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Picture Of Dorian Gray - Blog Posts
My favorite thing ever is Dorian going "Women are so emotional" In the very same chapter that he flung himself onto a sofa, collapsed onto a chair, sobbed, and believed himself to be going insane.
Is there a single novel from the 1800s that is not gay?
Man I sure do hate tinges of homoeroticism
Sibyl's mother
No one:
Me: The Picture of Dorian Gray but James McAvoy plays all roles.
Dorian:
Basil:
Henry:
I read so many things about the gay context and undertones in The Picture of Dorian Gray... Why were you all lying to me? It is just text plain and simple. I thought Basil was pretty upfront with his feelings for Dorian from the beginning and now I just read pages of him confessing his undying love and devotion to Dorian himself. How is that context, undertones or whatever words people are using to describe this clearly homosexual novel?
there are a great deal too many books of which I have discovered for there to be only twenty-four hours in a day…far to little time I say
"What of art?" she asked.
"It is a malady."
"Love?"
"An illusion."
"Religion?"
"The fashionable substitute for belief."
"You are a sceptic."
"Never! Scepticism is the beginning of faith."
"What are you?"
"To define is to limit."
— Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
ok so i'm rereading The Picture of Dorian Gray and...
WAS IT THIS GAY ALL THE TIME???
'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde (published in 1890)
periods of my life are defined by which gay classic literature couple i'm reading smut about on ao3
When We Were Young
This is for you, my dearest friend @tanikas-world-of-art. I hope you get better soon. Let me know if you want some more of this.
My nerves were wracking as I waited on the carriage. The road seemed longer than I remembered. “Is it the road? Or is it my heart that has been longing for him for such a long time?”
Dorian and I were neighbours and inseparable when we were little. Whenever one of us would go missing, it was assumed that they would be found in the other’s place. Dorian would never eat unless with me. He would trust me with every little secret of his. In a whole, he was too clingy and very dear to me.
Everything was neat until his grandfather sent him away to the boarding school and I was taken to Sussex to my grandmother’s house where I was trained to become a lady. My heart shattered into pieces. I missed Dorian every single day growing up and I was pretty sure he did too.
It had been ten long years. Finally, I was going back to London to meet him and I could not wait any longer.
“Lady y/n, we’ve arrived.” I jumped out of the carriage as soon as the driver announced our arrival.
Dorian was waiting outside his house to welcome me. I could not believe what I saw in front of me. The evening air blew his hair. He had grew up to become the handsomest man I had ever seen. I looked in amazement.
“Well, well, if it isn’t my dearest friend.” Dorian’s beautiful face broke into a wide smile.
My stomach twisted. Butterflies were flying like crazy to make an escape. My heavy heart started to beat up to my throat. Without a minute’s delay, I ran and put my arms around him. We both couldn’t help laughing.
The idea was better in my head. But I’m not a professional.
why am i judged for preferring barry when it’s literally like. guys. dorian KILLS basil. PLEASE COME TO YOUR SENSES
i cant really fully describe how disrespectful the netflix adaptation for the picture of dorian gray is, as i am not the secretly repressed homosexual man who wrote the novel and said all the characters represented him, nor am i a gay man who lived in the 1800’s, but i am queer and i do adore oscar wilde and i have studied his life.
not only is the book one of the first popular and honest representations of homosexuality, but the book is written by a man who said the book represented him. oscar wilde was a homosexual man. and after being arrested for indecency (doing gay things in simple words) wilde lost all his reputation and was pretty much exiled in british society (even beyond) - majority of his plays were phased out of the public and his name was silenced. oscar describes the picture of dorian gray’s three main characters as parts of him. Basil: his trueself, romantic, full of emotion, artistic and finds beauty extremely valuable. Henry: his public persona, the way the public perceive him and finally, Dorian: the man he wants to be - youthful and beautiful. Changing the main emotional plot in this novel, that happens to be romantic and queer, is not only disrespectful to the way Oscar wanted to represent himself, but also disrespectful towards the fact that Oscar himself was convicted for homosexuality and had a passage from the novel, where Basil confesses to Dorian, read in court as evidence against him.
leave queer historical figures alone. you do enough by just denying their identity.
honestly, my favourite way of seeing the picture of dorian gray is a sick love triangle.
- basil loves dorian with all of his soul and he lets it devour him. henry loves basil in a sick “you’re my only equal” type of way, and dorian is completely submissive to lord henry.
basil’s love for dorian is the emotional centre of the picture of dorian gray - he’s completely consumed and lost in the tragedy of unrequited love and he feels it so much - that same love ends up killing him. the entire time with basil, his love is prominent. no, it isn’t just adoration and obsession. he worships him, but also loves him. he is constantly warning dorian and he never pushed him to do anything, he always looked out for dorian and wanted him to be happy, leading to his death. he was devoured by him. completely. he couldn’t paint without him, he couldn’t look at dorian without trembling. basil’s emotional character believed loving dorian was worth the pain. and that ends up murdering him.
henry’s love for basil is the most interesting to me. lord henry seems to crave influence over others around him, and all are influenced by him, all but basil. basil argues, disagrees, and even when henry mocks him, he still listens. he still cares for basil even through a twisted way. he cares for him because basil is the only person who wasn’t influenced. his only equal. the only one he can rely on arguing back and standing against him. basil is a long-term friend and unlike most of henry’s phases with friendships, they seem to still be close and constantly close. as soon as basil starts describing dorian and his obsession with him, henry doesn’t seem pleased and is eager to change dorian. and he does just that. he pushes basil’s buttons constantly because he knows basil cares and will react with emotion, unlike dorian who becomes increasingly detached. henry wants emotion because he lacks it. he needs someone who is devoured and powered by emotion because he cannot feel emotions anymore. he needs someone to contrast him. he enjoys seeing the emotional reaction over dorian’s. if he was ever able to be emotionally honest and vulnerable, he would do it with the one man he knows will be honest and emotional with him. he enjoys basil because basil is the reality. he’s there, he thinks what he thinks and he won’t be shaped by henry. dorian is the muse. easily shaped and formed. the tragedy is that he unfortunately prefers control - not connection. that’s why he picks dorian. he knows he’s better with control and he prefers the control because of it. basil forces a connection, he doesn’t like being controlled and won’t let henry control him.
dorian is young, naïve and doesn’t think for himself. henry steps into his life, and he immediately changes - when henry didn’t actually need to do much. dorian seems to submit to henry easily and very quickly. he was seduced and deeply influenced. he quotes henry constantly, he acts independent while also submitting to henry and obeying him. henry’s voice is constantly leading him - even when henry is spewing a thousand lies that even he doesn’t believe.
this makes the triangle so beautiful. none of the love is balanced. no one is giving back what they’re given. it’s unbalanced, it’s bound to fall apart and it’s dangerous. dorian kills the one man who loved him, dorian falls for lies, henry forgets about the one person who cared, henry gets lost in control when he could’ve had vulnerability, basil is killed by the person he adored with all of his soul and that same person he loved was influenced by one of the people basil cared about the most. tragic, but oscar wilde knows how to write a brilliant dynamic.