Kwabena Asumadu
ENGL 112
12 December 2025
Fear and Death in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde illustrates that fear and death are powerful forces that have a large impact on Dorian Gray in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. As soon as Dorian realises he is beautiful, he lets fear alter the way he views himself, as well as the way he views others. Fear is also evident in the way the portrait, Sibyl Vane, Basil Hallward and Dorian’s own death show how it leads Dorian to make disastrous choices. In turn, those choices create a pattern where, due to his avoidance of responsibility through fear, the ultimate outcome is death. By linking fear and death throughout “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, Wilde indicates that ultimately a life founded on denial, fear, and self-preservation will result in ultimate social and psychological destruction as seen with Dorian Gray.
Dorian first experiences fear when he witnesses the portrait change after he rejects Sibyl Vane. That moment shocks Dorian because it forces him to face a moral reality that he prefers not to face. In the quote from Oscar Wilde, the change in the portrait is described as having a “touch of cruelty at the mouth” (Wilde 79). By using the word “touch,” Wilde implies that it is a small change. However, in reality, it represents a huge shift from innocence to fear of becoming the controlling influence on him. Dorian feels fear because the altered portrait displays a quality he attempts to conceal from everyone else as well as himself.
Dorian is described by Wilde as being “trembling” when he sees the change in the painting (Wilde 79). The trembling demonstrates that anyone would feel fear when faced with an artistic representation of their wrongdoings. Dorian’s first response to fear is how it will alter who he is as he contemplates growing old, being without admiration, and having his true identity disclosed to everyone. Rather than taking responsibility for being cruel to Sibyl, he instead chooses to let the painting portray the consequences for his actions. Dorian’s decision begins the cycle that ultimately leads to his true demise.
The relationship between fear and death becomes even stronger after Sibyl has died. When Lord Henry tells Dorian that she “has committed suicide,” Dorian is surprised and feels guilty but quickly suppresses that feeling (Wilde 86). As a result, Wilde is able to use tone to highlight how Lord Henry regards the death as an aesthetic experience rather than a tragic one. He has described Sibyl’s death as “beautiful” and “interesting,” and, in making her death into something artistic, he has removed it from the realm of morality (Wilde 87). Consequently, Dorian adopts that perspective and is able to separate himself from the emotional burden of Sibyl’s death.
The fear of feeling guilty about contributing to Sibyl’s suicide motivates Dorian to emotionally distance himself from her. The symbolism of the portrait becomes stronger because the portrait changes again after Sibyl passes away, which serves as a way for Dorian to transfer blame to it. The portrait also serves as a reminder to Dorian of how corrupt he has become due to the actions and choices that have led him to this point, and the dissimilarity between the two versions of the portrait serves as a metaphor to demonstrate how Dorian has chosen to ignore death instead of learning from it.
Sibyl’s passing represents Dorian’s first realisation that he has the ability to hide through the medium of the picture; the fear that causes him to hide from himself, prevents him from facing reality and accountability, thus preventing him from taking ownership or accountability for Sibyl’s death. In this, Wilde illustrates how fear of embarrassment creates a situation where personal interests become very dangerous. Sibyl’s demise is the initial incident of many that result from Dorian’s fear of being exposed.
We can see Dorian’s fear growing dramatically through his portrayal of being in confrontation with Basil Hallward. Basil is eager to view Dorian’s completed portrait, and when Dorian reveals it, which is now extremely grotesque due to Dorian’s actions, Basil’s response as described by Wilde is one of “horror” (Wilde 123). This scene is pivotal to the story. Basil goes on to encourage Dorian to take a knee and express remorse through prayer and introspection; however, Dorian’s overwhelming feelings of fear have eclipsed any sense of remorse and he perceives Basil as a threat to his revealed truth. He fears being judged by society and the destruction of the image he has gone to great lengths to guard.
In the following section, the narrator expands on Dorian’s mental decline. Dorian feels a “mad passion” welling up inside him, a statement signifying that Dorian is allowing his emotions to dominate over sound judgment (Wilde 124). From here on, the images become ever more grotesque, showing just how out of control Dorian is as he violently attacks Basil, stabbing him “again and again” (Wilde 125). Basil is ultimately slain at the hands of Dorian as a direct expression of Dorian’s fear. In this instance, Wilde uses Dorian’s extreme acts of violence against Basil as a way to signify that as more truth is revealed about Dorian, he reacts with increased intensity and despair, ultimately leading to death.
Fear eventually envelops and dictates all of Dorian’s life. Dorian eliminates all personal contact, isolates himself from others, and hides the portrait as a criminal would hide evidence. In this way, Wilde uses the portrait to illustrate that fear can create a prison for someone. The final chapter of the novel represents the apex of the fear-death connection. Dorian wants to destroy the portrait; he cannot endure the fear of what it portrays. To illustrate the death of Dorian’s soul, Wilde uses the terms “loathsome,” “ancient,” and “wrinkled” (Wilde 158) to describe the portrait, all while Dorian is depicted as youthful in outward appearance.
Dorian’s fear is at its apex during the stabbing of the portrait, he mistakenly believes that destroying the portrait frees him. In a dramatic twist of events, the servants find Dorian dead, lying upon the floor old and withered. The portrait has returned to its originally beautiful state (Wilde 159). Thus, Dorian’s fear led to death. Wilde demonstrates in his writing that however good one’s intentions, one cannot escape from the truth of one’s own life and that consequences are simply postponed due to fear, not erased.
The above scenes demonstrate that fear and death are closely linked in The Picture of Dorian Gray. When the portrait changes for the first time, it is an indication that Dorian is experiencing fear. This fear intensifies with the death of Sibyl. Following Basil’s murder, Dorian experiences extreme amounts of fear. The culmination of Dorian’s fear is inwardly directed, as he ultimately destroys himself. Ultimately, the relationship between the themes of fear and death warn the reader of the dangers of not accepting his or her responsibilities. As fear increases above the authority known as honesty and/or self-reflection, fear generates a cycle that results in death. Ultimately, the ending of Wilde’s novel illustrates that trying to avoid one’s fears results in a loss of everything, including Dorian Gray.
Works Cited:
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Edited by Robert Mighall, Penguin Classics, 2003.