Dorian Gray is presented in the beginning of the novel as “a young man of extraordinary personal beauty” (Wilde 5) with a “charming personality” (Wilde 11) to match. Wilde even goes so far as to compare his figure to the “Greek Gods”. Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the portrait of this majestic figure, captured the pure physical and emotional beauty of Dorian Gray.
This recognition of beauty does not last long, as Dorian learns from Lord Henry that his beauty is fleeting and that he only “has a few years in which to live really, perfectly, and fully […] when your youth goes, your beauty will go with it” (Wilde 24). Dorian becomes extremely hostile of this fact, going so far as to curse the portrait – causing it to reflect his transformation from youth to old age, and from beauty to inelegance.
Meanwhile, Dorian is in the midst of falling in love with a young female actor, Sibyl Vane, while watching her extravagant performances where she illustrates the characters of Desdemona, Juliet, and the likes. Although he is internal worried about becoming less beautiful and youthful, he lets himself love this young lady freely.
A short few chapters later, and this portrayal of Dorian Gray is sharply contrasted with a new character with much less consideration for the emotion’s of others, and with less physical elegance and youthfulness than what was described throughout the first few chapters.
Dorian not only renounces his love of Sibyl and breaks their engagement after seeing her fail to perform to her full ability, but Dorian also becomes a disgraced member of the London society. Basil returns to talk to Dorian years later and makes him aware of the “most dreadful things being said against you [Dorian] in London” (Wilde 143) in response to Dorian’s disregard for appropriate social relationships.
Dorian undergoes what seems to be a complete transformation – or maybe it is that he himself embodies two separate types of people within himself. This phenomenon is discussed as a major theme of the Fin De Siècle when the modern psychiatric diagnosis of “multiple personality disorder” or “double consciousness” (Ledger and Luckhurst xix) was first coined during the turn of the century.
Dorian presents all of the symptoms of this Freudian term, such as “hysteria and alternating personalities” (Ledger and Luckhurst xix), throughout the novel as his character develops. He becomes hysteric over Lord Henry’s evaluation of Dorian’s fleeting beauty, and even more so as he visibly witnesses his portrait change as time goes on with age, stress and fatigue. He also presents two conflicting personalities to two main characters in the novel, Sibyl and Basil, as he goes from extreme devotion and care towards them in the beginning of the novel, to animosity and distrust of the two characters in the later chapters.
The portrait that was created of him in the past seems to represent his true self as he changes with age, while Dorian puts on a façade of togetherness and youth that falsely represents his true self. This disparity eats away at his character, which is what causes him to become such a dishonor in London, despite his “pure, bright, innocent face, and his marvelous untroubled youth” (Wilde 143).
Dorian figuratively and literally presents two distinctly different “faces”; one that is reflected in the changing portrait that he cursed shortly after its creation, and one that is conveyed to people in society.