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THE PICTURE OF Plot Summary

Dorian Gray meets the painter Basil Hallward, who becomes enthralled with Dorian and uses him as a model. Later, Basil’s good friend, Lord Henry Wotton, pays Basil a visit, admiring his latest work - a portrait of Dorian. Basil tells Henry of his affection for Dorian, just as Dorian arrives for his final sitting. Lord Henry imparts to Dorian his cynical world view, convincing him of the value of beauty and pleasure above all things.

Dorian is greatly moved by Lord Henry’s words and when Basil shows them the newly completed painting, Dorian is awed at the sight of his own image, overwhelmed by his fear that his youth and beauty will fade. He becomes jealous that the picture will remain forever young while he is destined to wither and age, and passionately wishes that it could be the other way around. Lord Henry is fascinated with Dorian’s innocence as much as Dorian is impressed by Lord Henry’s hedonistic outlook on life. They become fast friends, Basil fearing that Henry will be a corrupting influence on the impressionable Dorian, whom he adores. As Basil closes up his studio for the day, Dorian’s Portrait begins to show the first glimmers of life.

Dorian soon falls in love with the beautiful Sibyl Vane, a poor but talented young actress. They become engaged, much to her brother James’ dismay: she doesn’t know the first thing about Dorian, not even his name. James puts to sea, leaving the country indefinitely, as Dorian brings Henry and Basil to Sybil’s theater, where her acting is uncharacteristically and inexplicably terrible. Dorian is crushed. He confronts Sibyl backstage, where she tells him that since she is now truly in love, she no longer believes in the artificial emotions of the characters she is playing and cannot do so convincingly. Disgusted, Dorian breaks off their engagement and leaves Sybil. He returns home and discovers that his Portrait now bears a slightly different facial expression. To his horror, he realizes the Portrait is alive--a living mirror of his soul.

He writes a letter begging Sybil to forgive him, but Lord Henry arrives to inform him that Sybil has killed herself. Dorian is at first wracked with guilt, but Henry convinces him to view the event artistically, saying that the high drama of Sybil’s death is actually a thing to be admired. Succumbing to the older man’s suggestion, Dorian decides that he need not feel guilty, especially since his Portrait will now bear his guilt for him. When Basil visits Dorian to console him, he is appalled at his friend’s apathy towards Sibyl’s death. Dorian, however, is unapologetic and cruelly dismissive when Basil confesses his adulation of him.

Intermission

25 years pass. Dorian remains outwardly young and beautiful, an extremely popular and admired socialite. The Portrait, however, continues to reflects Dorian’s true self, growing more hideous and deformed as Dorian sinks further and further into a life of wreck less depravity.

One night, Basil visits Dorian to confront him about all of the terrible rumours that have been circulating about him. Basil wants to believe that his friend is still a good person, but Dorian decides to show him the Portrait so that he can see the true degradation of his soul. When Basil sees it he is horrified, urging his friend to repent for his sins. Having revealed his secret, Dorian murders Basil. To dispose of the body, he blackmails an estranged acquaintance, Alan Campbell, a chemist who is able to destroy the body and erase all traces of its existence. Having already been driven into isolation by Dorian’s corrupting influence, Alan eventually commits suicide. Dorian attends the theater with the sickly Lord Henry, telling him that he’s decided to change his life for the better. But as they watch the performance, ghosts of all those he is responsible for murdering rise up and torment Dorian, driving him out into the street. He is approached by a trio of prostitutes and when one of them calls him by Sybil’s nickname for him--a Prince--her brother James attacks. He has been searching for Dorian ever since Sybil’s death and is now prepared to kill him. But he quickly discovers that Dorian is far too young to have even been alive when Sybil died. He releases Dorian, but the Prostitutes tell him that Dorian Gray has looked young for decades. Realizing he was right, James takes off after Dorian.

Dorian visits Lord Henry. Dying, Lord Henry begs his prize pupil to never change. Now alone, Dorian can no longer continue his miserably corrupt lifestyle. He decides the only way to start fresh is to destroy the Portrait. He attacks it, but, in doing so, he inadvertantly kills himself. James bursts in, ready to kill Dorian, but only finds a rotted corpse lying on the floor and the portrait as beautiful as it was on the day Basil completed it 25 years before.