Allusion To The Bible In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray presents the reader with numerous possibilities in regards to its theme, yet the one most prominent is the continuous and direct allusion to the Bible as can be seen in the characters themselves, their dialogue, and the imagery surrounding them. As the book opens, two characters are introduced, Basil Hallward, a deeply moral man and an artist who meets Dorian at a party and becomes obsessed with his beauty, which in turn inspires his art; and Lord Henry Wotton, a man of “wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories” (pg. 56), who possesses dry wit and often becomes a bad influence on those who find themselves unlucky enough to be in his company. Throughout the story the two characters are developed in somewhat

I would give my soul for that!”(pg. 19)) According to Thomas C. Foster in the Introduction: How’d He Do That? From How to Read Literature Like a Professor, “Bargains with the devil go back a long way in Western culture…the hero is offered something he desperately wants – power or knowledge (in the case of Dorian Gray youth)– and all he has to give up is his soul” (pg. xxiii) This seems to be the opening theme of The Picture of Dorian Gray, yet it appears to be a bit too obvious and straight forward. One must then consider the rest of the book and the consequences of this pact with the devil, for this was only the prelude to Dorian’s future misdeeds to which Lord Henry will masterfully lead him, all the while never considering the consequences of the words he speaks to the boy. Dorian began his descend into the darkness by first cruelly breaking the heart of a young girl and afterwards living a life devoted solely to sensory experiences of pleasure with no regard for morality or the consequences of his actions causing Dorian’s reputation to suffer in circles of polite London society, until he finally completely succumbs to his cruelty and murders his friend Basil and later drives his friend, the chemist Alan Campbell, to commit suicide after he blackmails the man in order to convince him to dispose of the

The difference between the two stories is that Basil does not try to utilize the information against Dorian, instead he begs him to repent and offer a prayer to God, “Pray, Dorian, pray,” he murmured. “What is it that one was taught to say in one’s boyhood? ‘Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our sins. Wash away our iniquities.’ Let us say that together. The prayer of your pride has been answered. The prayer of your repentance will be answered also” (pg. 115). Yet even as Basil takes on the responsibility and tries to aid Dorian in his sin, the young man remains blind, for as Samson was captured and blinded by the Philistines, Dorian was captured by the seductive words that Lord Henry once uttered and was then blinded by his own vanity. So to Basil’s request he falters, “It is too late, Basil” (pg. 115). But Basil is persistent, or rather desperate and thus mumbles a prayer, “’Though your sins be as scarlet, yet I will make them as white as snow’” (pg. 115), upon saying which, he becomes a martyr to Dorian’s