“Because to influence a person is to give him one´s own soul”
Everyone who knows me knows that I am not a huge classic´s reader. However, my best friend kept recommending this book to me and I decided to give it a go, needless to say I found one of my new favorite books.
The Picture of Dorian Gray follows a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty, in the book we see Dorian Gray´s moral disintegration.
This book is incredible written, the writing is dense but it makes us think. I highlighted most of the book because it is filled with quotes that spoke to me.
“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul”
This book is a perfect representation of what happens when our actions don’t have direct consequences and the things we are capable of doing when we think nobody is watching.
I think the best part of this book are the characters, Dorian Gray is one of the most intriguing characters I have ever read about, even though I was frustrated with his morality I still couldn’t stop reading about him. Dorian Gray´s character development (idk if development is the right word in this case) is fantastic, we follow him as he goes from this naïve, innocent and pure character, to a dark, cynical man who can´t even recognize himself.
“When we blame ourselves we feel that no one has a right to blame us”
Lord Henry, he is one of the characters that you know is evil and you shouldn’t like him but end up falling for him no matter what. He is the representation of temptation, he is the man responsible for leading Dorian down the dark road and he is completely unware that he is doing so. Lord Henry is arrogant, intelligent and very self-confident and in my opinion he had the best quotes throughout the whole book. His views on life and common everyday things are food for thought and you can’t help to be blown away by some of the things he says.
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing”
Finally, Basil Hallward, for me even though Basil is not the most interesting character of the book, he is definitely the sweetest. Basil balances Lord Henry by being the conscience throughout the book and I really love his character. I love how invested he was with Dorian and how he genuinely cared for his wellbeing.
In conclusion this book is a masterpiece. It is one of the best written books I have ever read and even though it is only around 250 pages you are able to not only cared for the characters but also get emotionally invested. Through this book Oscar Wilde manages to take us in an exploration of the human soul while making a critique on society.
“I love him because he is like what love himself should be”
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