British Literature: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Chapter 1)

In Chapter 1 of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry and Basil discuss the portrait of Dorian Gray and Dorian himself. When Lord Henry sees the portrait, he is astonished by its beauty and suggests Basil to exhibit it. However, Basil insists that he cannot exhibit the portrait because "I have put too much of myself into it." After talking about the portrait, they start to talk about Dorian; Basil mentions that Dorian is a man with enthralling beauty and that Dorian had a profound impact on his art.

While reading Chapter 1, I thought that this chapter suggests many things on the relationship between Basil and Dorian. I could not really sense the sign of homosexuality between them, but I did notice that Basil idolized Dorian for his captivating beauty and personality. When Basil reveals his first encounter with Dorian, he says that "I turned half-way round, and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale." He also mentions that his meeting with Dorian Gray was inevitable. Moreover, he says that Dorian was a "new personality for art," which made him capable of acquiring a different perspective and a different thought.

I wondered why Basil was so captivated to Dorian, because it is not easy for one to idolize others. I thought that Basil could be captivated because Basil and Dorian are strikingly different. They differed from their appearance; Basil had a "rugged strong face and coal-black hair," but Dorian in the portrait was similar to "young Adonis, who looks as if he was made of ivory and rose-leaves." This difference in appearance accounts for Basil fascinated by Dorian's appearance, because if Basil was beautiful like Dorian, there is no reason for Basil to admire him so much. They also differ in their thought process because Basil has an "intellectual expression," but according to Lord Henry, Dorian is a "brainless, beautiful thing." These outer and inner differences between Basil and Dorian help explain Dorian's appearance as a new personality of art. Because they were very different, Basil could develop a new world view when he met Dorian.

These differences also explain the extraordinary romance Basil has on Dorian. In many cases, people tend to imagine things about different others. For example, in the past, when middle school boys and girls were separated in different schools or classes, boys imagined that girls were completely clean and perfect, even though girls are not perfect beings. Similar to this case, because Basil knows that Dorian is different from him and believes that Dorian is much superior to him, Basil idolizes Dorian. Basil believes that Dorian is a perfectly beautiful person with a perfect, fascinating personality. Although I do not know exactly about Dorian because I did not read the rest of the book, I think that Dorian cannot be perfect as Basil thinks because Dorian is a real person living in a real world. Furthermore, Basil's claim that he put too much of himself into the portrait means that Basil put all kinds of imagination about Dorian when drawing the portrait.

While reading the story, I sympathized with Basil because I had a similar experience. I created an ideal character and continuously drew him, adding a new characteristic to my art. Similar to Basil's case, the character provided me with a new perspective. The ideal character was virtually ideal, having a perfect appearance, intelligence, and personality. I drew many similar pictures of the character, and I felt happy each time I drew him. I always drew the character on a magnetic board because I could completely erase the character. I felt that if I drew the picture on paper, someone could see the vestige of him even though I erased it. I did not want to show my character to anyone, so when someone entered my room when I was drawing, I quickly erased the character from my magnetic board. I did not know why I desperately wanted to conceal the character from others, but now I think that I covered the character because I did not want to show my romanticized character and the new world created by the character to others.

To conclude, Basil idolizes Dorian because they are different in many ways and because Basil believes that Dorian Gray is a superior being. The difference between them explains the formation of a different world view and the fantasies Basil has on Dorian.