Literary Analysis Project:
INTRODUCTION 01
DEFAMILIARIZATION
02
TYPE OF NARRATOR 03
04
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a story that was
published in 1891 by Oscar Wilde. The story
line is based on a very handsome young man
who is admired by everyone around him who
receives eternal youth at the expense of his
soul. This eternal youth comes through the
form of art painted by Basil Hallward. This
painting of Dorian Gray begins to age instead
of Dorian himself. This leads to horrific
problems and begins to make things very
difficult for Dorian.
Narration consists of many different views
such as first person, third person, omniscient,
etc. All of these types of narrators describe
what point of view the story is being told.
Weather that be from the point of the narrator,
a specific character, or form simply every
aspect with the ability to read about every
characters thoughts, feelings and emotions.
When it comes to The picture of Dorian Gray,
this story is being told from a third person
omniscient point of view. This means that the
narrator has the ability to tell us about all of
the characters feelings and thoughts.
On page 13 we begin to here Basil explaining
to Lord Henry about the story of how Basil
turned his head and saw Dorian and how the
feelings he went through upon the initial eye
contact. As the story progresses, we see
more of Dorian Gray but in the early portion
we can see conversations and feelings of
others involved. This is a perfect example of
how the story is told in the third person
omniscient perspective
Defamiliarization is known as the artistic way of
presenting audiences and viewers common
things in an unfamiliar or different way so they
can gain new perspectives and see the story
from a different perspective. Oscar Wilde uses
this in The picture of Dorian Gray by having
the portrait of Dorian painted by Basil age
instead of Dorian himself. This is a perfect
example of defamiliarization because the
audience may be familiar with aging but not i
the fashion presented by Oscar Wilde.
On Page 8 of the story when we are
introduced to Basil it states “Was sitting the
artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden
disappearance some years ago caused public
excitement and gave rise to so many strange
conjectures.” This is already a perfect example
of defamiliarization because it already tells us
that there is something going on with the artist
without telling us the exact reason, leaving the
audience in suspense as to what is next to
come.
In conclusion the story is derived of many different parts
showing us to not be so caught up in youth and beauty as
everything comes to an end. Oscar Wilde takes us on a wild
ride of emotions with Dorian wishing for his eternal beauty but
then dies directly off of the impact of getting what he wished
for. The story gives us a mean and devastating meaning
showing us that everything is not what it may seem.
CONCLUSION