Dorian Gray pretty much was the typical dandy from the
start of the novel. He was simply not yet awoken to the sins of pleasure that were put
forward to him by Lord Henry.
Within this paradigm there
are two major changes: First, his supposed "falling in love" with the poor actress Sybil
Vane. Of course, this was merely caprice, but her suicide as a result of his abandonment
made him more aware of how influential he was with
people.
"I
knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating
that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very
art itself." (Basil, about Dorian,
ch1)
So from that moment on,
he said to have had a form of rebirth where he want to experience the intensities of
life through pleasure.
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"There were moments when he looked on evil simply
as a mode through which he could realise his conception of the beautiful." (on Dorian,
Ch 11)
Secondly, came his
debauchery period. He would enter the slum district of East London and participate in
all forms of deprived activities, attended opium dens, and it is understood between the
lines (and quite on purpose by Wilde) that he was practicing homosexual activities as
well. This is an interesting fact because by this time in Victorian England, this was a
severely punishable crime. As this period got worse and worse, he would remain young,
and his picture would reflect the malice and nastiness of his
soul.
"You
look exactly the same wonderful boy who, day after day, used to come down to my studio
to sit for his picture. But you were simple, natural, and affectionate then. You were
the most unspoiled creature in the whole world. Now, I don't know what had come over
you. You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you. It is all Harry's influence, I see
that." (Basil, Ch 9)
The most
important change came when he began to make every man in London lose his reputation when
seen with him. Society began to shun him, and he even drove another man to suicide. When
confronted, Dorian went to the ultimate moment of insanity by killing the very man who
loved him the most, Basil. Basically, Dorian went from friend to foe, and from sane to
insane. He also turned into a heart breaker, and cold blooded murderer. In the end
Dorian killed himself, making the picture finally turn back to its normal self while in
the floor laid a dead old horrible man.
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"Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping
common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets
are one's mistakes."
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