Finished: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde). Intriguing classic by Oscar Wilde. :-) I really enjoyed this story, but then I enjoy Oscar Wilde's writing immensely. I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book. The eerie story of how young, beautiful, innocent, but spoiled Adonis-like Dorian Gray sits for a portrait painting which changes his life. The artist, Basil Hallward, is enamored by Dorian and feeds his ego, gushing about his perfection. It's not until Basil's good friend, the cynical Lord Henry, comes to watch the painting and meet the young man he's heard so much about that things start to go awry. Lord Henry espouses his opinions on the ways of life, including fulfilling all one's desires, no matter the moral cost. Though Lord Henry doesn't quite live up to those unscrupulous ways himself, he fully counsels young Dorian Gray to go and live his life to the fullest...to rip off the shroud of innocence in his sheltered life and live while he's young...before the lines of age start to mark his gorgeous face. Then, as the portrait is finished, and the men all look at the perfection of Dorian's face that looks back at them, Dorian throws himself on the couch in despair. He realizes that he'll never look this young and beautiful again as the days go by and he ages. He wishes with all his heart, why oh why, can't the portrait age and not himself?? So, we know, of course, the writing is on the wall there. The portrait does, in fact, age in place of Dorian. By the end of the story, Dorian is 38 years old, but still looks 19. However, his actions during all those years have been so ugly and disdainful, and his influence on other young people in society so duplicitous, that hardly anyone will associate with him any more. And...his portrait reflects the ugliness! Dorian now keeps the portrait hidden and locked in his old schooling room on his estate. The first time he notices the change in the portrait, it's a very slight change, but it's definitely a sneer in his smile, reflecting a cruelty that he never portrayed in his innocent youth. The incident that prompts this initial change in the portrait occurs right after the portrait is painted. Dorian meets and falls in love with a young actress, Sybil, very much beneath his station. He falls in love with her more so for her acting and the characters she portrays than the actual person herself. He kisses her once and decides he must marry her. He finally convinces Henry and Basil to go to the theater with him to see her perform, and she has an awful performance night where she just barely walks through her lines. Embarrassed in front of his friends, Dorian is furious. Later backstage, Sybil tells Dorian that she loves him so much that she realized her love for theater didn't compare, so she didn't even care about her job that night. Dorian screams at her and tells her THAT'S what he loved. He dumps her right there and breaks her heart. She begs him to reconsider and tells him she'll never underperform again, but he walks away from her. When he arrives home that night, that is the first time he notices the portrait has changed to the crueler expression. The next morning, Dorian finds out that Sybil has taken her own life in despair. Instead of showing compassion, Dorian finds that to be an exciting ending to the drama of it all. He's really not a very likable person at all. Over the years, his morals and his actions grow worse and worse. Finally, at the age of 38, Basil confronts him one night about all the despicable rumors he's heard about Dorian. Dorian blames the portrait, and therefore Basil, for his unpleasantness, and he ends up stabbing Basil, killing him!! At the very end of the story, Dorian decides, too little too late, that he'd rather get some good back in his life. Perhaps if he destroys the painting, he will get his life back. Instead, when he stabs the portrait with that same knife, the portrait changes back to it's original beautiful form and we finally see the old and decrepit and very dead Dorian Gray laying on the floor. In the meantime, throughout the story, Lord Henry peppers the entire story with more witticisms than I could count. Here is one of my favorites though:

"The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young."

So glad to have added another Oscar Wilde to my collection of read books. :-)