The Picture of Dorian Gray (AmazonClassics Edition)

By: Oscar Wilde

Narrated by: Michael Page

Featured title on PBS’s The Great American Read in 2018

In the wealthy and vain hedonist Dorian Gray, London painter Basil Hallward has found his muse. Only when the portrait of Dorian begins to age, while the man himself remains untouched by time, do they realize they may have made a deal with the devil.

Oscar Wilde’s only novel takes a witty, philosophical, and harrowing look at our obsession with youth and the price we pay for it.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Picture of Dorian Gray, this edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

Public Domain (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

A Masterpiece

A simply brilliant piece of literature - witty, entertaining and eminently quotable from start to finish.

Dorian Gary

The Portrait of Dorian Gray is one of those books that sneaks up on you. You think you’re reading a stylish, clever story about beauty and art, and then you realize it’s quietly asking some pretty uncomfortable questions about who we are and what we’re willing to ignore about ourselves.
Dorian Gray is such a compelling character because he feels real. At first, he’s open, curious, and almost painfully impressionable. It’s easy to understand why he’s drawn to ideas that celebrate pleasure, beauty, and freedom from consequences—who wouldn’t be? What makes Dorian unsettling isn’t that he’s instantly “bad,” but that his choices slowly start to shift as he leans into those ideas. Wilde does a great job of letting you sit inside Dorian’s mindset, even when it gets uncomfortable, which makes his journey feel personal rather than exaggerated.
The painter is a much quieter, more tender presence, and it’s hard not to feel for him. He genuinely cares—about his art, about Dorian, and about the moral weight of creation itself. There’s something heartbreaking in how seriously he takes responsibility, especially in a world that often treats beauty as harmless. At the same time, there’s a reason to be cautious with him too. His emotional attachment runs deep, maybe too deep, and Wilde subtly hints that even good intentions can carry consequences.
The writing is beautiful without being stuffy, and the ideas feel surprisingly modern. Wilde never lectures, but he keeps nudging you to think about image versus reality, influence, and how easy it is to justify our own behavior when it benefits us.
This is an easy five stars—not because it’s flashy, but because it’s sharp, unsettling, and incredibly human. The Portrait of Dorian Gray sticks with you, making you question how much we value appearances and what we might be willing to trade to keep them.

great reading!

loved the story but the reading was perfect! Very clear and easily understood. very glad I read it!

A Wilde classic!

Are good and evil inherent or learned, can a person who does terrible things still be good, and is getting old really that bad?

One of my favorite Wildes

I do like a good bedtime story. The classic tale well read by Michael Page, although he does need to decide if he's going to use British or American pronunciations. i. e. The Brits don't say the word "valet" with a French pronunciation as we do in the States. Of the many versions available this is one of the better.