"The Picture of Dorian Gray"

     Alas we have arrived at my favorite writer.  Oscar Wilde was a sassy and witty man from England.  He was one of those people who was larger than life.  In his day, he was extremely flashy and eccentric.  Wilde, as many great writers and artists are, was a homosexual.  One of the funnier stories involving Wilde is one from when he was on trial for sodomy (yes, it was illegal at one point).  Throughout the whole trial Wilde has a plethora of expensive lawyers all trying to win his case for him.  After a few months of proceedings, Wilde finally fires all of his lawyers and decides to represent himself.  On the day of his sentencing, the judge asks Wilde if he has anything else to say before the verdict is hear.  Wilde stands in the middle of the courtroom and says, "Just tell your son I say 'Hello', judge".  The judge threw out the case before the verdict was ever heard.  He was truly a character ahead of his time.  

     While my favorite work by Wilde is The Importance of Being Earnest, he is more well known for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.  This tells the tale of the rich and young Dorian Gray who is described as far more handsom than even the Greek gods themselves.  Gray has a portrait commissioned of himself painted by his artist friend, Basil.  While posing for the painting, Gray realizes that all he has is his youth and beauty, and that someday it will be gone.  He becomes jealous that while one day he will be old and ugly, the painting being done of him will remain young and beautiful forever.  In his distress he wishes that that the painting will get old and he will be able to keep his youth.  

     As a fiction novel will have it, the picture does begin to age.  But it also does much more than that.  Gray begins to live a life full of sin and deceit.  It is because of this that the picture also begins to display Gray's sins and wrongdoings.  In a matter of years, the picture has become old and gruesome, while Gray remains as young as the day the portrait was commissioned.  Gray must hide the picture from the world because it reveals what his soul is really like.  

     It is a great novel about the preservation of a wholesome life and being careful what you wish for.  This is one of Wilde's more serious works but well worth the read.

I give it 5 out of 5 Wildes.