In The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde uses mystery, suspense, murder, and twists to make the story engage the audience. Overall, the story comes off as dark, mysterious, and macabre. The book almost has a gloomy and creepy feeling about it. I think, though, that this mood and the touches he uses are what makes the audiences want to continue reading it. When first reading the book, it comes off as rather happy and full of life, bringing you to a sunny day in an art studio with two friends having a good time. But then the story starts to change when Basil, the artist, tells his friend Lord Henry that he doesn’t want him to meet Dorian Gray, his new friend and inspiration (Wilde 16). Why? Because Lord Henry is known to influence his friends and Basil warns him not to try and befriend Dorian, in fear that Henry will destroy his innocence by influencing him. This one conversation starts the mood for the whole book. It starts in a small conversation between Dorian and Henry about beauty, and it leads to Dorian wishing that he and his portrait could trade places (Wilde 28-29). This wish is the start of his downfall. As the book continues, Dorian takes to keeping secrets and hiding his portrait, which reveals to all who look at it his soul. His own character starts to become mysterious because the book skips ahead several years in which Dorian commits many crimes that the readers don’t know about. This interests the audience. Later on in the book Dorian murders his friend Basil and this twist is completely unexpected because the readers have no idea that Dorian has become that evil. Dorian soon is hunted by James Vane, a past enemy, and this suspense of being killed keeps readers on edge.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Barns & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.
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