The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray

Set in late-Victorian London, the novel tells the story of a beautiful young man whose wish for eternal youth is mysteriously granted, allowing him to pursue a life of unchecked sensation while a hidden portrait ages and decays in his place.

The story opens in the studio of Basil Hallward, a painter who has just completed a portrait of a young man of extraordinary beauty. Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotton, a witty and cynical aristocrat, presses Basil to explain why he refuses to exhibit the painting. Basil insists he has put too much of himself into it. He reveals the subject's name, Dorian Gray, and describes meeting him at a party, where Dorian's personality struck him with such force that he felt he would become "absolutely devoted to him" (63). Basil confesses that Dorian is the central inspiration for his art and that the portrait encodes an intense, unspoken feeling he will not expose to the world. When Dorian arrives at the studio, Basil begs Lord Henry not to influence him.

Lord Henry ignores the warning. While Basil paints, Lord Henry delivers an impassioned speech about the supremacy of youth and beauty, urging Dorian to live fully and embrace what he calls a "new Hedonism," a philosophy of cultivated sensory experience. Dorian is deeply stirred. When the portrait is finished, he sees his own beauty with sudden clarity and is seized by anguish at the thought that the painting will remain young while he ages. He utters a fateful wish: "If it was I who were to be always young, and the picture that were to grow old! For this—for this—I would give everything!" (82). Basil, distressed, nearly destroys the painting with a palette knife, but Dorian stops him. Basil gives Dorian the portrait, and Dorian leaves with Lord Henry while Basil stays behind in pain.

Over the following weeks, Dorian falls increasingly under Lord Henry's influence. He becomes infatuated with Sybil Vane, a seventeen-year-old actress of extraordinary talent who performs Shakespearean heroines at a small East End theater. Lord Henry privately views Dorian as a fascinating psychological experiment whose romantic impulses he has set in motion. Dorian announces his engagement to Sybil.

Lord Henry, Basil, and Dorian attend Sybil's performance as Juliet. She is physically lovely but performs terribly, her acting wooden and lifeless. Backstage, Sybil joyfully explains that Dorian's love has revealed the hollowness of theatrical artifice; she can no longer pretend to feel passions she once only imitated. Dorian is horrified. He tells her she has "killed my love" (117), that he loved her because she embodied art and genius, and that without her talent she is nothing to him. Sybil collapses at his feet, but Dorian walks out.

Returning home at dawn, Dorian notices the portrait has changed: There is "a touch of cruelty in the mouth" (120). Shaken, he resolves to return to Sybil and live a good life. He writes her a passionate letter of apology, but Lord Henry arrives with the news that Sybil is dead; she swallowed poison at the theater the previous night. Dorian is initially stricken. Lord Henry consoles him by aestheticizing the tragedy, arguing that Sybil was never truly real. Dorian gradually absorbs this perspective. Alone, he examines the portrait again and recognizes that life has made his choice for him: He will have eternal youth and every pleasure, while the portrait bears the burden of his shame.

Basil visits the next morning, appalled that Dorian attended the Opera on the night Sybil died. When Basil asks to see the portrait, Dorian reacts with terror and forbids it. To deflect Basil's curiosity, Dorian maneuvers the conversation so that Basil reveals his own secret: Basil confesses that he worshipped Dorian with far more romantic feeling than a man should give a friend and that the portrait contains this passion in every brushstroke. Dorian feels pity but is relieved his own secret remains hidden. He resolves to conceal the portrait permanently.

Dorian has the portrait carried to a locked room at the top of his house, keeping the key always on his person. In the library, he finds a yellow-covered book sent by Lord Henry, a novel about a young Parisian named Raoul who pursues every sensation and passion of human history. Written in an intoxicating style, the book captivates Dorian, who comes to see it as containing the story of his own life, "written before he had lived it" (158).

Years pass. Dorian models his existence on Raoul, but unlike the fictional character, who eventually suffers the decay of his beauty, Dorian retains his youthful appearance indefinitely. He periodically visits the locked room to compare his unchanged face with the portrait's growing corruption. He elaborates a life of sensation, studying perfumes, music, jewels, and ecclesiastical vestments. He explores Catholicism, mysticism, and materialism but commits to nothing, treating each as a temporary mode of experience. Scandal and rumor accumulate around him. He is blackballed from a club. People whisper about his corrupting influence on young men and women, yet his beauty and charm shield him from open condemnation.

On the eve of his thirty-second birthday, Dorian encounters Basil outside his house. Inside, Basil recounts the dreadful rumors and says that to judge whether they are true, he would need to see Dorian's soul. Seized by reckless pride, Dorian leads Basil upstairs and tears the curtain from the portrait. Basil is horrified to recognize his own brushwork in the hideous image and begs Dorian to pray and repent. An uncontrollable hatred comes over Dorian. He seizes a knife and stabs Basil repeatedly, killing him. Dorian then creates an alibi, and his valet confirms that Basil left at eleven to catch his train.

The next morning, Dorian sends for Alan Campbell, a scientist and former close friend whose intense intimacy with Dorian ended abruptly and mysteriously. Campbell now refuses to associate with Dorian. Dorian asks Campbell to use his knowledge of chemistry to destroy the body. Campbell refuses repeatedly, but Dorian blackmails him with a written threat that causes Campbell to turn deathly pale. Campbell capitulates and spends five hours destroying the body. When Dorian briefly opens the locked room, he notices the portrait now has a red dew on one of its painted hands, "as though the canvas had sweated blood" (205).

Six weeks later, Dorian tells Lord Henry he intends to reform. He describes Hetty Merton, a beautiful village girl he courted but decided at the last moment not to ruin. Lord Henry dismisses the gesture as vanity. He mentions that Alan Campbell has died by suicide. Walking home, Dorian acknowledges that he has corrupted himself and others but wonders whether change is possible.

Dorian goes to the locked room and uncovers the portrait, hoping his mercy toward Hetty has improved it. Instead, the painting is more loathsome than before, showing cunning in the eyes and hypocrisy in the mouth. He wonders whether his renunciation was merely vanity. He briefly considers confessing to Basil's murder but dismisses the idea; the portrait is the last piece of evidence against him and must be destroyed. He seizes the same knife he used to kill Basil and stabs the canvas. A horrible cry is heard. When servants finally gain entry, they find the portrait hanging on the wall, restored to all its original beauty. On the floor lies a dead man, withered, wrinkled, and loathsome, with a knife in his heart. Only by examining the rings on his fingers can they identify the body as Dorian Gray.