My Gothic Horror Character; Dorian Gray.

For the new brief I have chosen to read 'The picture of Dorian Gray' By Oscar Wilde. I chose to read and develop ideas on this novel as I had previously seen the film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel and was interested in reading the orignal book and reading the original storyline. 

Storyline Breakdown of Dorian Gray.

'The picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde is set and written in 1890 London, which is the late Victorian century. The point of view throughout the novel is third person, which I found a little confusing to keep up with but also enjoyed as it was interesting being introduced to the three main characters from that point of view, making you feel as if you were in the same room as the characters watching their every move. 

The three main characters in this novel are; 'Dorian Gray' who is the main character, 'Basil Hallward' the artist of Dorian Grays beloved portrait of himself and lastly 'Lord Henry Wotton' who is a good friend of Dorian Gray but throughout the novel, influences Dorian to behave more badly. In the beginning of the novel we are introduced to these three main characters in the story and the two friends of Dorian Gray witness Dorian promising his soul in return of eternal youth, what I found very interesting in this part of the novel was the different reactions from Basil and Henry. Throughout the book I feel that Basil and Henry almost influence Dorian as if they are his own Jekyll and Hyde, although Dorian persists to live the scandalous and sinful lifestyle. 

Throughout the novel, Dorian Gray commits sinful acts daily, and every time he does so, his actions begin to show on his beautiful portrait of himself. His portrait begins to decay, rot and bleed evil and ugliness, I feel that this symbolises Dorian conscience that he once had and now doesn't care about as all he searches for in life is pleasure. Dorian Gray did have a first love in the Novel who was the beautiful actress 'Sibyl Vane'. Sibyl Vane was deeply in love with Dorian and dedicated her life to their relationship, Dorian Gray fell in love with Sibyl because of her beauty and ability to act and this began to change when Sibyl decided to end her career because she felt she could no longer act as if she was in love, when she deeply, truly was in real life with Dorian. This leads to Sibyl committing suicide from a broken heart as in the novel Dorian's feelings and love for Sybil change and diminish. 

After Dorian ends his relationship with Sibyl, his obsessive actions to find pleasure from sinful acts increase immensely. In an attempt to be a good friend and help Dorian Gray, his friend Basil Hallward confronts Dorian Gray and expresses that he is worried about Dorian Gray and his change of person, this leads to Dorian Gray murdering Basil Hallward and feeding his monster even more. Towards the end of the novel Dorian Gray attempts to confide in Lord Henry Wotton, telling his about his feelings and what he has become, leading Dorian to stab his own portrait, killing himself. 

Conclusion of the novel and my character. 

I found the novel overall very interesting and held a dramatic and creepy theme throughout the story of Dorian's sins. Throughout the novel, you follow Dorian on his path to self destruction and begin to observe the monster he is becoming, as evertytime a sin is made it is reflected on his portrait not effecting Dorian whatsoever only encouraging his monster more. I feel that the novel explores the fine line between temptation and morals and how the promise of eternal youth caused Dorian Gray to become this evil person. 

Throughout the novel I feel that Dorian Gray is portrayed as first a handsome, innocent, adonis who is loved in society and lives a very good life, but as the story develops Dorian Gray is portrayed as a heartless, obsessive narcissist who only cares about his appearance and his personal desires and fantasies. I have chosen to create my character on Dorian Gray, as he inspired me the most throughout the novel creatively, I really like the idea of creating a character that becomes more insane and ugly every time they feed the monster inside of them, as it symbolises how powerful greed and pleasure is. As a make-up look I first plan to experiment with some designs and create a look that makes Dorian appear still as handsome and perfect but there is something not quite right about him, similar to how women felt about Dorian in the book because he never aged. 


References. 
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doriangray/facts.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doriangray/characters.html