Call to Adventure: The Picture of Dorian Grey

  For this reading response I have chosen to do The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde.

At the beginning of the novel Dorian Grey is the muse of Basil Hallward, a poor painter who is trying to get his artistic career off the ground. Dorian is innocent and unware of the world, a kind young man who leads a simple life. He is described by Lord Henry Wotton as such:

"There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candor of youth was there, as well as all youth's passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world. No wonder Basil Hallward worshipped him." (Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey, 24)

In Dorian Gray's ordinary world he was a charming, youthful, and kind boy; as stated in the quote above, he was easy to trust and felt untainted by the world's misfortunes. Objectively Dorian Grey's ordinary world was conventional, although deep down he longed for something more, something which he found in the twisted words of Lord Henry Wotton.

The sources of conflict, change, circumstance, longing, pain or sorrow that lead or compel Dorian Grey to leave his ordinary world are as follows:

Upon hearing Lord Henry Wotton remark that someday Dorian will lose his youthful charm and become old and ugly, and that, once that happens, no one will enjoy his presence anymore, Dorian is thrown into a panic, lamenting that he will grow old but his portrait never will. His lament is captured in this passage:

"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will always remain young. It will never be older than this particular day of June.... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was always to be young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that- for that- I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that! (30)

Here Dorian is succumbing to the shallow ideas of Henry Wotton, so much so that he would offer his soul to stay young forever. Here he is accepting his 'Call to Adventure', but unlike most stories, this is a threshold that Dorian would be better off not to cross.

But against all odds something happens to halt Dorian's acceptance of Henry’s poisoned words, to refuse his ‘Call to Adventure.’ Dorian Grey falls in love with an actress named Sibyl Vane.

Enchanted by his love for Sibyl, Dorian refuses the cynical ideas of Henry, and for the first time since he met Henry, is able to feel and express emotion and is excited about life. Yet this all falls apart when Sibyl performs badly at a play and Dorian’s love for her is shattered. He breaks off their engagement and Sibyl, heartbroken, kills herself because of this. Upon looking at his portrait when he returns home, Dorian notices that the face has turned cruel. The once boyish and gentle expression has become cold and hardened. At first Dorian is thrown into repentance; he swears to do better and to make up for his cruelty. But after a chat with Henry Wotton, he changes his mind and accepts the changing of his portrait, as shown in this quote:

“What did it matter what happened to the coloured image on the canvas? He would be safe. That was everything.” (77)

Dorian Grey has succumbed to the treacherous and cynical words of Lord Henry Wotton, he has accepted his Call to Adventure and begun his path to damnation.