibly handsome and perfect face of a young man. The entire elite, in which the boy begins to surrounded yourself is fascinated by emanating from him innocence, purity and almost angelic kindness. He, who brings Dorian on the path of evil and perdition is Lord Henry Wotton. It is a very popular figure among the elite of London, known for its sharp tongue, pointy and blunt cynicism and defeatism. The charismatic and strong Henry’s personality, have a huge influence on the inexperienced young man. Lord Henry upsets Dorian with a speech about the transient nature of youth and beauty. Worried about what Lord Henry said , Dorian unconsciously curses his portrait to bear the burden of age, allowing him to stay forever young. However he finds that the work of Basil brush has other “magic properties” as well. He notes that the portrait is also a reflection of his emotions and behaviour, that became his conscience. When, he meets a young actress, Sibyl Vane in a theatre in London slums, he falls in love with her, and she with him. However, once he and Sybil are engaged, her passionate love for Dorian makes her talent disappear as none of her roles on stage seem important to her anymore. This destroys Dorian's love for her, as it turns out that when he promised her undying affection he, saw it only in an expression of perfection of art so he brutally dumps her. When she is rejected, she commits suicide and Dorian’s portrait revels first changes. From that point, Dorian becomes gradually under the influence of slogans proclaimed by Harry and books that he recommends, more and more spoiled, but this is only visible in the image, which had been hidden by him, as great changes have taken place on it. Begins to lead a nightlife premises with the worst scum of London's margin. People are starting to avoid him, because even though the facade remained intact, his behaviour and aura were very repulsive. Finally, Dorian, who lived for many years with the appearance of 20-year-old, falls first murdering his friend Basil - stubbing him with a knife, and then shooting the brother of Sibyl. Attempting to live with the good girl in the countryside and doing good, he fails. Tired with ugliness of his own soul, he pierces the portrait with a knife. The painting restores the beauty, and Dorian himself becomes a ugly, rotten corpse.

Different pathways, themes in the book:

Dorian Gray:

- At the beginning Dorian is a sensitive, handsome and open hearted young man, but with time he changes into a pleasure-seeker and becomes vain. I think it happens like this not only because of the bad influence, but Dorian himself, as he quickly and thoughtlessly gave up his soul and even after he knew that he changes to the worst, still kept doing bad things as it was easier then facing the truth, facing the life.
- His spiritual figure illustrates the portrait, which imprint traces of his behaviour and feelings. At the end, his face is turned into a sneer, smiling old man.
- Throughout the book it seems Dorian doesn't have a conscience, but I believe his conscience was the portrait. That is why he kept the painting in a locked room not only to hide it from people but to hide it from himself as well, so it would not remind him of the person he became and the bad things he did.
- At the end of the book he breaks anyway as he realizes that beautiful things looks nicely only from the outside, and although his faced looked young his soul was tired, bruised and ugly.

Lord Henry

- He is selfish and hedonistic aristocrat who cares only about his own pleasure
- In a seductive and confident way he leads conversations and feed Dorian's brain with his theories and life guidelines
- He creates and developed Dorian's personality, their friendship is like a science experiment for him
- Rather, he does not practice his own philosophy in his life. He is more of a talker then a doer.
- He uses other people to test his theories
- He doesn't evolve throughout the book, his character doesn't change

Youth and Beauty

- youth and physical attractiveness as highly valuable
- escaping from your conscious and emotional attachments by devoting yourself to the study of beautiful things
- loosing connection with people and the word, and becoming soulless
- referring to today's world: devoting a lot of money and time to stay young and attractive (plastic surgery, make-up, jewellery, clothing), spending too much time on the Internet and "online" rather than in a real word, makes people less empathic and not able to connect with others, which makes people less compassionate and more soulless

The purpose of Art

"The purpose of art is to have no purpose." In Oscar Wilde's time people believed that art could be used as a tool for moral enlightenment and educational purposes, but Wilde believed the art should be free from that responsibility. That is why in his book, one of the characters, Lord Henry shares his philosophy about art being only display for its beauty not for any other reason. Also, throughout the book we learn that art is not only good and educational but also brutal and destructive.

Basil Hallward

- He is a painter, author of the portrait of Dorian. He loves Dorian and his love for him changes the way he sees art. He sees the evil that takes his young friend and tries to protect Dorian from the influence of Lord Henry and explain him the risk he takes. He discovers a secret about the portrait he created, for which he is murdered by Gray.
- He is a sensitive person and he is infatuated in Dorian, he tries to see the best in him, but his love to him also let him see the things, Dorian couldn't see and be able to recognize the evil.

Influence

In the book we can also see Lord Henry's profound influence on Dorian. He awakens in him the fear of passing. He also seduces him in a way that let him control Dorian's mind. Already, at the beginning Lord Henry senses sensitive and susceptible to changes soul of Dorian and he use it for his own purposes. The Yellow book given by Lord Henry also influences him a lot as he use it as a life guide and bases his life on it. I believe the book is a symbol of a kind of art that represents damaging influence and it also warn you to not surrender yourself to such an influence.
In today's world we are surrounded by many objects and mediums that can easily influence us and it is important to always research stuff on your own, not being credulous and believe in yourself.

Metaphors, Allusions:

- “What the worm was to the corpse,

His sins would be to the painted

Image on the canvas” - worms slowly degrade corpses, with each Dorian’s sin we can see his visual appearance and expression slowly get worst so the metaphor is portraying the slowly perishing beauty of the portrait.

- “..crushing the flower in his hand...: - flower symbolize Dorian’s internal beauty, it has been crushed because of degradation of his soul and it means the end of his internal beauty

- “What the invention of the oil-painting

Was to the Venetians, the face of Antinous was to late Greek sculpture,

And the face of Dorian Gray will

Someday be to me” - In Greek mythology, Antinous was favoured by the Roman emperor, the sculpture of him was made to represent his extreme beauty. Basil compares Dorian to Antinous because he want to demonstrate Dorian’s beauty and importance to him.

- Doppelganger – it is Dorian’s second, hidden self that serves as a metaphor for the state of his conscience.

- Polished leaves” ; “The sky above was like a faded rose”; “The curves of her throat were the curves of a while lily. “; “The sky hollowed itself into a perfect pearl”; “ a white-smocked carter offered him some cherries” ; “ a long line of boys carrying crates of striped tulips, and of yellow and red roses - provides people with the features and qualities of nature, for example trees or flowers.

- The Yellow Book – represent the poisonous influence, evil guide book

Famous quotes from the book:

- “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

- “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”

― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

- “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

- “Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

- “You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

- “Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Art and Music References from the book

Michaelangelo Buonarotti (3.5, X.7)
Claude Michel Clodion (4.1)
Richard Wagner, Lohengrin (4.4)
Adelina Patti (8.16)
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (10.7)
Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser (11.16)
Fréderic Chopin (19.9)

Famous adaptations

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film).

- Directed by Albert Lewin

- Differences from the book:

· Relationship to Sybil Vane – in the book she is an actress, in the movie music-hall singer; he breaks up with her not because of her bad acting like in the book, but because she fails test create by Lord Henry

· Dorian’s marriage – in the book he is with a village girl, in the film with Basil niece

· Dorian’s body is found by Dorian’s servants in the novel, but in the film is found by Lord Henry and Gladys (Basil niece)

· Music – piano piece played by Dorian to Sybil is Frederic Chopin’s – Preludes, Op.28:24.

· The painting in the movie was specially painted during the making of the film by Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, who was known as a painter of the macabre.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (2009)

- Directed by Oliver Parker

- Differences:

· In the book Dorian breaks up with Sibyl because she cannot act as good as before, in the film he arrives late on her performance because of the “sexual” activities organised by Lord Henry and that is why they split

· In the novel the body of Basil is burned in acid, in the film his body is thrown into the river

· In the book he dates a village girl and in the film he dates Lord Wotton daughter

· In the film Lord Wotton discovers his portrait, Dorian enters the room, they fight and after a struggle Lord Henry throws lamp at the painting. Lord Wotton daughter tries to save him, but he chose to die in a fire. The picture returns to its original appearance and Lord Henry decides to keep it in his loft. In the book Dorian stubs the painting and he becomes old, stinky corpse and the painting backs to previous form.

· In the book Dorian has blond hair and in the movie dark hair.

Penny Dreadful (TV series)

- created for Showtime and Sky by John Logan

- The series draws upon characters from 19th-century Irish and British fiction, including Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Mina Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, and Victor Frankenstein and his monster.

- Dorian’s character is played by Reeve Carney. In TV series he is a confident, wealthy, young, handsome yet lonely, self-isolating man that cannot die. And heals quickly.

- Famous quote: " Photographs are so ironically impermanent . They capture one moment in time to perfection. A painting can capture eternity . "

Theatre adaptation

Synetic Theater's "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmFZABPKB_k

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov3rmmDLl2w

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mk8pSS5p0M#t=141

- adapted to the stage by Nathan Weinberger

- The difference to the novel is that Dorian’s portrait plays the actual person that comes out of the portrait’s frame each time and dances with him and other characters.

- they use techno music and multimedia elements that are projected on screens to form the play set’s. Also to show Dorian’s madness and to complement lost of his soul they used a mix of visual patterns, images, backlit actors and faces

- very modern type of performance and definitely moves the boundaries because of the enhancement of the eroticism and violence in the scenes. To enhance the scenes they used bright-coloured paints that were poured, smeared and splattered on almost completely naked actors.

Illustrated though the use of lines - The picture of Dorian Gray

Example of a book cover- paper shaped into Dorian portrait, different way of presenting Dorian portrait

Butterfly as a symbol of transformation, good into evil. One side is distorted, which means it represents degraded soul.

Simplistic use of black and white background (good, evil) and great use of typography (nice and clear on one side and on the other broken into pieces)