Dorian grey

November 11, 2011

Essay: Dorian Gray ! The story portrayed in the book “the painting of Dorian Gray” is a bit different than that shown in the movie, most scenes are changed, deleted or not shownat all. Let’s take a look at some of the contrasts between the movie and the book. ! In the film, Lord Henry takes Gray to a brothel where they indulge in opium and carnal intercourse, which makes Grayfeel disillusioned to settling down with Sibyl Vane. In the novel, Gray's loss of affection stems from Sibyl's loss of acting talent due to the fact that her real love replaced her fictional ones whenshe acts on stage. Also in the book, Gray doesn’t like the painting and even though Basil offers to terminate it with a knife (which is a foreshadowing to what happens to him) he takes it to aabandoned room, in the movie there is a exhibition of the painting when it is finished. We can also notice how after murdering Basil Hallward, Mr. Gray cuts the body into pieces so as to be placed in a chestbefore he dumps into the river, whereas in the novel, he receives assistance from Alan Campbell, a chemist, who uses nitric acid to destroy the artist's remains. Campbell then commits suicide and inthe movie his character is quite minor where he has no part in the murder. ! We can also find in the book Henry visits his uncle, Lord Fermor, a rough mannered old nobleman who tells him about Mr.Grays past, in the movie this is never shown. In the novel, Henry does not have a child, Emily who later in the film feels a deep affection for Gray. Emily could serve as a substitute for Hetty, thevicar's daughter, whom Gray decides not to harm as a mark of his penance that later is revealed as a sign of hypocrisy. In the book, Basil’s character is strongly implied to be sexually interested in Grayeven though this is never fully stated, however, in the film, Gray initiates a physical side of the relationship at a party, to which Basil responds. James Vane, who is Sybil Vane's brother a sailor...