Dorian Gray (character) Dorian Gray (character) Dorian Gray is a fictional character and the protagonist of Oscar Wilde's 1891 novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray". He is an aristocratic Victorian man. Dorian is the grandson of the late Lord Gibbo. His mother, Lady Margaret Devereux, was portrayed as a beautiful and rich woman. Her grandfather had a strong dislike for Kelso, and in turn, Margaret received the entire Selby property. Dorian’s father, a subaltern in a foot regiment, was killed by a Belgian brute a few months after his marriage to Lady Margaret, who died soon after. The novel's plot varies between each
The Picture of Dorian Gray theme in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1891) is aestheticism and its conceptual relation to living a double life. Throughout the story, the narrative presents aestheticism as an absurd abstraction, which disillusions more than it dignifies the concept of Beauty. Despite Dorian being a hedonist, when Basil accuses him of making a "by-word" of the name of Lord Henry's sister, Dorian curtly replies, "Take care, Basil. You go too far ..."; thus, in Victorian society, public image and social standing do matter to Dorian. Yet, Wilde highlights the protagonist's hedonism: Dorian enjoyed "keenly the terrible pleasure of a double life",