Character Profiles
Dorian Gray:
In the beginning of the
novel Dorian is portrayed as simply the beautiful, pleasant young man that
Basil Hallward has made his new inspiration for his art. However, once he meets
Lord Henry he proves to be naïve and easy to manipulate. After just one
conversation with Lord Henry, Dorian decides that he is terrified of the day
that he no longer has his youth and beauty. Throughout the novel Dorian is
convinced that Lord Henry's ideas about pleasure seeking and little to no
regards for morals are the best guidelines for life. His extreme vanity and
shallowness make him a very easy target for Lord Henry's manipulative ways. His
love is even proved to be purely based on vanity when he falls in love with a
beautiful actress named Sibyl Vane. Once he discovers a single flaw in the
young lady, he breaks her heart causing her to commit suicide. When Dorian
hears the news of the death of his loved one he has a fleeting moment of regret
and guilt but quickly decides that her actions were a great and artistic
sacrifice to Dorian himself. This marks the beginning of Dorian’s decent into
corruption. Dorian
continues to do as he pleases and his sins just get worse and worse.
Eventually, he snaps and kills his good friend Basil. After this horrific event
Dorian is driven mad by guilt.
Lord Henry is a man blessed with the gifts of charm
and wit. He uses these talents for his own benefit to corrupt and persuade
others. His opinions on every aspect of life are radical. He is a pleasure
seeking, self-proclaimed hedonist who does not fully understand the effects
that his philosophy can have on the human soul considering he never leads
anyone into suicide or murders one of his close friends. Lord Henry spends the
entire novel putting ideas and theories into Dorian’s head that lead to his transition
over the course of time. Throughout the entire novel, Lord Henry’s character remains
relatively unchanged while Dorian and Basil go through dramatic alterations.
Basil Hallward:
The opening chapter of
this novel begins with Basil expressing his deep appreciation and admiration of
a young man named Dorian. Basil’s complete view on art has been transformed
because of Dorian’s beauty and presence. He does not even want to exhibit his portrait
of Dorian at first because he is afraid he’s put too much of himself into it.
He’s afraid that everyone would be able to see his idolatry for Dorian if they
were to examine the painting closely. He later changes his mind and explains
that art is purely based on the abstract not on emotion. Even after this realization
though, his emotional investment in Dorian remains constant throughout the
novel even when their relationship is clearly over. This concern and protective
nature eventually leads him to his untimely death.
Sibyl Vane:
Dorian instantly falls
madly in love with Sibyl Vane as soon as he sees her acting in the play, “Romeo
and Juliet” for the first time. She is young and beautiful and soon has Dorian
proposing to her. However, as soon as she finds real love with Dorian she loses
her ability to act and claims that she cannot fake love someone for the play
when she is really in love with Dorian.
James Vane:
James Vane is Sibyl’s younger brother who is about to
set sail to make money for the family in Australia. He is very protective of
his sister and is skeptical about Dorian. James vows that if Dorian ever did anything
to hurt his little sister that he would hunt Dorian down and kill him.
Mrs. Vane:
Sibyl’s mother who is introduced as Mrs. Vane was an
actress when she was younger just like Sibyl. She loves Sibyl but instead of
being concerned about her relationship with Dorian like James is, she thinks it
will be an advantageous union for her daughter because Dorian seems to be a
gentleman with money.
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