Discussion 6: Mystery and Suspense

The mystery and suspense that is brought up at the beginning of the book is based mainly around Dorian Gray's characteristics. The way that Dorian is described in the first few chapters by Basil Hallward creates much suspense. Basil shows much love for Dorian while also showing some fear and treats Dorian as his most prized possession which brings up the question... What makes Dorian Gray so special? This causes much mystery towards the character of Dorian Gray and is shown when Basil states, "I turned half-way round and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious sensation of terror came over me." (Wilde 18). This quote shows that Dorian possesses unexplainable power just by his looks which creates a lot of mystery of his character when Basil speaks of him to Lord Henry. Although Dorian creates a lot of mystery himself, his portrait is the main object that creates mystery and suspense throughout the novel. Even before the portrait goes through the supernatural changes and becomes altered due to Dorian's sins, it creates many suspenseful scenes such as the argument Basil, Dorian, and Lord Henry get into right after the painting is complete. The portrait then continues to cause much mystery as its appearance changes to an evil and old representation of Dorian as he commits his wrongdoings since the reader never knows what the cause of the portrait's changes is.  The mystery of the portrait's transformation causes many suspenseful parts of the book such as the suicidal death of Sibyl Vane, the murder of Basil Hallward, and the many other lives that are affected by Dorian since he knows the portrait will be affected instead of himself. An example of the suspense that is created by this mystery can be shown during the scene before Basil's death when the book describes the scene by saying, "A cold current of air passed them, and the light shot up for a moment in a flame of murky orange... Hallward glanced round him with a puzzled expression." (Wilde 167). This quote shows how suspenseful Dorian, his portrait, and the setting can make the scenes. Scenes like this create a very tenseful tone since Dorian can pretty much do whatever he wants because his portrait will just carry the burden which causes the reader to be tenseful about the end result and whether or not Dorian will ever pay for his crimes. This tenseful or suspenseful tone remains throughout the entire novel including the ending where Dorian tries to destroy the portrait and ends up killing himself and restoring the portrait to its original self. This is shown at the end of the book when it states, "“...they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master...in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man… with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not til they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.” (Wilde 235). This also conveys that the mystery of the portrait remains a mystery and is never logically explained although it does cause much pain.