Mr. Fleez on Classical Literature: The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Recently my self-proclaimed owner went through a rather lengthy illness, which prevented her from doing much other than petting me and reading. Since she knows how bored I get taking care of her, she was kind enough to read aloud, so I would have something to occupy my mind whilst administering purr therapy. Of the books she read, this one, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was at the top of interest. The plot was solid, the characters well-developed, and the lesson more pronounced than purrhaps most so-called scholars care to confess. As with other works of its time, it is loaded with flowery verbiage, something modern literature lacks to much the same detriment. Regardless of some rather long-winded descriptions, though, the story is rich in historical reflection, literary references, and insights on the baser nature of the human psyche.

The Picture of Dorian Gray elicited much scandal after its release. Many people thought the book promoted a lack of propriety in thought and deed, and were therefore keen on seeing it, or its author, Oscar Wilde, suppressed. It was even used in the prosecution of criminal charges brought against Wilde for the perpetration of certain homosexual offences. (I've read the claims made by the prosecution and have read Wilde's answers to their claims. I'm still not certain how they got away with entering it into evidence; but they did, and that's history.) A guilty verdict took two trials to obtain, and Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labor. Oddly enough, his conviction did more to benefit the homosexual community than it did to repress it, as in more recent times he's been portrayed as something of a martyr.

As the story goes, Mr. Basil Hallward, an artist enamored with the youth, beauty, and energy of his young sitter, Dorian Gray, makes the mistake of introducing the lad to Lord Harry Henry, a man of questionable character, to say the very least. Lord Henry fills Dorian's impressionable mind with a poisonous philosophy of selfishness and self-worship. When young Dorian wishes his soul away in exchange for eternal youth, things get ugly; when he realizes that he's got his wish, they get even uglier.

I won't go into detail; as I don't wish to spoil the story, but after a life of paranoia, self-anesthetization, and eventually the toll wrought by the ultimate in selfish acts, murder, Dorian Gray realizes that the life of the eternally youthful isn't all it's played up to be. The conclusion of the matter is an abrupt and interesting one, but because it's been mimicked in subsequent works, it's not as unpredictable as one might hope. Nevertheless, the lesson comes across quite clearly: be very careful what you wish for, as you may just get it.

Yours Purringly,
W.C. Humphries II (Mr. Fleez for short.)