The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Detailed Summary

 

Introduction

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde that explores themes of aestheticism, moral duplicity, and the nature of beauty. Set in late 19th century London, the story follows the life of a young man whose pursuit of pleasure leads to his ultimate downfall.

The Portrait and the Wish

The novel begins with artist Basil Hallward, who becomes infatuated with the striking beauty of a young man named Dorian Gray. Basil paints a portrait of Dorian, capturing not only his physical appearance but also the innocence he possesses. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a charismatic and cynical aristocrat who advocates for hedonism and the pursuit of pleasure as life’s ultimate goals. Under Lord Henry's influence, Dorian expresses a wish that he could remain young and beautiful forever while the portrait ages in his place. Mysteriously, this wish is granted.

The Life of Excess

As Dorian indulges in a life of excess, he engages in romantic affairs and hedonistic pursuits, becoming increasingly obsessed with the idea of youth and beauty. He enters into a tumultuous relationship with actress Sibyl Vane, who initially captivates him with her talent. However, when Dorian cruelly rejects her after she delivers a poor performance, Sibyl takes her own life. This tragic event marks a turning point for Dorian, but rather than feeling remorse, he becomes fascinated by the idea that he remains unchanged while the portrait bears the marks of his sins.

The Transformation of the Portrait

As Dorian continues his reckless lifestyle, the portrait reflects the degradation of his soul. While he remains outwardly youthful and attractive, the painting becomes increasingly grotesque, bearing the scars of his immoral actions and the guilt of his choices. Dorian's relationships deteriorate, and he becomes increasingly isolated, consumed by fear and paranoia about the portrait being discovered.

 

 

The Confrontation

Haunted by the consequences of his actions, Dorian attempts to escape the weight of his conscience. He hides the portrait away, believing that he can distance himself from the moral implications of his lifestyle. However, the internal conflict continues to grow. Eventually, he confronts the portrait, which has transformed into a horrifying reflection of his true self. In a moment of desperation, Dorian attempts to destroy the painting, believing it will free him from his sins.

The Downfall

Dorian’s act of destruction leads to his downfall. He is found dead, aged and grotesque, while the portrait reverts to its original, beautiful form. This moment serves as a powerful commentary on the consequences of a life lived without moral accountability.

Conclusion

Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" serves as a critique of societal superficiality and the dangers of valuing aesthetic beauty above all else. It raises profound questions about the nature of the self, the relationship between art and life, and the repercussions of indulgence. Ultimately, the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray illustrates that one cannot escape the consequences of their actions, making it a timeless exploration of the complexities of human nature and moral dilemmas.

Character Sketch of Kurtz in The Heart of Darkness

 

In the Heart of Darkness, the character of Kurtz, a chief of the Inner Station in colonized Congo, can be seen as a dominating figure while readers get to know him through word of mouth. Throughout most of the text, the enigmatic character is presented from the other character's point of view or from the protagonist, Marlow.

Character Sketch of Kurtz 

Kurtz is defined as talented, intelligent, ambitious a tyrant, and a demigod who symbolizes  European society. Not only about his capability of leading men, but he is also an orator, musician, painter, writer, etc. The initial aim of Kurtz was to take a journey to Africa in order to civilize, improvise, and educate the natives. Once in the darkness and wilderness of the Congo forests with no external checks over him, Kurtz transformed into a plunderer and a murderer of the natives as an evil genius.

To prove his worth in front of his masters as a ‘first-class agent’, he obtained more ivory through his “unsound method” as the manager complained. All of the humanitarian motives of Kurtz were left behind and brutality was his only face. The company might be sucking out the Congolese resources in the veil of civilisation, but Kurtz did not even mask himself behind the good intentions. Marlow commented at one place, “All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz”.

It was due to his corrupt personality that he was deprived of any social morality, which is why he was regarded as ‘a hollow man’ too.  

The Bastard Of Istanbul

“Once there was; once there wasn’t.

God’s creatures were as plentiful as grains

And talking too much was a sin....

Many of you might be judging the content inside from its title, but I assure you that you will find more once you start reading.

The story revolves around 19 years old Asya Kazanci who is Zeliha Kazanci daughter and they live together with Zeliha’s other three sisters, mother and a great grandmother in Istanbul, Turkey. None of the ladies are married except Auntie Banu, but she lives with her family instead of her husband because of her own reasons. They also have a brother, Mustafa, who lives in Arizona, US and never visited Istanbul in last 20 years. He is married there with an American woman who has a daughter Armanoush from her first husband, who happened to be an Armenian. Armanoush/ Amy lives with her mother and stepfather in Arizona while visits his father’s family in the other city sometimes. Another reason that he stays in the US because of the curse that runs in Kazanci family that all of its men die in their 40s and Mustafa dies in.....

Zeliha is the most rebellious woman in the Kazanci family and runs a tattoo parlour. The uncontrollable streak passes to Asya’s personality as well who don’t like traditional living standards or norms that her family follows, but she tries to stay away from it as much as she can. She has her own social circle of elders double her age that matches her philosophical mindset. 

Asya is an illegitimate child of Zeliha and the thought of finding her father or getting know about intrigues her the most while no one talks about it in the family as they also do not have any idea about the man. BUT, other than Zeliha, there is someone else in the family too who knows about Asya’s father and even Zeliha is not aware of it....

Apart from being controversial in terms of its story, the novel also hit the Turk and Armenian conflicts occurred in 1915. Elif Shafak faced sentence and hearings for writing this part of history that irked Turk government and its citizens. 

All in all, the novel is a must-read that will captivate you until the end as you will get to know the purpose of Armanoush's arrival in Turkey and finally find out about Asya's 'father'!

The Dark Arena

Who doesn’t know Mario Puzo? Surely, all of us.

The splendid creator of the character The Godfather was incredible that no one has ever beaten that story.

 Possessed with the distinctive writing and storytelling style, the Mario Puzo is an author with the wit. Personally, I have always felt that he has an influence over his reader. We get to learn something new and get social awareness too that how can we understand the people around us.

Mario Puzo has always focused on the stories of Italian Mafia and events occurred during Second World War. That was mainly because during his times, these two events were on hike.

The Dark Arena is another bestselling novel of Puzo, which was published in 1952 (that is a longest time back), in which he has described the story of an American soldier named Walter Mosca. Mosca came to fight in Germany where he meets a German girl named Hella who lost her family in the war.

The story revolves around these two when they fall in love and start living together at Mosca’s apartment. After 3 years, Mosca gets a chance to return to the States where he already had a girlfriend, but he sets her free because he was in love with Hella.  His family gets shocked, but he returns back shortly to Germany with his firm decision of being with Hella.

Although, the relationship story sounds too affectionate one, but it was very matured and simple with less interaction. Mosca is portrayed as a kind of man who thinks a lot while speak little and this is what, his girlfriend understands. His tough job and ruthless incidents during war turns  him into a cold man.

The story shows that how difficult the time was when there is war around and how painful experience it is for the soldiers and for the civilians, both. Mosca gets into selling cigarettes in black with his friend to earn some extra money as it was one of the most demanding items in the times of war.

There are many interesting scenes happening in the story telling you about the coarse outcomes of the war. Puzo is an expert in defining these scenarios better becsue he himself has served in the Army during the world war, thus, he knows the suffering well and the way people are being treated.

There is a lot to read and understand in The Dark Arena that will make you believe that Mario Puzo is a genius!

I gave 9 out of 10 to this novel.

  

Azur Like It

Cannes Life Be This Nice??

You must be aware of the Wendy Holden if you are a regular reader & looks to read some humorist content.

Writing in her usual style, Holden has gathered story & humor together. 
Azur Like It is a story of a young journalist, Kate who lives in a northern town named Slackmucklethwaite with her mum, dad &  gran. She works in a magazine called Slackmucklethwaite Mercury & is totally unhappy with her job. She feels like her job is taking her nowhere & she won't be able to get a chance to grow from this small town. Her career took steep step when a corrupt business tycoon, Peter Hardstone takes over the Mercury. He slashes all the budgets & put more advertisements than news or entertainment content in the paper, which pisses everyone off. Cutting off the budget also affected Kate's dream of going to Cannes, France to cover the biggest film festival.

While the things are going so down, uneventful & dull for Kate, the story takes a turn & she gets to meet Hardstone's son Nat Hardstone, who also joins the office as a punishment from his father. He draws his plans around Kate & used her to reach Cote d'Azur for the Cannes festival so that he could make his contacts for entering into the film industry. 

Kate, an innocent girl, gets into his trap and even pays for his plane fares while herself traveling in economy class. As expected, Nat abandons her from the flight and never meets her until she sees him at the festival with, of course, we know the diva Champagne D'Vyne! They ran a fling that had no end like other ones of Champagne. 

The story has some very interesting moves that will direct your attention entirely on to the novel and you would want to know that what is going to happen next. 

Kate get to meet Celia in Cote D'Azur with her cheating husband who late Celia kicks off. Together, Celia and Kate does some adventures like putting the hotel back into running condition, in which they were staying. 
Kate also meets Fabien here, who is an intelligent painter and they fall in love later. There are some catchy scenes also scripted about both of them. 
Later on Kate gets few jobs in Azur like working in a low profile, only magazine of teh island. The other job she get is at the house of Comtese who happens to have some relationships with people close to Kate. To get to know that, you will need to read this novel. 

The natural scenery of Cote D'Azur is beautifully described by Wendy that will make you going for the place. 
I totally loved this novel like other ones from Wendy Holden. She makes simple scenerios into the funny ones that you enjoy reading them. 
Do read Azur Like It if you want to change your reading taste from serious to the humorous. 
I gave this novel 7.5 out of 10. 

Harry Potter series to be taken down by the author J. K Rowling

The world is always together on one thing and that is Harry Potter! No matter from which region you are, you will remain a Potter fan. The Harry Potter mania sparked once again globally as the new book Harry Potter and the cursed child hit the market. Everyone attended the mega event in their respective countries by showing up in the outfits and disguising as the Harry Potter book characters.

But, while we all are celebrating the return of this series, there is a major announcement from the author J. K Rowling that is this going to be the last book of the Harry Potter series. It broke your heart, we know! So did ours. Ouch!

She revealed this bigger news to us when she was asked by a reporter that “Whether there will any other story series based on Harry Potter ?” And Rowling was simply like, “No, No”. She further added that “We are done with the Harry now. Harry had a long way to go that we are now with the next generation reading it, but it is the end of this magnificent series”.

The new book is the script of the play named after Harry Potter and the cursed child that is played in London.

She also said that she never wanted to write another book of Harry Potter after the final seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but this play is a promising one for the new generation that you will find something very unique.

So fans, you are not entirely left disappointed, but a lot with the anticipation to watch in the stage play of Harry Potter and the cursed child! 

Eleven Minutes

'Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer'

Sentiments are very mysterious! They keep bouncing from here to there and we stay confused about our lives.
Paulo Coelho is a well known Brazilian novelist who seems like understanding human feelings pretty well and this is why; he can narrate them better than anyone else. We all are aware of his life changing novel The Alchemist that has affected many lives across the globe.
His another international bestseller Eleven Minutes unfolds many answers to your unknown questions. Questions about the topics that we consider being taboo in our societies. It is about the feelings and expressions that are happening around us, but we do not dare to say them or even sense them.
I am a huge fan of Paulo because he dares to speak about human thought in the most lenient way. Once you start reading him and you understand that this is same what I felt too somewhere in life, therefore, it is all normal to feel, think or act in that way.
Did you get it? He is helping you in some way to counter and face your feelings! Thanks Coelho!

So, without much delay, let me tell you what Eleven Minutes are all about:

Eleven Minutes is a true story of a young Brazilian girl (a prostitute) moved to Geneva who understands the difference between Pleasure & Peace by testing her emotional barriers with the help of Ralf Hart (the successful painter) who recognizes her 'inner light' & helps her in seeing it too.

When she sees his 'inner light' & they both get to know that in reaching out to each other it is important to conquer each other's soul because the body is in the possession of everyone they meet.

Since her childhood, Maria has been always thoughtful about finding and meeting her true love. It took her a long way where she learned a lot and act wisely.

During her experiences, she gets to walk on the Road to Santiago along with the painter Ralph whom she was met in a cafe. While she was working in a club, she gets to meet many men who became her usual clients and that was mainly because of her intelligence and listening habits.
She gets to meet an English music executive, Terence as well who helped her understand that she was only concealing her sexual desires until now. He made her recognize her own sexuality and passion through his own dark way, which used to give him pleasure.

The story has many twists and turns that make you feel like if Maria's life will end or she will back off and return to Brazil whereas, she fought with the circumstances like a warrior. She did not withdraw her aim of earning money and worked like a professional sex worker. In reality, she wanted to go back to Brazil, get her own farm, do farming and live with her parents. She was a girl with a plan!

Some of the very powerful scenes of this story are when  she encounters her spirituality with Ralph, who comes out as his soul mate.
The hotel scene with Terence will also make you intrigued with the power of inner sexuality that he made her feeling and it gave Maria the peace that she never came across. 

I would not disclose any more of the details about this novel neither about the title Eleven Minutes so that you could have something to discover yourself. But I can assure you that this novel will not upset you at all rather you will end up with something newest to think about! 
So enjoy this journey of lust to love with Paulo Coelho!