Oscar Wilde's The picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray is a beautiful young man that has given a new life to the paintings of Basil Hallward. While posing for Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton - a close friend of Hallward - who has very particular views on society. Gray realises his beauty has opened many doors for him and those doors will certainly close as he grows old and wrinkled. When the painting is finished, Gray says he would give his soul for his picture to grow old instead of him.

I tend to think classics are boring and it takes some effort on my part to read them. However, Oscar Wilde is brilliant and witty, and the theme behind this story is timeless, which makes it an easy read. At first I was bored by Lord Henry's unending philosophies, but once I understood how deeply they influenced Gray I went back to read them carefully. Gray decides to take advantage of the fact that nothing can change his good looks and gives himself to every whim, while his painting keeps changing to reflect what his soul looks like sin after sin. Gray is obsessed with himself, but the lesson I keep after reading this book is that every human being has a soul and it is the only thing we should care to make beautiful.

In the preface, Wilde writes that "The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless”. I am forced to disagree, this book is a useful work of art that I now admire, as it got me thinking of the wonderful gift it is to be human and to be able to choose my fate as I wish.