ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
The Picture of Dorian Gray 43830 Views
Share It!
Description:
Look, we get that you really like that one selfie with the makeup filter, but don't get this carried away about it, okay? Also, put your tongue back in your mouth, no one needs to see that.
Transcript
- 00:15
Every great story has a great villain. Lord Henry Wotton is one of the scariest.
- 00:22
And here's why. Lord Henry plants an idea in Dorian Gray's
- 00:26
mind. And that one idea grows into a cursed painting
- 00:30
of debauchery, murder, and one -- very ugly -- face.
- 00:35
If we don't watch our step, an idea can corrupt anyone. We could turn into a Dorian Gray.
Full Transcript
- 00:43
Freaky. So why is Lord Henry so dead-set on corrupting
- 00:48
Dorian? Let's dig a little deeper...
- 00:51
One possibility is that Lord Henry just loves to manipulate weak and impressionable people.
- 01:00
He draws Dorian in...like a moth to a flame. Lord Henry explains that youth and beauty
- 01:07
won't last and all he should worry about is enjoying himself. Dorian eats it up. Except
- 01:15
the vegetables, of course. He gives Dorian a mysterious book, and Dorian
- 01:21
does each and every pleasure-seeking thing the pages tell him to do.
- 01:26
The problem is, the more pleasure he finds, the meaner he gets.
- 01:31
Which brings us to a second possibility. Is Lord Henry really just jealous?
- 01:38
Dorian Gray is gorgeous. A total heartthrob. He's kind of like this guy...
- 01:44
And as he follows Lord Henry's influence, Dorian proceeds to eliminate every good thing
- 01:52
in his life. Love. Dorian drives his girlfriend to suicide.
- 01:59
Friendship. Dorian murders his friend Basil. Himself. Dorian loses his innocence.
- 02:10
Leaving him very much like ... guess who? In an attempt to keep his good looks, Dorian
- 02:15
makes a wish for his Portrait to age instead of him. The wish comes true, but with a twist.
- 02:23
His painting ages from debauchery rather than time. And it has become one "Ugly" face.
- 02:31
When Dorian finally goes to destroy the painting, he winds up killing himself.
- 02:35
Another possibility - is Lord Henry the devil in human form?
- 02:40
When Basil tells Henry that he's painted Dorian's soul, little horns pop up from Henry's head.
- 02:48
Well...not literally. Dorian makes his wish and the painting grants
- 02:52
it. Or was it Lord Henry who granted the wish?
- 02:55
Afterward, Dorian does everything Lord Henry tells him to do...at a heavy cost, of course.
- 03:04
Does Lord Henry now own his soul?
- 03:09
Henry is definitely a villain, to the core. But which kind? Manipulative? Jealous? Or
- 03:17
the Devil himself? Shmoop Amongst Yourselves.
Up Next
This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...