Dorian Gray - The Picture of Dorian Gray
PLAYER
[journal] tsunderes
[age] 19
[previous characters] Kiyoha (tsuridasu
CHARACTER
[series] The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
[full name] Dorian Gray
[age] 38, appears to be in his late teens/early twenties
[gender] Male
[canon point] The very beginning of chapter 12, before killing Basil.
[reference] For once Wikipedia actually works very well!
[personality] Many points of Dorian's personality stem directly from his time period, and were pretty common of all men of the time. His etiquette is distinctly that of an aristocratic Victorian man, and that's why it only gets like a paragraph. Dorian is polite and eloquent, and always the gentleman. At least, outwardly. Like many aristocrats in general, Dorian may be polite on the outside, but very cruel and cold on the inside, especially to those of a lesser class. In fact, those of a lesser class are less likely to get the mask at all, and he'll just be a douche. Luckily, on the Plane, it'll be hard to tell because no one wears cravats and other stuff like that anymore.
But, to break that shield of etiquette, it only takes a mention of his infamous portrait. Because of his deviance, he at least won't freak out and try to kill the person that mentions it, but it's still touchy. After all, it is his weakness and the physical evidence of his crimes more than anything else. Dorian is both attached to it and repulsed by it, which is understandable.
His portrait is the physical reminder of the side of Dorian that he tries to keep hidden. The Dark Side. Oh, wait, this isn't Star Wars, my bad. Despite his ever polite outer face, Dorian is a man that goes against Victorian society rather in secret. He takes pleasure in the immoral things in life, like drugs, and the most remembered facet of the novel, his "manipulations" of young men. Without a doubt, this is referring to homosexuality. So yes, Dorian likes boys kissing boys, not kissing you.
The bad side of his personality isn't exactly up front, but can appear at times. His beauty makes him vain, his aristocracy makes him haughty, and the portrait and his own self is cruel, distant, and cold all at once. These are the notable bad traits of Dorian's character, but the first two appear to most. The last three are the very darkest sides of Dorian, and ones that won't be revealed often, if at all, especially with his deviance.
Interestingly, there's a bit of duality in manipulation and Dorian. He's quite the manipulator himself, and has brought many young men to ruin, but he's just as easily manipulated by Henry. Dorian isn't naive anymore, but he can be overcome by passion and desire, which is how Henry manipulates him. In fact, Dorian's personality is almost exclusively Henry's fault, as Basil notes. Henry shaped Dorian's odd desires, ranging from the scandalous ones to more innocent, though obsessive ones, like his love of collecting things. This shows that Dorian has a pretty obsessive personality, though he's quick to discard one passion for the next. When he's seized by a fancy, it will become his life for a few months before he gets bored and moves onto something else.
But this is the best display of Dorian's passion, as varied as it may be throughout the novel. He's very passionate in his life, from his collections to his love life. His first love for Sibyl was very passionate, after all! However, his passion is for a deeper level of beauty, which would be that for true art. He loved Sibyl for her performances, her art, not for her physical beauty. It also ties in with his attraction to art especially, since it stimulates him in some different way. And, as shown with Sibyl, once that art is gone, Dorian has no more interest in that thing.
Dorian's fabulosity makes him appealing to both men and women. As Henry says, there are two draws to Dorian. For one, his extraordinary beauty, and two, his eloquence and intelligence. Dorian is an intelligent young man, but he's also curious. He reads often, and on a variety of subjects, which makes him the ideal 19th century conversationalist. He's witty and well-mannered, but never boring.
[orientation] This is a source of much academic contention, but it's fairly easy to say that Dorian is bisexual. He certainly has an interest in women, as seen with Sibyl, and selections of the novel like
"Women who had wildly adored him, and for his sake had braved all social censure and set convention at defiance[...]"
certainly imply that Sibyl was far from his one love. Similarly, there is implication all throughout the book of Dorian's similar interest in men, like Basil's plea of
"Why is your friendship so fatal to young men?"
It's just worth keeping mind that because of the time period that Wilde was writing in, any sexuality at all was veiled, especially homosexuality. Though if you read the book, it's quite thinly veiled, honestly. Oscar Wilde was a fab dude.
[appearance] semi-PB'd by the lovely Ben Barnes
[wish] To be free of the portrait without loosing its gift of immortality.
[requested house] Satozuke Household
[misc notes] I play Dorian 100% from the novel, despite the icons! I promise, haha.
SAMPLES
[prose log]
"But Dorian, I think that it will help you to come to terms with--"
Dorian interrupted Basil sharply as he paced the parlor, "Basil, you know I cannot. If someone were to see, why, I would surely be considered guilty after all."
"I only mean to suggest that it could help. You have changed so much since her death, Dorian! I fear greatly for you."
Dorian cringed at the mention. Basil would surely think it was because of mentioning her, but in reality, it was the memory of how that event--how that event had started that wretched change in the portrait that the artist had painted. He stopped his pacing to turn towards Basil wearing a pained expression.
"But Basil--"
This time, it was Basil that interrupted. He held out the small piece of paper that he had brought with him.
"Only visit, if you can do no more. Go early in the morning tomorrow if you are so worried about being seen."
Dorian hesitated, but took a half step forward to take the paper delicately from Basil's hand, as if it were fine silk.
The paper was still in his hands, but now it trembled not from nervousness, but from the rumbling of the carriage that Dorian was sitting in. It was no longer folded, but opened up to reveal the rough directions scrawled on it. Dorian had been surprised by how close it was, as if it were some cruel and horrible irony. The carriage was not his usual, either. He had wished that he could have taken a carriage that would be less likely to know his face, but both rich and poor alike knew about Dorian Gray and his ageless, beautiful face.
Dorian fidgeted with the paper, but once the carriage slowed to a stop, he tucked it in his pocket and stepped out of the carriage, handing the man his fare. It was in a quieter district of London, close to the very edges, so it lay in a grassy field, where a single oak tree stood almost as a guardian beside the poor, rusting gate. Once the carriage had pulled away, he opened it, but the creak (more like a scream) startled him. He had a thought to turn and call the carriage back, to lie to Basil and say that he had indeed gone, but only a passing thought as his new-found promise returned to his mind.
Instead, he held his gift that he had brought a bit more tightly in his fist, and stepped into the poor, dingy graveyard.
There were no extravagant tombs like the one his mother and grandfather had been buried in here. It was simple markers of those long past, and as his eyes wandered over the tombstones, some of the names were almost invisible by how much they had been worn away. By the corner of the graveyard, he saw one freshly dug, but turned his eyes away indifferently. He was here for one purpose, and hoped that no one would see him before the carriage returned in half an hour.
It was almost directly in the middle. Dorian paused before the grave before kneeling carefully before it. He set the soft bouquet of lilac and poppies on the ground, and looked up to read the name.
"SIBYL VANE"
Dorian paused, reading the name, and found that he could barely recall her beautiful, young face at all. He knew this could be it, to leave the flowers as his far too late apology, but that bothered him. It had to have been at least eighteen years since her death, and he had not thought of her since. He had never loved another as he had loved Sibyl for that week, but his cruelty had been too much.
He reached out and touched her name, but withdrew as if it had burned his fingers. He stood quickly, ashamed at his own, sudden nostalgia, but as he started to return to the gate, Dorian pulled the collar of his coat up to guard against a chilly wind that wasn't shaking the oak's branches.
"I am truly sorry, Sibyl."
He waited by the gate for the carriage to return, but the whole time, it felt as if someone was watching him from that graveyard. Dorian didn't dare to turn back.
[sample 2#]