Danielle+W

Oscar Wilde's,﻿ The Picture of   Dorian Gray

"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!" - Oscar Wilde

"Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world's original sin. If the cave-man had known how to laugh, History would have been different." - Oscar Wilde

"You are a wonderful creation. You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know." - Oscar Wilde What others say... A lush, cautionary tale of a life of vileness and deception or a loving portrait of the aesthetic impulse run rampant? Why not both? After Basil Hallward paints a beautiful, young man's portrait, his subject's frivolous wish that the picture change and he remain the same comes true. Dorian Gray's picture grows aged and corrupt while he continues to appear fresh and innocent. After he kills a young woman, "as surely as if I had cut her little throat with a knife," Dorian Gray is surprised to find no difference in his vision or surroundings. "The roses are not less lovely for all that. The birds sing just as happily in my garden." - Amazon reviews

The classic tale of a man who sells his moral health for the opportunity to retain his youth and good looks, and the portrait that reveals his own corruption to him, is well-suited to this graphic novel adaptation. Edginton retains many of Wilde’s eloquent phrasings, and Culbard’s black-and-white images give us a Belle Epoch London to fit with Dorian Gray’s recklessness. Lord Henry Wooton’s Svengali role is clearly defined here, and the working-class victims of Gray’s appetites and denials—including the Vane siblings—have some of the most distinct and personalized features among the cast of characters. Gray himself verges on cartoon proportions, a fitting tribute to Wilde’s presentation of him as lacking moral depth. Fitting with the original story, Culbard uses scenes from taverns, opium dens, and bawdy houses, and includes an image of an accurately rendered male nude garden statue. Teens who have read the original will appreciate this rendition, and those who haven’t read Wilde directly should be encouraged to give him a try after this taste. Grades 8-12. --Francisca Goldsmith

This sophisticated but crude novel is the story of man's eternal desire for perennial youth, of our vanity and frivolity, of the dangers of messing with the laws of life. Just like "Faust" and "The immortal"--Borges.

Wilde, a man of the world who vaguely resembles Gray, wrote this masterpiece with a great but dark sense of humor, saying every thing he has to say. It is an ironic view of vanity, of superflous desires. Gray is a man destroyed by his very beauty, to whom an unknown magical power gave the chance to contemplate in his own portrait all the vices that his looks and the world put in his hands. Love becomes carnal lust; passion becomes crime. The characters and the scenes are perfect. Wilde's wit and sarcasm come in full splendor to tell us that the world is dangerous for the soul, when its rules are not followed. But, and it's a big but, it is not a moralizing story. Wilde was not the man to do that. It is a fierce and unrepressed exposition of all the ugly side of us humans, when unchecked by nature. To be rich, beautiful and eternally young is a sure way to hell. And the writing makes it a classical novel. You'll wish you age peacefully.--Amazon

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Why I chose these quotes and videos...

Quote One: I chose this quote because it is an important part of the book. At this point Dorian Gray is saying he would basically give anything to live forever young. At that moment in time Dorian actually starts to not age but he will soon realize living forever young is not everything you think it is. I would never want to stay the same age regardless of how good-looking I was or how great my life was either. Throughout the book, I believe Wilde makes people who want to live young forever have a second thought about it.

Quote Two: I chose this quote because if you really think about it you can never be too serious. To say if the caveman ever learned to laugh, history would not be the same was an excellent statement for Wilde to say. This is true because they invented several of the basic things we use today like fire and the wheel. If they were ever goofing around and "laughing" so to say, then our society would not be as civilized as it is today.

Quote Three: I chose this quote because it makes you think. No one gives themselves the credit they deserve to how much they truly know. At the same time everyone wants to know more. Thus, everyone knows less than they want. Although this quote can be confusing, it is a perfect way for Wilde to describe a person.

Video One: I chose this video because it was the very first movie made to go with Oscar Wilde's, Picture of Dorian Gray. It may be in black and white but it appears to touch base with a lot of significant events that went along with the book itself which makes a it a perfect video to share.

Video Two: I chose this video because it is a newer version of Picture of Dorian Gray. It is said to be a great movie and I would love to watch it because it seems to go with the book perfectly. Just from the trailer I can tell it wouldn't be much different than the book so again it is a good clip to share.

