The Picture of Dorian Gray

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The Picture of Dorian Gray

• Helle Ly Tomberg

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The Picture of Dorian Gray

• Only published novel by Oscar Wilde
• Lippincotts Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890
• Is considered a work of classic gothic horror
  fiction with a strong Faustian theme
• Major changes in the 1891 edition

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Themes

• The Purpose of Art
• The Supremacy of Youth and Beauty
• The Superficial Nature of Society
• The Negative Consequences of Influence

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Main characters

• Dorian Gray The handsome young man who becomes
  a hedonist and indulges in moral and immoral
  pleasure
• Lord Henry Harry Wotton The high-society
  intellectual who corrupts Dorian

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Main characters

• Basil Hallward The artist who wants Dorian to
  stay youthful and beautiful and act as his muse.
  His painting sets the story into motion
• Sibyl Vane The beautiful and talented actress
  with whom Dorian falls in love

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Adaptions

• Matthew Bournes contemporary dance, 2008
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1945
• Dorian Gray, 2009

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Dorian Gray syndrome

• Dorian Gray syndrome, also known as DGS, is a
  severe obsession with your own appearance and
  failure to cope with the aging process
• Sufferers are heavy users of cosmetic medical
  procedures and products

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Quotes

• "Difference of object does not alter singleness
  of passion. It merely intensifies it. We can have
  in life but one great experience at best, and the
  secret of life is to reproduce that experience as
  often as possible."
• "Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the
  world's original sin. If the cave-man had known
  how to laugh, History would have been different."
  
• "But beauty, real beauty, ends where an
  intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in
  itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the
  harmony of any face."

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Thank you for your attention!