Literature from days gone by will always have my heart. Why? Each author was allowed to flourish without the pressure to write with a certain prose or write to fit a word count. In this particular novel, there is ample room to describe the depths of mankind's faulty reasoning and its terrifying results. The writing is beautiful, and quite quotable. The novel employs a voice of cynicism, but I believe this only heightens the effect of the moral.
Man cannot save himself no more than a terrible painting can right itself. No matter how appealing the facade, there is depravity within. And for all the ramblings of Dorian Gray's influential friend Lord Henry, man's own reasoning cannot satisfy the human soul. This grim novel paints this portrait vividly. Words and actions have consequences. People are not always what they seem. Like a skeleton in a closet, Dorian's painting portrays the true state of his soul and despite his eternal youth, he does not escape the consequences.
