In The Picture of Dorian Gray you can find several universal themes that really stand out. One of them just so happens to be close to “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Except this version has a bit of a twist to it. The usual theme explains that ‘it’s what’s inside that counts’ and ‘the outside might look ugly but the inside is what is beautiful’. When saying these things, it’s suggesting that the inside is more beautiful than the outside. In this book it’s quite different. Dorian Gray looks pretty great on the outside. He’s described as “certainly and wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. There was just something in his face that made one trust him at once.” (Wilde 18) He is attractive and appealing to the eye. But it’s really the outside that deceives everyone. His inside is twisted and vile and not at all attractive. Later in the book a character says, “he’s as bad as bad.” (Wilde 196) So, to be more accurate, the actual theme is “everything is not what it seems.” Dorian might look great on the outside, but on the inside he’s very evil. Another theme this book addresses is that beauty isn’t everything, and that it won’t get you anywhere if you look great but you’re nasty at heart. Dorian thinks that by staying young forever and being as evil as he wants he’ll be okay, as long as his portrait takes the burden. But he finds out that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. People don’t like people who have an ugly personality.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Barns & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.
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