Reminiscing on Dorian Gray

The AP exam is quickly approaching and in order to prepare for the open ended question i have been reveiwing a number of novels from earlier in the year.  One novel that i was reviewing that i enjoyed and wanted to look into in more depth was The Picture of Dorian Gray. There are many aspects of the novel that make it the literary classic that it is including the setting, tone and allusion.

The Picture of Dorian Gray was a dreary book about society in London in the nineteen hundreds and how it corrupts mankind.  The setting of the novel does an excellent job of portraying the book's meaning as it is set in rainy, dreary London and many of the most important actions take place at night. This book takes place in the 19th century and is mostly centered on the upper class and nobility. It covers a period of years as there is enough time for people like Basil Hallward to notice that he is not aging at a natural rate. The setting is important to this novel because the climate in London is typically seen as dreary which fits the novel quite well. This time period also fits the novel very well as it is very mysterious to the reader. The fact that it is primarily in the upper class of society also plays an important role in the novel as most of the characters are seen as sophisticated.  

The tone of the novel is also bleak as there are not any happy moments in the novel which gives it a dreadfully negative tone.  The atmosphere relates closely to the setting and the tone as they are very similar since they are both dull and grim.  As I stated earlier I believe that Wilde’s purpose in this book is to show how society in London corrupts man and all of the devices he uses help to support this tremendously.  I thought the book was rather dull however i do believe that it had literary merit as it contained many intricate allusions and motifs throughout the novel.

One such allusion was the allusion to Adam and Eve in the beginning of the novel.  This allusion occured when Dorian and lord Henry were talking in the Garden.  The scene takes place in a garden, like the story of Adam and Eve and it invlolves corruption.  It is at this point in the novel that Dorian makes the change from innocent, young man towhat will become one of the most corrupted characters in all of literature.  After speaking to Lord Henry, the metaphorical serpent, there was a new light in his eyes and when he went back to sit for Basil he was a changed man, eternally corrupted.