The Picture of Dorian Gray

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"The artist is creator of beautiful things."

This is the quotation the author, Oscar Wilde, chooses to enter into the preface of his extraordinary and fascinating story about Dorian Gray. This captures the message of the book; the only abiding beauty is that that is captured in a moment, and remains the same forever. The risk with beauty is though that it always alters and gets afflicted by changes of quality and the environment, and can not stay the same as initially was formed.

The book tells a story is about a man called Dorian Gray, and a very splendid portrait of him. When Dorian is faced with his youth on the canvas he gets extremely jealous of the everlasting beauty the picture holds, and as a result Dorian makes a vain wish. He wishes that he would forever stay in the present age and be handsome and young for as long as he lives. Strangely enough the wish is granted but instead of Dorian Gray, the portrait grows older. It alters in the hands of time and as consequences of Dorian's actions during his life.

The book reveals the time of the Victorian Age very well and you easily get engaged in the society that Wilde describes and you get a sense of the different styles and influences that float around during Dorian Gray's time and living. The dresses, the way you socialised and lived it is all very well depict. A sensation of being present together with the characters in the book often rises. You almost can feel the mist of London and the heat of the fireplace.

In general the book is very good with exiting and interesting plot and turns. It is fascinating to follow how Dorian Gray alters while the book proceeds. The author writes in a beautiful language, which sometimes, can get a bit dissipated and hard to understand and follow. Apart from that, there is nothing negative to be said about the book. It offers the reader an adventure and something to think about.

The author of the book is Oscar Wilde who was born in 1854 on Ireland. He attended Trinity Collage and the University of Oxford. He was married to a wealthy Irish woman and had two sons. Wilde devoted his life to his writing. 1895 Wilde was committed for sodomy and sentenced to two years of labour in prison. Wilde was, after he had served his penalty, forced to leave the country and he went to France where he spent the rest of h...