O. WILDE, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

The very end of the novel

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         At the very end of the novel, Dorian Gray’s death is presented in contrast to the immortality of his portrait. The theme of double, central in the whole novel, comes out as the opposition between reality and art, death and life, corruption and beauty.

         In the first sequences an omniscient narrator tells about Dorian in front of his painting. The scene is described with precision, the time of the story coincides with the time of telling and symbols are also present. As a result the reader feels to participate to the scene.

Firstly the narrator focuses the attention on the meaning of Dorian’s looking at his portrait. The scene provides a mirror effect, which is functional to convey the double in a psychological way. In addition it coheres to the Preface because the picture mirrors his spectator (It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors). The repetition of conscience, at the beginning of the text, is adopted to refer to what the protagonist looks in the picture and adds to meaning to the link between one’s identity and meanings read in works of art.

In the Preface, Wilde states that Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt; it follows that Dorian’s nature is corrupted. The deep relation between what Dorian sees and how he actually feels is also responsible for his decision to destroy the picture.

The act of destroying is told by expressions containing the verb “to kill” that are enough to understand the vitality of the picture. Such images relate the work of art to the artist (As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter’s work) and negatively connote the action (It would kill the past/It would kill this monstrous soul-life). What is more the action is thought in order to reach peace (he would be free/he would be at peace). The idea of death as a peaceful condition reminds to a materialistic view, however it can be read as a hope for leaving the world’s torments.

In the technique adopted by the narrator to express Dorian’s thoughts it is possible to read an anticipation of the Modernist interior monologue because the reader catches the character’s psychology.

The act of destroying is told in few worlds so that it becomes allusive and creates suspense in the reader.

         The second sequence begins telling the effect the action caused, using a language that appeals to senses.

Therefore, the act itself of “killing the picture” is not really told but the reader understands it thanks to expressions provided. That effect can be considered as an attempt to be allusive.

The narrator focuses the attention on the “cry” shouted by the portrait, so that the reader can feel the situation. The alliteration of “r” in first sentences suggests the painful sound.

The second part of the sequence is about the external reaction to the situation: people from the street and servants are afraid. The narration uses a gothic style, mainly focused on the dark house in night in order to create a sense of mystery.

         Similarly to what happened from the first sequence to the second, the third sequence begins with the consequences of people arrived at the house. The servants come into the secret room, they discover an awful, dead, old man on the ground and a beautiful picture of a young man.

The description of the portrait follows the aesthetic principles declared in the Preface. The works of art is splendid because it catches youth and beauty, giving them immortality. On the other hand, the dead body represents human corruption.

The last sentence of the novel is also allusive in the sense that it suggests a meaning to the reader without really stating it. Anyway, it is possible to understand that people recognized Dorian in the dead man.

         Clear and short sentences are adopted to create a slow rhythm in order to make the reader experience the drama felt by the character. The narrator, coherently with Wilde’s purposes, mostly adopts an allusive language with particular reference to sensual elements. These devices make the reader “go beneath the surface”, cope with symbols in the text. Therefore reality is knowable thanks to a realistic description, the use of intuition and the ability to read allusions.

All in all the text underlines that awareness and knowledge are the results of a comparison considering oppositions.