ANALYSIS

The ending of Dorian Gray

Right from the start of the extract the reader understands that Dorian Gray killed the painter Basil Hallward who had discovered the portrait secret.

In the final extract the protagonist makes the decision of killing the portrait of his soul to be free from all his sins and mistakes. He would kill the past and then he would be free. It is clear how Dorian’s past still coexists in his present and how much it tortures his conscience. This is the typical modernist concept of simultaneous time in the character’s mind.

Furthermore there is an association between the portrait and the conscience of Dorian: the portrait represents the sum of all his sins and looking at it Dorian feels guilty.

So the first part of the extract has got the function to convey the inner conflict in the protagonist’s mind.

The second part is more descriptive: the narrator explains what happens after Dorian hit the portrait with the knife he also used to kill Basil.

The contrast between the shout and the following silence creates an atmosphere of terror, suspense and expectation.

The very last scene describes the situation in Dorian’s secret chamber: the servants of Mr Gray find the portrait of their lord in perfect conditions just like Basil Hallward had painted it but they find also the body of an old, thin and very repulsive man, with a knife in his heart that they recognize as Dorian Gray’s only when they examine his rings.

So the death has re-established the balance between life and youth that Dorian’s pact with the Devil had broken.