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00:00Thank you for listening.
00:30The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees
00:36of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume
00:43of the pink flowering thorn.
00:46From the corner of the divan of Persian saddlebags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable
00:52cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum.
01:01In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man
01:07of extraordinary personal beauty.
01:10And in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward.
01:17As the painter looked at the gracious and comely form he had so skilfully mirrored in his art, a smile
01:24of pleasure passed across his face.
01:28It is your best work, Basil.
01:32The best thing you've ever done, said Lord Henry languidly.
01:36You must certainly send it next year to the Grosvenor.
01:40I don't think I shall send it anywhere, he answered.
01:45Lord Henry elevated his eyebrows and looked at him in amazement.
01:48Not send it anywhere?
01:50What odd chaps you painters are.
01:53You do anything in the world to gain a reputation, and as soon as you have one, you seem to
01:57want to throw it away.
01:59It is silly of you, for there is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that's not being
02:05talked about.
02:07I know you will laugh at me, he replied, but I really can't exhibit it.
02:16I have put too much of myself into it.
02:20Too much of yourself in it?
02:23Don't flatter yourself, Basil.
02:25You are not in the least like him.
02:29I want the real reason.
02:33Harry, said Basil Hallward, looking him straight in the face,
02:38every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.
02:46The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the
02:57secret of my own soul.
03:00The wind shook some blossoms from the trees, and the heavy lilac blooms, with their clustering stars, moved to and
03:07fro in the languid air.
03:10Lord Henry felt as if he could hear Basil Hallward's heart beating, and wondered what was coming.
03:18I have always been my own master, had at least always been so, till I met Dorian Gray.
03:27But when I met him, I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was
03:36so fascinating,
03:37that if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art
03:47itself.
03:50Basil, this is extraordinary.
03:54I thought you would never care for anything but your art.
04:00He is all my art to me now, said the painter gravely.
04:06Mr Dorian Gray has arrived, sir, said the butler, coming into the room.
04:10Oh, you must introduce me now, cried Lord Henry, laughing.
04:14The painter looked at Lord Henry.
04:16Dorian Gray is my dearest friend, he said.
04:19He has a simple and a beautiful nature.
04:23Don't try to influence him.
04:24Your influence would be bad.
04:25Oh, what nonsense you talk, said Lord Henry, smiling.
04:31Dorian Gray entered the studio.
04:34Yes.
04:35He was just like his portrait.
04:38Wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair.
04:48One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world.
04:54This is Lord Henry Watton, Dorian, an old Oxford friend of mine, said Basil.
04:58And now, Dorian, get up on the platform and don't move about too much, or pay any attention to what
05:02Lord Henry says.
05:03He was a very bad influence over all his friends, with the single exception of myself.
05:08Dorian Gray stepped up on the dais with the air of a young Greek martyr.
05:13Dorian Gray made a little moot of discontent to Lord Henry, to whom he had rather taken a fancy.
05:21After a few moments, he said to him,
05:26Have you really a very bad influence, Lord Henry?
05:33There's no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray.
05:39All influence is immoral.
05:41Immoral from the scientific point of view.
05:45Why?
05:47Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul.
05:53He becomes an echo of someone else's music.
05:57To realise one's nature perfectly.
06:01That is what each of us is here for.
06:05The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
06:12Resist it and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.
06:18You, Mr. Gray, you, yourself, with your rose-red youth and your rose-white boyhood,
06:28you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror,
06:35daydreams and sleeping dreams, whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame.
06:41Stop, faltered Dorian Gray.
06:44Stop!
06:48You bewilder me.
06:51There is some answer to you, but I cannot find it.
06:57For nearly ten minutes he stood there, motionless, with parted lips and eyes strangely bright.
07:05He was dimly conscious that entirely fresh influences were at work within him.
07:14Yes, there had been things in his boyhood that he had not understood.
07:20He understood them now.
07:23It seemed to him that he had been walking in fire.
07:27Why had he not known it?
07:31With his subtle smile, Lord Henry watched him.
07:36He knew the precise psychological moment when to say nothing.
07:44He was amazed at the sudden impression that his words had produced.
07:49How fascinating the lad was.
07:55Basil, I am tired of standing, cried Dorian Gray suddenly.
07:58I must go out and sit in the garden.
08:02Lord Henry went out to the garden and found Dorian Gray burying his face in the great cool lilac blossoms,
08:09feverishly drinking in their perfume as if it had been wine.
08:14He came close to him and put his hand upon his shoulder.
08:19You are quite right to do that, he murmured.
08:25Nothing can cure the soul but the senses.
08:28Just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
08:33The lad started and drew back.
08:37There was a look of fear in his eyes, such as people have when they are suddenly awakened.
08:45Come and sit in the shade, said Lord Henry.
08:48You really must not allow yourself to become sunburnt.
08:52It would be unbecoming.
08:54What can it matter?
08:56Cried Dorian Gray, laughing, as he sat down on the seat at the end of the garden.
09:02It should matter everything to you, Mr. Gray.
09:06Because you have the most marvellous youth.
09:13And youth is the only thing worth having.
09:20I don't feel that, Lord Henry.
09:24No, you don't feel it now.
09:27Well, someday, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, you will feel it terribly.
09:41To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders.
09:47It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.
09:53Yes, Mr. Gray, the gods have been good to you.
09:56But what the gods give, they quickly take away.
10:00When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it.
10:05You will suffer horribly.
10:11Realise your youth while you have it.
10:14Be afraid of nothing.
10:17Live the wonderful life that is in you.
10:21Dorian Gray listened, open-eyed and wondering.
10:26Suddenly, the painter appeared at the door of the studio and made staccato signs for them to come in.
10:30It is quite finished, cried Basil.
10:33And stooping down, he wrote his name in long vermilion letters on the left-hand corner of the canvas.
10:40The lads stood there, motionless and in wonder.
10:47The sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation.
10:53As he thought of it, a sharp pang of pain struck through him like a knife.
11:00His eyes deepened into amethyst, and across them came a mist of tears.
11:09How sad it is, murmured Dorian Gray, with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait.
11:16How sad it is.
11:20I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful.
11:27But this picture will remain always young.
11:30It will never be older than this particular day of June.
11:35If it were only the other way.
11:38If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old.
11:44For that, for that I would give everything.
11:49Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give.
11:54I would give my soul for that.
11:58The painter stared in amazement.
12:01It was so unlike Dorian to speak like that.
12:03What had happened?
12:05His face was flushed, and his cheeks burning.
12:08Yes, he continued.
12:11How long will you like me?
12:14Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose?
12:17I know, now, that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything.
12:26Your picture has taught me that.
12:28Lord Henry Wotton is perfectly right.
12:30Youth is the only thing worth having.
12:34When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself.
12:37Hallward turned pale and caught his hand.
12:39Dorian!
12:40Dorian!
12:41He cried.
12:42Don't talk like that.
12:44I have never had such a friend as you, and I shall never have such another.
12:51Why did you paint it, Basil?
12:53It will mock me someday, mock me horribly.
12:56The hot tears welled into his eyes.
12:58He tore his hand away, and flinging himself on the divan, he buried his face in the cushions.
13:05When he lifted his golden head from the pillow, he saw the painter by the painting table,
13:11his fingers straying about, seeking for something.
13:14Yes, it was for the long pallet knife with its thin blade of lithe steel.
13:18He was going to rip up the canvas.
13:19With a stifled sob, the lad leapt from the couch and, rushing over to Hallward,
13:23tore the knife out of his hand and flung it to the end of the studio.
13:25Don't!
13:26Basil!
13:28Don't!
13:29He cried.
13:31It would be murder!
13:36I'm glad you appreciate my work at last, Dorian, said the painter coldly when he had recovered from his surprise.
13:44Appreciate it.
13:47I'm in love with it, Basil.
13:49It is part of myself.
13:52I feel that.
13:56Well, as soon as you are dry, you shall be varnished and framed and sent home.
14:03Then you can do what you like with yourself.
14:11Very well, said Lord Henry, and he went over and laid down his cup on the tray.
14:18It is rather late.
14:20Come, Mr. Grey.
14:22My handsome is outside and I can drop you at your own place.
14:26Goodbye, Basil.
14:28It has been a most interesting afternoon.
14:44A month later, Dorian Gray was reclining in a luxurious armchair in the little library of Lord Henry's house in
14:50Mayfair.
14:51Lighting a cigarette, Lord Henry threw himself down on the sofa.
14:56Never marry, Dorian, he said, after a few puffs.
15:01I don't think I am likely to marry, Harry.
15:04I am too much in love.
15:07That is one of your aphorisms.
15:10I am putting it into practice as I do everything that you say.
15:16Who are you in love with, asked Lord Henry.
15:20An actress called Sybil Vane.
15:25And where did you come across her?
15:29I will tell you, Harry, but you mustn't be unsympathetic about it.
15:35The other night, I passed by an absurd little theatre with great flaring gas jets and gaudy playbills.
15:44To the present day, I can't make out why I went in.
15:47And yet if I hadn't, my dear Harry, if I hadn't, I should have missed the greatest romance of my
15:55life.
15:57I see you are laughing.
15:59It is horrid of you.
16:02Look, the play was Romeo and Juliet.
16:05And Juliet, she was the loveliest thing I had ever seen in my life.
16:11Night after night, I go to see her play.
16:13One evening, she is Rosalind.
16:15And the next evening, she is Imogen.
16:16Harry, I do love her.
16:20He was walking up and down the room as he spoke.
16:22Hectic spots of red burned on his cheeks.
16:25He was terribly excited.
16:28When did you first speak to Miss Sybil Vane?
16:33Asked Lord Henry.
16:35The third night.
16:36She'd been playing Rosalind.
16:38I could not help going round.
16:41Oh, she was so shy and so gentle.
16:46She said quite simply to me,
16:49You look like a prince.
16:51I must call you Prince Charming.
16:57Upon my word, Dorian, Miss Sybil knows how to pay compliments.
17:02Oh, Harry.
17:04If you could see her, you would understand.
17:06I want you and Basil to come with me some night and see her act.
17:10She plays Juliet tomorrow.
17:13Lord Henry watched him with a subtle sense of pleasure.
17:18How different he was now from the shy, frightened boy he had met in Basil Hallward's studio.
17:28His nature had developed like a flower, born blossoms of scarlet flame.
17:34When Lord Henry returned home later that evening, he saw a telegram lying on the hall table from Dorian.
17:41He was engaged to be married to Sybil Vane.
17:46Sybil Vane, strolling down dreary Euston Road with her brother James in the flickering, wind-blown sunlight,
17:53was thinking about her prince charming, that she might think of him all the more she did not talk of
18:00him,
18:01but prattled on about the ship in which her brother Jim was going to sail, about the gold he was
18:06certain to find,
18:07about the wonderful life he was to have in Australia.
18:11James Vane listened sulkily to her and made no answer.
18:17He was heart-sick at leaving home.
18:20Yet it was not this alone that made him gloomy and morose.
18:28Inexperienced though he was, he had still a strong sense of the danger of Sybil's position.
18:37This young dandy who was making love to her could mean her no good.
18:46The theatre was crowded.
18:48Amidst an extraordinary turmoil of applause, Sybil Vane stepped onto the stage.
18:54Basil Hallward leaped to his feet and began to applaud.
18:58Motionless and, as one in a dream, sat Dorian Gray, gazing at her.
19:07Lord Henry peered through his glasses, murmuring,
19:12Charming.
19:13Charming.
19:16Yet Sybil Vane was curiously listless.
19:22She showed no sign of joy when her eyes rested on Romeo.
19:29Dorian Gray grew pale as he watched her.
19:32He was puzzled and anxious.
19:37Neither of his friends dared to say anything to him.
19:43They were horribly disappointed.
19:47When the second act was over, there came a storm of hisses and Lord Henry got up from his chair
19:53and put on his coat.
19:54She is quite beautiful, Dorian, he said, but she can't act. Let us go.
19:59I am going to see the play through, answered the lad in a hard, bitter voice.
20:05I am awfully sorry that I made you waste your evening, Harry.
20:09I apologised to you both.
20:12A few moments afterwards, the footlights flared up and the curtain rose on the third act.
20:17Dorian Gray went back to his seat.
20:20He looked pale and proud and indifferent.
20:25The play dragged on and seemed interminable.
20:32The whole thing was a fiasco.
20:35As soon as it was over, Dorian Gray rushed behind the scenes into the green room.
20:40The girl was standing there, alone, with a look of triumph on her face.
20:50How badly I acted tonight, Dorian, she cried.
20:57Horribly, he answered, gazing at her in amazement.
21:01Horribly.
21:02It was dreadful.
21:05Are you ill?
21:07You've no idea what I suffered.
21:10The girl smiled.
21:13Dorian, you should have understood.
21:16But you understand now, don't you?
21:19Understand what? he asked angrily.
21:22Why I was so bad tonight.
21:24Why she'll never act well again?
21:27He shrugged his shoulders.
21:29Dorian, Dorian, she cried.
21:33Before I knew you, acting was the one reality of my life.
21:39I knew nothing but shadows and thought them real.
21:44You came, oh, my beautiful love, and you freed my soul from prison.
21:50You taught me what reality really is.
21:53Tonight, for the first time, I became conscious that the Romeo was hideous and old and tainted, and that the
22:04moonlight in the orchard was false, and that the words I had to speak were not what I wanted to
22:11say.
22:13You had brought me something higher.
22:16You had brought me something higher.
22:17Something of which all art is but a reflection.
22:20You had made me understand what love really is.
22:28Dorian flung himself down on the sofa and turned away his face.
22:32You've killed my love, he muttered.
22:35She looked at him in wonder and laughed.
22:38He made no answer.
22:41Then he leapt up and went to the door.
22:44Yes, he cried.
22:48You've killed my love.
22:50You were shallow and stupid.
22:54You're nothing to me now.
22:56I will never see you again.
22:58How little you can know of love if you say it mars your art.
23:03Without your art, you were nothing.
23:06I would have made you famous, splendid, magnificent.
23:11What are you now?
23:14A third-rate actress with a pretty face.
23:19The girl grew white and trembled.
23:24You're not serious, Dorian.
23:27She murmured.
23:30You are acting.
23:34Acting.
23:36I'll leave that to you.
23:38You do it so well, he answered bitterly.
23:42She wept silently and made no answer but crept nearer.
23:47Her little hands stretched blindly out and appeared to be seeking for him.
23:55He turned on his heel and left the room.
23:58Where he went to, he hardly knew.
24:01He remembered wandering through dimly lit streets,
24:06past gaunt, black-shadowed archways and evil-looking houses.
24:12Women with hoarse voices and harsh laughter had called after him.
24:18As the dawn was breaking, Dorian entered the house.
24:24And his eye fell upon the portrait Basil Hallward had painted of him.
24:30He started back, as if in surprise.
24:36He went over to the picture and examined it.
24:44In the dim, arrested light that struggled through the cream-coloured silk blinds,
24:51the face appeared to him to be a little changed.
24:55The expression looked different.
24:57One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth.
25:02Suddenly there flashed across his mind what he had said in Basil Hallward's studio the day the picture had been
25:07finished.
25:08He had uttered a mad wish that he himself might remain young and the portrait grow old,
25:13that his own beauty might be untarnished, that the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and
25:18his sins.
25:21Surely his wish had not been fulfilled.
25:26Such things were impossible.
25:28It seemed monstrous even to think of them.
25:31And yet, there was the picture before him, with the touch of cruelty in the mouth.
25:42Cruelty.
25:45Had he been cruel?
25:48It was the girl's fault, not his.
25:52He had dreamed of her as a great artist, had given his love to her because he had thought her
25:57great.
25:59She had been shallow and unworthy.
26:04And yet, a feeling of infinite regret came over him as he thought of her.
26:15He would go back to Sybil.
26:18Make amends.
26:20Marry her. Try to love her again.
26:23Yes.
26:24It was his duty to do so.
26:27They would be happy together.
26:29His life with her would be beautiful and pure.
26:35It was long past noon when he awoke to a knock on the door.
26:38He heard Lord Henry's voice outside.
26:42My dear boy, I must see you.
26:45Let me in at once.
26:46He made no answer at first, but remained quite still.
26:53Yes.
26:54It was better to let Lord Henry in and to explain to him the new life he was going to
26:59lead.
27:00To quarrel with him if it became necessary to quarrel.
27:04To part if parting was inevitable.
27:09He jumped up, drew a drape hastily across the picture, and unlocked the door.
27:16I'm so sorry for it all, Dorian, said Lord Henry as he entered.
27:20But you must not think too much about it.
27:23Do you mean about Sybil Vane? asked the lad.
27:27Yes, of course, answered Lord Henry, sinking into a chair and slowly pulling off his yellow gloves.
27:34It is dreadful.
27:37From one point of view.
27:40But it was not your fault.
27:42Tell me, did you go behind and see her after the play was over?
27:48Yes.
27:49Hmm.
27:50I felt sure you had.
27:51Did you make a scene with her?
27:53I was brutal, Harry.
27:58Perfectly brutal.
28:00But it is all right now.
28:01I'm not sorry for anything that has happened.
28:03It has taught me to know myself better.
28:07Oh, Dorian.
28:08I'm so glad you take it in that way.
28:11I was afraid I would find you plunged in remorse
28:14and tearing that nice curly hair of yours.
28:19I've got through all that, said Dorian, shaking his head and smiling.
28:23I'm perfectly happy now.
28:25I know what conscience is to begin with.
28:28It is not what you told me it was.
28:31It is the divinest thing in us.
28:34Don't sneer at it, Harry, any more.
28:37At least not before me.
28:40I want to be good.
28:43I can't bear the idea of my soul being hideous.
28:48Hmm.
28:50A very charming, artistic basis for ethics, Dorian.
28:55I congratulate you on it.
28:58But how are you going to begin?
29:02By marrying Sybil Vane.
29:07Marrying Sybil Vane, cried Lord Henry, standing up and looking at him in perplexed amazement.
29:16But, my dear Dorian, you...
29:20You know nothing, then.
29:23What do you mean?
29:26Lord Henry walked across the room and, sitting down by Dorian Gray,
29:29took both his hands in his own and held them tightly.
29:34Dorian, he said.
29:37Don't be frightened.
29:41Sybil Vane is dead.
29:55Dorian did not answer for a few moments.
29:59He was dazed with horror.
30:02Finally, he stammered in a stifled voice.
30:07Dead.
30:10Sybil dead.
30:10Sybil dead.
30:12It is not true.
30:15What did you mean by that?
30:18Did Sybil...
30:21Oh, Harry, I can't bear it.
30:25Tell me everything at once.
30:28It is in all the morning papers.
30:31There will have to be an inquest, of course, and you must not get mixed up in it.
30:35I have no doubt it was not an accident, Dorian.
30:38It must be put in that way, into the public.
30:42They found her lying dead on the floor of her dressing room.
30:46She had swallowed something by mistake.
30:48Some dreadful thing they use at theatres.
30:52Harry.
30:54Harry.
30:56It is terrible, cried the lad.
31:00Yes, it is very tragic, of course.
31:02But you must not get yourself mixed up in it.
31:05I see by the standard that she was seventeen.
31:08Dorian, you mustn't let this thing get on your nerves.
31:12You must come and dine with me, and afterwards we will look in at the opera.
31:20Harry, cried Dorian Gray, coming over and sitting down beside him.
31:27Why is it that I cannot feel this tragedy as much as I want to?
31:36I don't think I am heartless.
31:39Do you?
31:42It is an interesting question, said Lord Henry, who found an exquisite pleasure in playing on the lad's unconscious egotism.
31:51Sometimes, a tragedy that possesses artistic elements appeals to our sense of dramatic effect.
32:02She will never come to life again now, muttered the lad, burying his face in his hands.
32:07No, she has played her last part.
32:11But don't waste your tears over Sybil Vane.
32:14She was less real than the part she played.
32:18As soon as Lord Henry had left, Dorian rushed to the drape and drew it back.
32:23No, there was no further change in the picture.
32:26It had received the news of Sybil Vane's death before he had known of it himself.
32:31He felt that the time had really come for making his choice.
32:35Or had his choice already been made?
32:38Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures, subtle and secret, wild joys and wilder sins.
32:49He was to have all these things.
32:52The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame.
32:56That was all.
32:59As he was sitting at breakfast next morning, Basil Hallward was shown into the room.
33:03I am so glad I have found you, Dorian, he said gravely.
33:07I called last night.
33:09Where were you?
33:11Did you go down and see the girl's mother?
33:14Poor woman.
33:15What did she say about it all?
33:18My dear Basil, how do I know?
33:21murmured Dorian Gray, sipping some pale yellow wine from a delicate, gold-beaded bubble of Venetian glass.
33:30And looking dreadfully bored.
33:33I was at the opera.
33:37You went to the opera, said Hallward, speaking very slowly and with a strained touch of pain in his voice.
33:44You went to the opera while Sybil Vane was lying dead in some sordid lodging.
33:50Stop, Basil. I won't hear it, cried Dorian Gray, leaping to his feet.
33:55You must not tell me about horrible things.
33:58What is done is done. What is past is past.
34:01You call yesterday the past?
34:04What has the actual lapse of time got to do with it?
34:07It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion.
34:11I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions.
34:14I want to use them.
34:15To enjoy them.
34:17And to dominate them.
34:19Dorian, this is horrible.
34:22Something has changed you completely.
34:24I don't know what you mean, Basil, he exclaimed, turning round.
34:29I don't know what you want.
34:33What do you want?
34:37I want the Dorian Gray I used to paint, said the artist sadly.
34:44Basil, said the lad, going over to him and putting his hand on his shoulder.
34:48You've come too late.
34:51The painter stared at him.
34:53My dear boy, what nonsense, he cried.
34:56Anyway, where is the portrait?
34:58Why have you pulled the drape in front of it?
35:00Let me look at it.
35:02A cry of terror broke from Dorian Gray's lips and he rushed between the painter and the screen.
35:06Basil, he said, looking very pale.
35:09You must not look at it.
35:11I don't wish you to.
35:13Not look at my own work.
35:15You're not serious, why shouldn't I look at it? exclaimed Hallward laughing.
35:19If you try to look at it, Basil,
35:22on my word of honour,
35:24I will never speak to you again as long as I live.
35:28I'm quite serious.
35:30I don't offer any explanation and you are not to ask for any.
35:33But remember, if you touch this screen, everything is over between us.
35:41Hallward was thunderstruck.
35:43He looked at Dorian Gray in absolute amazement.
35:46You've never seen him like this before.
35:48The lad was actually pallid with rage.
35:50But what is the matter?
35:54Of course, I won't look at it if you don't want me to.
35:57Basil said rather coldly.
35:59If you wish me never to look at your picture again, I am content.
36:05If you wish the best work I have ever done to be hidden from the world,
36:10I am satisfied.
36:12Your friendship is dearer to me than any fame or reputation.
36:17Dorian Gray drew a long breath.
36:20The colour came back to his cheeks.
36:23The peril was over.
36:25When Basil left, Dorian acquired the key for the old schoolroom
36:29at the top of the house from the housekeeper
36:30and had the portrait moved there.
36:33There was no other place in the house so secure from prying eyes as this.
36:37He had the key and no one else could enter it.
36:41No eye but his would ever see his shame.
36:46Summer followed summer.
36:48And the yellow jonquils bloomed and died many times
36:53and nights of horror repeated the story of their shame.
36:57But he was unchanged.
37:01For 18 years, Dorian Gray could not free himself from the influence of Lord Henry.
37:07Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say
37:10that he never sought to free himself from it.
37:14Often, on returning home from one of those mysterious and prolonged absences
37:19that gave rise to such strange conjecture among those who were his friends,
37:23he would creep upstairs to the locked room,
37:26open the door with the key that never left him now,
37:29and stand with a mirror in front of the portrait that Basil Hallward had painted of him,
37:36looking now at the evil and ageing face on the canvas,
37:41and now at the fair young face that laughed back at him from the polished glass.
37:48He grew more and more enamored of his own beauty,
37:53more and more interested in the corruption of his own soul.
37:58And yet he was afraid.
38:01What if it should be stolen?
38:03The mere thought made him cold with horror.
38:07Surely the world would know his secret then?
38:11Perhaps the world already suspected it.
38:23It was on the 9th of November, the eve of his own 38th birthday, as he often remembered afterwards.
38:31He was walking home about 11 o'clock from Lord Henry's, where he'd been dining,
38:35and was wrapped in heavy furs as the night was cold and foggy.
38:39A man passed him in the mist, walking very fast and with the collar of his grey ulster turned up.
38:45Dorian recognised him and felt a strange terror.
38:48It was Basil Hallward.
38:52Dorian! What an extraordinary piece of luck!
38:55I've been waiting for you in your library ever since 9 o'clock.
38:59I am off to Paris by the midnight train, and I particularly wanted to see you before I left.
39:05I thought it was you, or rather your fur coat as you passed me, but I wasn't quite sure.
39:11Didn't you recognise me?
39:12In this fog, my dear Basil. Why, I can't even recognise Grosvenor Square.
39:17They entered Dorian's house.
39:19There was a bright wood fire blazing in the large open hearth.
39:24And now, my dear fellow, said the painter, taking his cap and coat off,
39:29I want to speak to you seriously.
39:33What is it all about? cried Dorian in his petulant way, flinging himself down on the sofa.
39:39I hope it is not about myself. I'm tired of myself tonight.
39:44It is about yourself, answered Hallward in his grave, deep voice.
39:50I think it right that you should know that the most dreadful things are being said against you in London.
39:58I don't wish to know anything about them.
40:01They must interest you, Dorian.
40:05Every gentleman is interested in his good name.
40:08Why? You don't want people to talk of you as something vile and degraded.
40:16Why is it, Dorian, that a man like the Duke of Beric leaves the room of a club when you
40:23enter it?
40:24Why is your friendship so fatal to young men?
40:28There was that wretched boy in the guards who committed suicide.
40:32Stop! Basil, you are talking about things of which you know nothing, said Dorian Gray, biting his lip and with
40:41a note of infinite contempt in his voice.
40:44Dorian, cried Hallward, one has a right to judge of a man by the effect he has over his friends.
40:51Yours seem to lose all sense of honour, of goodness, of purity.
40:58Take care, Basil. You go too far.
41:03I must speak and you must listen.
41:06There are other stories, stories that you have been seen creeping at dawn out of dreadful houses.
41:12Are they true?
41:14When I first heard them I laughed.
41:16I hear them now and they make me shudder.
41:20I wonder, do I know you?
41:23Before I could answer that, I should have to see your soul.
41:28To see my soul, muttered Dorian Gray, starting up from the sofa and turning almost white from fear.
41:39Yes, answered Hallward gravely and with deep-toned sorrow in his voice.
41:44To see your soul.
41:47But only God can do that.
41:50A bitter laugh of mockery broke from the lips of the younger man.
41:56You shall see it yourself, tonight, he cried, seizing a lamp from the table.
42:01Come, it is your own handiwork.
42:04When they reached the top landing, Dorian took out the key, turning it in the lock.
42:10You insist on knowing, Basil, he asked in a low voice.
42:16Yes?
42:17You think that it is only God who sees the soul, Basil, said the young man, and he tore the
42:23curtain from the painting.
42:24An exclamation of horror broke from the painter's lips as he saw in the dim light the hideous face on
42:32the canvas grinning at him.
42:34Good heavens.
42:36He seized the lighted candle and held it to the picture.
42:39In the left-hand corner was his own name, traced in long letters of bright vermilion.
42:44His own picture?
42:46What did it mean?
42:49Why had it altered?
42:51He turned and looked at Dorian Gray with the eyes of a sick man.
42:55His mouth twitched and his parched tongue seemed unable to articulate.
43:02What does this mean?
43:04Cried Hallward at last.
43:06His own voice sounded shrill and curious in his ears.
43:11Years ago, when I was a boy, said Dorian Gray, you introduced me to a friend of yours who explained
43:19to me the wonder of youth, and you finished a portrait of me that revealed to me the wonder of
43:25beauty.
43:27In a mad moment that even now I don't know whether I regret or not, I made a wish.
43:32Perhaps you'd call it a prayer.
43:35Basil's hand shook and the candle fell from its socket on the floor and lay there, sputtering.
43:42Pray, Dorian.
43:44Pray, he murmured.
43:47What is it that one was taught to say in one's boyhood?
43:50Lead us not into temptation.
43:52Forgive us our sins.
43:54Let us say that together.
43:56Dorian Gray turned slowly around and looked at him with tear-dimmed eyes.
44:00It is too late, Basil.
44:02He faltered.
44:04Hush!
44:06Don't say that.
44:07You have done enough evil in your life.
44:10My God, don't you see that accursed thing leering at us?
44:14Dorian Gray glanced at the picture and suddenly an uncontrollable feeling of hatred for Basil Hallward came over him, as
44:22though it had been suggested to him by the image and the canvas, whispered into his ears by those grinning
44:26lips.
44:27He glanced wildly around.
44:29Something glimmered on the top of the painted chest that faced him.
44:32He knew what it was.
44:33He moved slowly towards it, passing hallward as he did so.
44:36As soon as he got behind him, he seized the knife and dug it into the great vein that is
44:40behind the ear, crushing the man's head down on the table and stabbing again and again.
44:47Then he threw the knife on the table and listened.
44:54He could hear nothing but the drip, drip on the threadbare carpet.
45:02He looked up at the fatal canvas and was about to rush forward to hide it when he drew back
45:09with a shudder.
45:13What was that loathsome red dew that gleamed wet and glistening on one of the hands as though the canvas
45:21had sweated blood?
45:24How horrible it was. More horrible it seemed to him for the moment than the silent thing that he knew
45:32was stretched across the table.
45:34The thing whose grotesque misshapen shadow on the spotted carpet showed him that it had not stirred, but was still
45:42there.
45:45He heaved a deep breath and with half-closed eyes and averted head flung the golden purple hanging over the
45:51picture.
45:52He opened the door and went out onto the landing.
45:56The house was absolutely quiet.
46:00When he reached the library, he sat down and began to think.
46:05Every year, every month almost, men were strangled in England for what he had done.
46:11And yet, what evidence was there against him?
46:15Basil Hallward had left the house at eleven. No one had seen him come in again.
46:24As two in the morning struck its bronze blows upon the dusky air, Dorian Gray crept quietly out of his
46:31house.
46:33Lying back in a hansom, Dorian watched with listless eyes the sordid shame of the great city.
46:40And now and then, he repeated to himself the words that Lord Henry had said to him on the first
46:44day they had met.
46:46To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul.
46:53There were opium dens where one could buy oblivion.
46:58Dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new.
47:06The door Dorian sawed opened quietly, and he went in without saying a word.
47:13He entered a long, low room which looked as if it had once been a third-rate dancing saloon.
47:19In one corner, a sailor sprawled over a table, and by the tawdrelly painted bars stood two haggard women.
47:26A hideous laugh broke from the painted lips of one of the women.
47:31There goes the devil's bargain, she hiccuped in a hoarse voice.
47:35Curse you, he answered.
47:37Don't call me that. She snapped her fingers.
47:40Prince Charming, that's what you like to be called, ain't it?
47:43She yelled at him as he fled the den.
47:47The drowsy sailor leapt to his feet as she spoke, and looked wildly around.
47:53The sound of the shutting of the hall door fell on his ear.
47:56We rushed out as if in pursuit.
47:58Dorian Gray hurried along the quay through the drizzling rain.
48:01As he darted aside into a dim archway, he felt himself suddenly seized from behind,
48:06and before he had time to defend himself, he was thrust back against the wall.
48:09He struggled madly for life.
48:11In a second, he heard the click of a revolver, and saw the gleam of a polished barrel pointing straight
48:16at his head,
48:17and the dusky form of a short, thick-set man facing him.
48:22It was the sailor from the opium den.
48:24What do you want? he gasped.
48:28You wrecked the life of Sybil Vane, was the answer.
48:33And Sybil Vane was my sister.
48:37She killed herself.
48:38I swore I would kill you in return.
48:41For years I've sought you.
48:43I knew nothing of you but the pet name she used to call you.
48:47I heard it tonight by chance.
48:49Dorian Gray grew sick with fear.
48:51I never knew her.
48:52He stammered.
48:53I never heard of her. You're mad.
48:55You'd better confess your sin.
48:57For as sure as I'm James Vane, you're gonna die.
49:02Suddenly a wild hope flashed across Dorian's brain.
49:05Stop! he cried.
49:07How long ago is it since your sister died?
49:10Quick, tell me.
49:12Eighteen years, said the man.
49:14Why do you ask me?
49:15What do years matter?
49:17Eighteen years, laughed Dorian Gray with a touch of triumph in his voice.
49:22Set me under the lamp and look at my face.
49:25James Vane hesitated for a moment, not understanding what was meant.
49:29Then he seized Dorian Gray and dragged him from the archway.
49:32Dim and wavering as was the wind-blown light,
49:35yet it served to show him the hideous error as it seemed into which he had fallen.
49:40For the face of the man he had sought to kill had all the bloom of boyhood.
49:44All the unstained purity of youth.
49:48He loosened his hold and reeled back.
49:50My God! My God! he cried.
49:53I would have murdered you!
50:07It was not till the third day that he ventured to go out.
50:11There was something in the clear, pine-scented air of that winter morning
50:17that seemed to bring him back, his joyousness and his ardour for life.
50:24There is no use your telling me that you are going to be good, cried Lord Henry,
50:30dipping his white fingers into a red copper bowl filled with rose water,
50:34which he kept in his study.
50:36You are quite perfect.
50:39Pray, don't change.
50:41Dorian Gray shook his head.
50:43No, Harry.
50:45I have done too many dreadful things in my life.
50:49I'm not going to do any more.
50:52I want to be better.
50:55I'm going to be better.
50:56Tell me something about yourself.
50:58What is going on in town?
50:59I've not been to the club for days.
51:02Well, the people are still discussing poor Basil's disappearance.
51:08I was very fond of Basil, said Dorian with a note of sadness in his voice.
51:17But don't people say that he was murdered?
51:22Oh, some of the papers do.
51:24It does not seem to me to be at all probable.
51:28By the way, what has become of that wonderful portrait he did of you?
51:34Oh, I forget, said Dorian.
51:37But I never re-liked it.
51:39I'm sorry I sat for it.
51:40Why do you talk of it?
51:43It used to remind me of those curious lines in some play of Hamlet, I think.
51:48How do they run?
51:51Like the painting of a sorrow.
51:54A face without a heart.
51:56Yes, that is what it was like.
51:59Lord Henry laughed.
52:01If a man treats life artistically, his brain is his heart.
52:08What?
52:09He answered, sinking into an armchair.
52:12Dorian Gray shook his head and struck some soft chords on the piano.
52:17Like the painting of a sorrow, he repeated.
52:21A face without a heart.
52:25The elder man lay back and looked at him with half-closed eyes.
52:31By the way, Dorian, he said after a pause.
52:35What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose...
52:42How does the quotation run?
52:44His own soul.
52:47The music jarred and Dorian Gray started and stared at his friend.
52:54Why'd you ask me that, Harry?
52:58My dear fellow, said Lord Henry, elevating his eyebrows in surprise.
53:03I asked you because I thought you might be able to give me an answer.
53:07That is all.
53:10Don't, Harry.
53:13The soul is a terrible reality.
53:17It can be bought and sold and bartered away.
53:21It can be poisoned or made perfect.
53:24There is a soul in each one of us.
53:27I know it.
53:30You feel quite sure of that, Dorian?
53:34Quite sure.
53:35Ah.
53:37Then it must be an illusion.
53:39The things one feels absolutely certain about are never true.
53:45Dorian rose up from the piano and passed his hand through his hair.
53:49Yes.
53:51Life has been exquisite, he murmured.
53:54But I'm not going to have the same life, Harry.
53:57I'm tired tonight.
53:58Good night.
54:00As he reached the door, he hesitated for a moment,
54:03as if he had something more to say.
54:06Then he sighed and went out.
54:09It was a lovely night,
54:10so warm that he threw his coat over his arm
54:13and did not even put his silk scarf round his throat.
54:17When he reached home,
54:18he threw himself down on the sofa in the library
54:21and began to think over some of the things that Lord Henry had said to him.
54:28A new life.
54:30That was what he wanted.
54:33He began to wonder if the portrait in the locked room had changed.
54:39Surely it would not still be so horrible as it had been.
54:42Perhaps if his life became pure,
54:45he would be able to expel every sign of evil passion from the face.
54:49Perhaps the signs of evil had already gone away.
54:52He would go and look.
54:54He took the lamp from the table and crept upstairs.
54:57As he unbarred the door,
54:59a smile of joy flitted across his strangely young-looking face
55:04and lingered for a moment about his lips.
55:08Yes, he would be good.
55:11And the hideous thing that he had hidden away would no longer be a terror to him.
55:17He felt as if the load had been lifted from him already.
55:20He went in, quietly, locking the door behind him, as was his custom,
55:26and dragged the purple hanging from the portrait.
55:31A cry of pain and indignation broke from him.
55:36He could see no change,
55:39save that in the eyes there was a look of cunning,
55:43and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite.
55:48The thing was still loathsome,
55:51more loathsome if possible than before,
55:54and the scarlet dew that spotted the hand seemed brighter,
55:57and more like blood newly spilled.
56:02This murder, was it to dog him all his life?
56:06Was he always to be burdened by his past?
56:09Was he really to confess?
56:11Never.
56:12There was only one bit of evidence left against him.
56:16The picture itself, that was evidence.
56:20He would destroy it.
56:22Why had he kept it so long?
56:24Once it had given him pleasure to watch it changing and growing old.
56:28Of late he had felt no such pleasure.
56:30It had been like conscience to him.
56:34Yes.
56:35It had been conscience.
56:38He would destroy it.
56:41He looked around and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward.
56:44As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter's work and all that that meant.
56:48He seized the thing and stabbed the picture with it.
56:51There was a cry heard.
56:54And a crash.
56:56The cry was so horrible in its agony.
57:02But the frightened servants woke and crept out of their rooms.
57:06They knocked, but there was no reply.
57:10They called out.
57:13Everything was still.
57:16Finally, after vainly trying to force the door, they got on the roof and dropped down onto the balcony.
57:24The windows yielded easily, their bolts were old.
57:28When they entered, they found, hanging upon the wall, a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen
57:38him.
57:38In all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty.
57:47Lying on the floor was a dead man in evening dress with a knife in his heart.
57:52He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage.
58:02It was not till they had examined the rings on his fingers that they recognised who it was.
58:08The doors were scattered on their doors.
58:11They wanted to give a piece of the doors to the doors, but to the doors.
58:13They were always dehydrated and mutilated in the doors.
58:23They offered their doors at their doors.
58:23They didn't even come back.
58:31They used to be a new door and get also at the doors.
58:31They used to be an essential door and place.
58:31They moved to the door when they were in the doors j Whilst.
58:31They used to be a new place to the doors.
58:32They were ready for the doors.
58:33They lived in the doors of the doors.
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