The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I've successfully read my first book on a Kindle! I've always had it on my Kindle bookshelf *free classic* but I've never really enjoyed reading on a Kindle. I like having a physical book to flick through and put post it notes all over but I was in Malta and needed something to read. 

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I ever thought I would! I've studied a poem based on it but I've never been told what the actual book is about. I suppose it's a warning to teach one to be careful for what you wish for.

"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one"

There's three friends, Basil Hallward, the painter, Lord Henry and Dorian Gray, a young gentlemen. Basil is friends with both independently but in the first couple of chapters they all make friends.

Dorian Grey is someone everyone admires and Basil is very protective of him and doesn't want anyone else to make friends with him incase they ruin the friendship Basil has with him. 

"There's only on thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that's not being talked about"

All three men care a lot about their reputation and what people say and what they think which is possibly shown in the 'picture' that Basil paints of Dorian Grey as they care more about their social image than their actual self. 

Basil paints a picture of Dorian Gray which Lord Henry goes on one of his tangents about age and youth. Very quickly the book gets quite depressing. The picture will never age but people will do who is the real image? This gets to Dorian Grey who wishes that he never ages and instead the picture gets older over time. Dorian Grey doesn't think anything of this sarcastic prayer until the image starts to change. 

"Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul"

Lord Henry is a outspoken character who stretches the boundaries of political correctness and twists both the readers' and the charachters' own perceptions of the soul and who they really are. 

"Beauty is a form of genius... As it needs no explanation" 

Dorian Grey's downfall is his self worth and he treasures his beauty too much which in turn destroys him. He depends on it too much when beauty is never perfect and never lasts forever. 

"Punctuality is the thief of time" 

This is my favourite quote of the entire book is which I might actually use as an excuse for being late because it is. 

"People know the price of everything and the value of nothing"

Basil values his paintings more than he values his friendship and society which ruins his friendship with Dorian Grey. 

"experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes" 

When this quote first appears it doesn't have half the value that it has when you reread the book. Dorian Grey tries to forget and mask his mistakes but he never realised what he's actually done. 

"Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them"

This quote has nothing really to do with the main plot but I just love it because it's so true to everything.

I hope you've enjoyed this book review! And I'll be in touch soon.