The Picture Of Dorian Gray - Blog Posts
Off topic but why did this remind me to go work on my crow project
me unfortunately
i was writing to my friend who read tsh recently (i made her) and she brings up an interesting comparison to the picture of dorian gray, and the more i think abt it the more insane i get. bc yeah the corruption arcs between richard and dorian are so similar and the aesthetic worship is there and also their main corrupters are BOTH named henry for fucks sake. i cant believe i never noticed b4, i need to lie down.
rip Dorian Gray u would've loved staring at urself in the little square on facetime
rip basil hallward u would've loved casual by chappel roan
the Picture of Dorian Gray modern au where Basil makes tiktok edits of Dorian
how to fall in love with life again
go cloud-gazing, lay down in the grass on a sunny day, or empty roads on a rainy day, stare up at the sky and let your mind wander.
read a book so complex that you don't understand anything, fill your arms with scrawled definitions.
writing poems and notes of kindness, hiding them for other people to find and pass along!
read passages of love in another language, untranslated and realise that love can surpass even the greatest of barriers.
find your favourite flower! hunt for it, research it, write an essay on why you love it and how much it means to you!
buy another copy of your favourite book, fill the pages with annotations and give it to a second hand shop for somebody else to experience it the way that you do.
fill a journal with moments of your life, even if you don't think they're very interesting.
listen to music whilst looking at the moon and stars, realising how beautiful life is.
visit an art gallery or a museum near you. become familiar with it, visit it until you know it inside out. make it your special place.
learn the little things about people, including yourself. find their favourite colour and why, find their music taste, their taste in books until you know them perfectly.
the small things! taking sips of warm beverages becomes the most comforting thing, closing your eyes for a moment on a bus and focusing on the lull of movement.
bake/cook your favourite treat. experiment and find the way that makes it taste simply ethereal.
Dorian
First, it’s amazing to me that I still don’t remember the TRUE title of this book. I always refer to it just as Dorian, then remember it’s Dorian Gray--completely forgetting it’s actually “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
I love this book so, so much. Forget the ridiculousness of homophobia in general and in the book, for Oscar Wilde to have written this book, have the visual degree he had, the understanding he had--it baffles and bothers me that people really considered anything else except for the pure genius that he was with this story and concerned themselves with other things.
First, for the story, the use of the painting and Dorian as a split between him and his soul is amazing. While he begins his journey with a great lack of understanding, it brings about the idea that without consequences many will go astray--while also pointing out that those who choose to put their value in images or status instead of nature and character are going to be missing the truth about people--warned by Sybil, the painting and Bail’s disbelief of the rumours
Secondly, Dorian’s journey over the 18 years that were inspired by Basil’s painting and Lord Henry’s small chat, along with Dorian’s lack of follow thru to stay with Sybil both before and after her death--what concerns me with this is the reflection that that at that point his fate is sealed. While later true, Dorian and the other characters take the easy way out and similarly to my first point go towards the path of least resistance--in more ways than one, regardless of the logic or lack of behind it.
Finally, and for me, the most awe-striking genius that I continue to be stunned by is the ending where Dorian meets his demise. While I know that our creativity comes from an inspiration within, the ending especially (along with the idea of the painting in general) was so ahead of its time. I am again in awe
the picture of dorian gray // oscar wilde
"There seemed to be something tragic in a friendship so coloured by romance."
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
I love that gothic literature is so often queer coded✯
" I was dominated, soul, brain, and power by you. You became to me the visibile incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artist like an exquisite dream. I worshiped you. I grew jealous of everyone to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when i was with you. When you were away from me you were still present in my art."
The picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
When We Were Young
This is for you, my dearest friend @tanikas-world-of-art. I hope you get better soon. Let me know if you want some more of this.
My nerves were wracking as I waited on the carriage. The road seemed longer than I remembered. “Is it the road? Or is it my heart that has been longing for him for such a long time?”
Dorian and I were neighbours and inseparable when we were little. Whenever one of us would go missing, it was assumed that they would be found in the other’s place. Dorian would never eat unless with me. He would trust me with every little secret of his. In a whole, he was too clingy and very dear to me.
Everything was neat until his grandfather sent him away to the boarding school and I was taken to Sussex to my grandmother’s house where I was trained to become a lady. My heart shattered into pieces. I missed Dorian every single day growing up and I was pretty sure he did too.
It had been ten long years. Finally, I was going back to London to meet him and I could not wait any longer.
“Lady y/n, we’ve arrived.” I jumped out of the carriage as soon as the driver announced our arrival.
Dorian was waiting outside his house to welcome me. I could not believe what I saw in front of me. The evening air blew his hair. He had grew up to become the handsomest man I had ever seen. I looked in amazement.
“Well, well, if it isn’t my dearest friend.” Dorian’s beautiful face broke into a wide smile.
My stomach twisted. Butterflies were flying like crazy to make an escape. My heavy heart started to beat up to my throat. Without a minute’s delay, I ran and put my arms around him. We both couldn’t help laughing.
The idea was better in my head. But I’m not a professional.
'Because to influence someone is to give them your soul. Each person must have his own personality.'
-Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
I hate Lord Henry Wotton (dozens of pictures of Lord Henry Wotton fly out of my pocket) This isn't what it looks like. These aren't mine I swear (more pictures fly out)
why am i judged for preferring barry when it’s literally like. guys. dorian KILLS basil. PLEASE COME TO YOUR SENSES
Quick Barry for my fellow brethren of like 5 people
"Agatha said your father was also an artist." "Apparently so."
Bonus Gif:
Thinking about writers and wondering if Oscar Wilde wrote the picture of Dorian Gray and saw himself falling into the corruption of beauty over soul like Dorian or if he saw himself as Basil begging on his knees for the people around him to find the meaning behind beauty
Reading the Picture of Dorian Grey and Basil, buddy... the closet is glass
with each page of dorian gray I read i grow more baffled at the nerve to make them brothers in that mockery of an adaptation. my jaw grows slack at half the things this freak (basil) says about dorianby MODERN STANDARDS quote, "i quite admit i adored you madly, extravagantly, aburdely. i was jealous of every one to whom you spoke. i wanted to have you all to myself." i can only assume anyone involved in the decision to make the two brothers engaged in some form of incest
it's crazy how you can write one of the most popular and influential novels of all time that gets constantly referenced across pop culture and gets adapted 10000 times, and still not a single one of those film versions will be good or even come close to understanding your source material
im the basil hallward of my life
i cant really fully describe how disrespectful the netflix adaptation for the picture of dorian gray is, as i am not the secretly repressed homosexual man who wrote the novel and said all the characters represented him, nor am i a gay man who lived in the 1800’s, but i am queer and i do adore oscar wilde and i have studied his life.
not only is the book one of the first popular and honest representations of homosexuality, but the book is written by a man who said the book represented him. oscar wilde was a homosexual man. and after being arrested for indecency (doing gay things in simple words) wilde lost all his reputation and was pretty much exiled in british society (even beyond) - majority of his plays were phased out of the public and his name was silenced. oscar describes the picture of dorian gray’s three main characters as parts of him. Basil: his trueself, romantic, full of emotion, artistic and finds beauty extremely valuable. Henry: his public persona, the way the public perceive him and finally, Dorian: the man he wants to be - youthful and beautiful. Changing the main emotional plot in this novel, that happens to be romantic and queer, is not only disrespectful to the way Oscar wanted to represent himself, but also disrespectful towards the fact that Oscar himself was convicted for homosexuality and had a passage from the novel, where Basil confesses to Dorian, read in court as evidence against him.
leave queer historical figures alone. you do enough by just denying their identity.
intro -
basic info
୨ৎ they ୨ৎ pansexual ୨ৎ mixed race ୨ৎ 🇲🇽 + 🇬🇧 ୨ৎ mainly into homoerotic 19th century lit ୨ৎ dating the sweetest girl!! ୨ৎ isfp
dni + byi
dni: zionists, homophobes, racists, etc (the basics) byi: this account is mainly used to literature, poetry and majority of my interests(most are queer) so if you’re not into that, i’d recommend you don’t interact.
my main fandoms + favs
- jekyll and hyde (utterson) - the picture of dorian gray (basil hallward) - sins of the cities (justin lazarus). - whybourne + griffin series (griffin + maggie). - smosh - yt (shayne + spencer + tommy). - kpop (jimin, lia, yeosang, winter, txt). - marvel (loki, deadpool, thor, etc) - films in general (mainly queer)
my hobbies
• reading • painting • writing • watching yt and bed-rotting
i hope you all grasp more about who i am through this post!!
my fav song rn: fantasmas by humbe + to be alone by hozier
i feel like a criminal in the picture of dorian gray fandom. no, i don’t like dorian. yes, i prefer basil x henry. oops.