As the object of close reading in this article, I have chosen Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece The Picture of Dorian Gray (TPDG). Even though, I have not been able to find a wide range of analysis of Wilde’s work, I myself have studied different kinds of criticisms that may as well be applied when examining the symbolism of gay discourse. I feel the above issue rather close to my heart since I have had the possibility of knowing - and loving - a great number of homosexual friends, one of whom is the truest friend of mine I have ever had.

It is not my intention to give a detailed account of Oscar Wilde’s life, however, when reading any of his works one should never disregard the fact that he was attracted by members of his own sex. In our time it is rather ‘accepted’ that homosexual people do have their own institutions and may freely and publicly affirm their being ‘different’. This was not the case in late Victorian English society, where such persons were stigmatised and even put into prison. It was mainly this characteristic that made Oscar Wilde so outstanding in his own time. However, as we read in Richard Eastman’s book: “A slow victory over censorship in all forms of literature gave the novelist freedom in areas once forbidden-especially sex and religion.…The business of art was art.…New religious concepts and new views of man’s sexual nature forced a widening tolerance of open discussion, aided by writers and publishers who were ready to test the public.”1

Wilde was one of those who considered his life more important and significant than his own works. In the first period of his career the upper class people made fun of Wilde’s appearance, but as soon as his first drama on stage made a great success, all the doors of the higher circles were open to him. Indeed, the English have always been suspicious of charming and amusing people, and when their suspicion that something was not right with Wilde came to be proved, the whole society celebrated its moral triumph over him. The cult of beauty in his art was not something profound, it was rather a pleasant surface shining. Wilde used the paradox as a means to proclaim the aesthetic view of the world.2

The Picture of Dorian Gray first appeared in 1890. The Daily Chronicle regarded it as a “gloating study of the mental and physical corruption of a fresh, fair and golden youth.” The novel was not favoured because it did not show a single good side of human nature. In Wilde’s time, the term “homosexuality” was not used at all, and doctors even thought that this problem needed to be investigated on physical grounds.3

If someone who is unconscious of Wilde’s desire for the members of his own sex should read TPDG, they would enter into a solid thick sweet atmosphere of Victorian upper class people. The first couple of pictures of the plot are basically described in terms of different flowers, scents, and bright colours.

In all of Wilde’s works, there is always present a particular character, a Dandy, who never fails to mock the moral values of the society, thus expressing the author’s own opinion as well. In TPDG, it is Lord Henry whose figure serves as the omniscient wise always seeing and understanding things under the surface. It is him that opens up the eyes of Dorian Gray to the fact that Dorian is different in a way from the rest of the whole world: “You, Mr Gray, you yourself, with your rose-red youth and your rose-white boyhood, you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, day-dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame-” (p. 18) We do not get to know exactly what Lord Henry is referring to and how he is aware of those facts, yet the descriptions that he uses may tell a lot to us. From “rose-white boyhood”, the state of innocence (and ignorance) he has arrived to his “rose-red youth”, the colour red standing for passion. The reaction of Dorian is rather striking: “The few words … had touched some secret chord that had never been touched before, but that he felt was now vibrating and throbbing to curious pulses.…Yes; there had been things in his boyhood that he had not understood. …It seemed to him that he had been walking in fire,” (p. 19) - the picture is very clear. “Fire” represents both passion - which in itself could be just as acceptable since it happens to all the healthy young people - but on the other hand, it has a yellow colour as well. This is an obvious example of gay discourse. Dorian’s reaction is rather natural: “I must go out and sit in the garden.” Dorian buried his face “in the great cool lilac-blossoms, feverishly drinking in their perfume as if it had been wine.”(p. 19) It is made clear throughout the novel that some of the characters, namely Lord Henry, Basil Hallward, the painter, and Dorian Gray too, had a strong desire to stay outside the house, in the garden. The word “nature” here does not mean the outer world, because the outer world on the other side of the house is the world of social conventions and superficial desires.

Basil Hallward appears as an isolated painter extremely fond of his own art in his own little world. First, it seems that he likes posing as a completely lonely person suggesting that hardly anyone is good enough to enter into the realms of his life which in itself is his own art. Hallward is keen on secrecy but this characteristic of him is not too important from the point of view of the plot: “When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. …The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it.” (p. 7) When Basil refuses to exhibit the picture of Dorian, we get the feeling that in some ways the painter and the sitter have become united, although, this is not made clear: “I really can’t exhibit it [the picture]. I have put too much of myself into it.” (p. 6) It is noteworthy that even Dorian comments on the picture as something that he feels his own: “I am in love with it, Basil. It is part of myself. I feel that.” (p. 25) Later in the novel Basil expresses his unique adoration for Dorian: “You became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream.… I grew more and more absorbed in you.” (p. 92) On the contrary, after he has painted the picture of Dorian, Basil is telling Lord Henry that “I did not want any external influence in my life,” (p.9) referring to the idea that Dorian Gray managed to sort of crawl into his mind and art. I believe that an artist should always be influenced from the outside and not only paint what is in him. However, the relationship between Dorian and Basil Hallward is not completely clear to me. The painter later says: “It is better not to be different from one’s fellows.” (p. 7) What did he exactly mean by that? Has he already experienced how it feels to be unwanted by society? If so, is it because he is “simply” an artist, or rather a queer artist? Is he simply lamenting on others’ examples? In the end, the reader does not wholly get to know what kind of a person Basil Hallward really was.

In the following I would like to refer to the significance of colours and scents throughout the novel.

The significance of using different colours as instruments to connote hidden ideas was largely publicised by Wilde himself too. “Oscar Wilde walked in front of the first procession [of the aesthetic movement] wearing a sunflower, and in front of the second procession wearing a green carnation.”4 It is widely known, that the yellow colour if appropriately used - by this I mean within the context of gay discourse - connotes homosexuality. Where does this idea derive from? In various kinds of religions the main god who had partaken in creating the world was the god of Sun. It is not by chance, that the Biblical figure, Samson, had long curly blond hair. His strength lay in his hair, like the Sun also held its power in its long rays. When his hair was cut off by his wife, Delilah, Samson practically became unable to defend himself. In James G. Frazer’s book we read that the pagan population in New Guinea regards the Sun as the male principle which fertilises the Earth, that is the female principle.5

Right in the first line of TPDG, a rather striking description of the setting scene is given: “The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”

My first question is connected to the use of the word “odour” for the perfume of roses. There is no doubt that at least ninety percent of the world’s population would consider the smell of roses outstandingly nice. However, the fact that Wilde in the rest of the sentence uses more and more positive nouns to describe the smell of flowers indicates to me that maybe with such a strong word as “odour” he may have wanted to connote that something would either go wrong in the story or is already queer. Knowing the author’s circumstances one can easily imagine that the word “wrong” in this sense means a characteristic that is not accepted by society. When Dorian gets to know that he is different from others in a way, he says: “I must go out and sit in the garden. The air is stifling here.” (p. 19) Wilde describes the tension that arises in terms of scents and perfumes. The author too tells the reader secretly to look out for the description of fragrances in the story: “…He [Dorian] would now study perfumes.…He saw that there was no mood of the mind that had not its counterpart in the sensuous life…” (p. 107) All throughout the novel the reader learns about the landscape, the internal of the halls at the houses of noblemen, the opera house, the garden, and all the surroundings are described with great eloquence. One may almost feel that they are part of what is going on in the story. I would like to point to the use of colours.

When I first read the book, I felt upset and annoyed that almost every little object and even the leaves on the trees were yellow, even though, the time was summer: “The sunlight slipped over the polished leaves.” (p. 7) This wide use of the yellow suggests to me that in every action there was a tension, a secret passion that was stretching the characters from inside and they were apt to explode at any time. The appearance of Dorian Gray seems to be smooth and too fine to believe that he can possibly be a man: “finely-curved scarlet lips, …frank blue eyes, crisp gold hair,” (p. 16) I believe that Wilde did use the word “gold” here on purpose both to suggest Dorian’s gaiety and his being outstandingly precious, at least to men. “One felt that he [Dorian] had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him.” (p. 16) When Dorian gets old, unstoppable changes will take place in his beautiful body: “the scarlet would pass away from his lips and the gold steal from his hair.” (p. 23) Dorian even accuses Basil because he regards him merely like the object of his art: “I am no more to you than a green bronze figure,” and “I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun.” (p. 24) This statement underlines my idea that Dorian served as a link for Basil with the outer world, since Hermes in ancient Greek mythology was the messenger of gods.
Again, it is Lord Henry who directs our attention to the significance of colours in a hidden way: “…sin is the only real colour element left in modern life.”(p. 26) Also: “Lord Henry…pulling off his yellow gloves.” (p. 78)

Dorian was in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane. I wonder if this love was an everyday, normal feeling, or was it queer in a way. At one point Dorian says: “When she came on in her boy’s clothes she was perfectly wonderful.” (p. 62) This suggests that he liked her the most when she did not look like a girl but rather a boy. “Some love might come across his [Dorian’s] life, and purify him, and shield him from those sins that seemed to be already stirring in spirit and in flesh.”(p. 98) Did Dorian use Sibyl only to compensate his otherness? When Henry mocks at the feelings of Dorian, it is Basil who has to protect this poor little instinct animal: “Don’t Harry. You have annoyed Dorian. He is not like other men.” (p. 63) I think that a better proof than this sentence for Dorian being “the” homosexual of the age would be some other statements: “But he [DG] would not sin.… He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more - would not…listen to those subtle poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward’s garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things.” p. 74);
Basil asks Dorian a striking question: “Why is your friendship so fatal to young men?” (p. 119) Then Basil gives account of a couple of persons whom Dorian has managed to ruin in one way or other. “One has a right to judge a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours seem to loose all sense of honour, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure.” (p. 120) I consider these to be the peak sentences of the plot where we finally get to know the truth pronounced out loudly.

As a conclusion, I would like to say that having read most of his works, The Picture of Dorian Gray is I believe the masterpiece of Oscar Wilde. Although, the plot is not elaborated on in details, the reader still gets to know a striking story - a tragic story - of a young man who in Victorian times was considered to be the shame of his society. I must admit that the more I read the book, the greater my detest for Dorian grows. However, I consider this to be an enormous effect that only some authors have managed to have on me. I would suggest reading this work to everyone who feels interested in different kinds of criticisms. This work may serve as a base to all studies.

End notes

1 Eastman, R. M. A Guide To The Novel (Chandler Publishing Company, 1965.), p. 118.
2 Szerb Antal. A világirodalom története (The History of World Literature) (Magvetõ Könyvkiadó, 1989.), pp. 728-730.
3 Wilde, O. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wordsworth, 1992.), pp. V-IX.
4 Chesterton, G. K. The Victorian Age In Literature (Williams Norgate), p. 218.
5 Frazer, J. G. Az Aranyág (The Golden Bough) (Osiris-Századvég, 1995.), p. 84.

Bibliography

Chesterton, G. K.. The Victorian Age In Literature. London: Williams Norgate.

Eastman, Richard M. A Guide To The Novel. California: Chandler Publishing Company, 1965.

Frazer, James G.. Az Aranyág. Budapest: Osiris-Századvég Könyvtár, 1995.

Szerb, Antal. A világirodalom története. Budapest: Magvetõ Kiadó, 1989.

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Great Britain: Wordsworth Classics, 1992.

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