A Quasi-Aesthetic Approach to the Gothic Elements in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Abstract

The Picture of Dorian Gray was composed during the year 1890, and the same year it was sent to the print. This first version written by Wilde was not published then, because it had to be reformed and adapted in order to avoid problems with the strict social rules which were ongoing during those years. After Wilde himself had censored the novel, it was submitted to the Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine,2 whose editor was also responsible for censoring the work (erasing or changing about 500 words) with the knowledge of the author. It finally appeared in June 1890. Even with the censorship the novel had already suffered, it was fiercely criticized by some of Oscar Wilde’s detractors. Anyway, it became an enormous success and from then on, it has been one of the most famous (also controversial) pieces in British literature, being the subject of myriads of studies of all kinds, from Philosophy to Aesthetics and from its demonic plot to the treatment of women and sexual connotations.