The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde | Dreaming Beneath the Spires
Just watched this in the Oxford Playhouse, which for always carries a sense of deja vu, and memories of enchanted afternoons watching matinees there for £2.50 as a student. Inflation has disproportionately affected theatre tickets, alas…
It’s based on a simple conceit. Dorian Gray embarks upon a life of hedonism and sensual indulgence. His face remains that of the beautiful 22 year old boy, while his portrait, painted then, shows the corruption of sin and self-indulgence.
His angelic face belies his reputation, and allows him to continue a career of seduction, blackmail and murder. Had his face betrayed his real nature, people would have shrunk from him, and been on their guard.
Living in a university city makes me wonder if character shows on the face when people are young. Most of the young people I see are fresh-faced and gorgeous! However, after, let’s say, 35, cruelty, petty-mindedness, mean-spiritedness do begin to leave their traces on the face. One’s face at 40, I think, definitely hints of one’s true character. At 60 or 70, it reveals it unsparingly in the eyes, the mouth, the cheeks.
Aristotle, “It is possible to infer character from features, if it is granted that the body and the soul are changed together by the passions and desires.”
Scripture has a tip or two about growing old gracefully, “Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes its hard appearance.” Ecc 8:1
