#video #The Read S04E04 The Picture of Episode 4 Engsub
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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
01:25of 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?
01:51What 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.
02:21Too much of yourself in it?
02:24Don't flatter yourself, Basil.
02:26You 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.
03:01The 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,
03:38that if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art
03:47itself.
03:51Basil, 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.
04:15The 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.
04:26Oh, 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 has 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?
05:34There'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.
06:02That 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.
06:19You, 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.
07:37He knew the precise psychological moment when to say nothing.
07:44He was amazed at the sudden impression that his words had produced.
07:50How 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.
08:24Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
08:34The 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, cried Dorian Gray, laughing, as he sat down on the seat at the end of the
09:00garden.
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.
09:23No, you don't feel it now.
09:28Someday, when you are old and wrinkled and ugly, you will feel it terribly.
09:41To me, beauty is the wonder of wonders.
09:48It 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, if it were I who was to be always young, and the picture
11:42that 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.
12:59He 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, his fingers straying
13:13about, 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, tore the knife out of
13:23his hand, and flung it to the end of the studio.
13:25Don't!
13:26Basil!
13:28Don't!
13:29He cried.
13:32It 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.
13:57Well, as soon as you are dry, you shall be varnished, and framed, and sent home.
14:04Then 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.
15:58I see you are laughing.
16:00It is horrid of you.
16:01Look, 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.
18:00She did not talk of him, but prattled on about the ship in which her brother Jim was going to
18:04sail,
18:05about the gold he was certain to find, about the wonderful life he was to have in Australia.
18:10James 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.
19:05Gazing at her.
19:08Lord Henry peered through his glasses, murmuring,
19:12Charming.
19:14Charming.
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.
19:42They 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's quite beautiful, Dorian, he said, but she can't act.
19:58Let us go.
19:59I'm going to see the play through, answered the lad in a hard, bitter voice.
20:05I'm 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.
20:18Dorian 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.
20:41The girl was standing there, alone, with a look of triumph on her face.
20:50How badly I acted tonight, Dorian, she cried.
20:56Horribly, 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?
21:21He asked angrily.
21:22Why I was so bad tonight.
21:25Why I shall never act well again.
21:28He 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.
21:51You taught me what reality really is.
21:54Tonight, for the first time, I became conscious that the Romeo was hideous.
22:00And old and painted, and that the moonlight in the orchard was false, and that the words I had to
22:08speak were not what I wanted to say.
22:12You had brought me something higher, something 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.
23:18The girl grew white and trembled.
23:24You're not serious, Dorian, she murmured.
23:30You are acting.
23:34Acting.
23:36I'll leave that to you.
23:38You do it so well, he answered bitterly.
23:41She wept silently and made no answer, but crept nearer.
23:48Her 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, past 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-colored silk blinds, the face appeared to him to be
24:53a little changed.
24:54The 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.
25:16That the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins.
25:21Surely, his wish had not been fulfilled.
25:26Such things were impossible.
25:28It seemed monstrous even to think of them.
25:32And yet, there was the picture before him.
25:36With 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.
25:55Had given his love to her because he had thought her great.
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.
26:20Try 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.
26:39He heard Lord Henry's voice outside.
26:42My dear boy, I must see you.
26:44Let me in at once.
26:46He made no answer at first.
26:49But 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.
27:11Drew a drape hastily across the picture.
27:14And 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?
27:26Asked the lad.
27:27Well, yes, of course.
27:29Answered 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.
28:02I'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.
28:12I was afraid I would find you plunged in remorse and tearing that nice curly hair of yours.
28:19I've got through all that, said Dorian, shaking his head and smiling.
28:24I'm perfectly happy now.
28:26I know what conscience is to begin with.
28:29It is not what you told me it was.
28:31It is the divinest thing in us.
28:34Don't sneer at it, Harry, anymore.
28:38At least not before me.
28:40I want to be good.
28:43I can't bear the idea of my soul being hideous.
28:47Oh, a very charming artistic basis for ethics, Dorian.
28:56I congratulate you on it.
28:58But how are you going to begin?
29:02By marrying Sybil Vane.
29:06Marrying Sybil Vane, cried Lord Henry,
29:10standing up and looking at him in perplexed amazement.
29:15But...
29:16My 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,
29:30took both his hands in his own and held them tightly.
29:35Dorian, he said.
29:38Don'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.
30:12It is not true.
30:15What did you mean by that?
30:18Did Sybil...
30:21Did Sybil...
30:22Oh, 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,
30:33and 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, to 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.
30:56It 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,
31:14and afterwards we will look in at the opera.
31:20Harry, cried Dorian Gray,
31:22coming over and sitting down beside him.
31:28Why is it that I cannot feel this tragedy
31:32as much as I want to?
31:37I don't think I am heartless, do you?
31:42It is an interesting question, said Lord Henry,
31:46who found an exquisite pleasure
31:47in playing on the lad's unconscious egotism.
31:52Sometimes, a tragedy that possesses artistic elements
31:57appeals to our sense of dramatic effect.
32:02She will never come to life again now,
32:05muttered 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,
32:20Dorian 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
32:28before he had known of it himself.
32:31He felt that the time had really come
32:33for making his choice.
32:36Or had his choice already been made?
32:38Eternal youth, infinite passion,
32:43pleasures, subtle and secret,
32:45wild 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,
33:01Basil Hallward was shown into the room.
33:03I'm so glad I 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,
33:22sipping some pale yellow wine
33:25from 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,
33:41speaking very slowly and with a strained touch of pain in his voice.
33:44You went to the opera while Sybil Vane
33:48was lying dead in some sordid lodging.
33:50Stop, Basil. I won't hear it,
33:53cried 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 called 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,
34:16to 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,
34:27he exclaimed, turning round.
34:29I don't know what you want.
34:33What do you want?
34:38I want the Dorian Gray I used to paint,
34:42said the artist sadly.
34:44Basil, said the lad,
34:46going over to him and putting his hand on his shoulder.
34:49You've come too late.
34:51The painter stared at him.
34:53My dear boy, what nonsense,
34:55he 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,
35:04and he rushed between the painter and the screen.
35:06Basil, he said, looking very pale.
35:09You must not look at it.
35:12I don't wish you to.
35:13Not look at my own work?
35:15You're not serious.
35:16Why shouldn't I look at it?
35:17exclaimed 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,
35:32and you are not to ask for any.
35:34But remember,
35:35if you touch this screen,
35:38everything is over between us.
35:41Hallward was thunderstruck.
35:43He looked at Dorian Gray in absolute amazement.
35:46You'd 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,
36:02I am content.
36:05If you wish the best work I have ever done
36:07to be hidden from the world,
36:10I am satisfied.
36:13Your friendship is dearer to me
36:14than any fame or reputation.
36:18Dorian Gray drew a long breath.
36:20The colour came back to his cheeks.
36:23The peril was over.
36:25When Basil left,
36:26Dorian acquired the key
36:27for the old schoolroom
36:29at the top of the house
36:30from the housekeeper
36:31and had the portrait moved there.
36:33There was no other place in the house
36:35so secure from prying eyes as this.
36:37He had the key
36:38and no one else could enter it.
36:41No eye but his
36:43would ever see his shame.
36:46Summer followed summer.
36:48And the yellow jonquils
36:50bloomed and died many times
36:53and nights of horror
36:54repeated the story of their shame.
36:57But he was unchanged.
37:01For 18 years,
37:04Dorian Gray could not free himself
37:06from the influence of Lord Henry.
37:07Or perhaps,
37:08it would be more accurate to say
37:10that he never sought
37:11to free himself from it.
37:14Often,
37:15on returning home
37:16from one of those mysterious
37:17and prolonged absences
37:19that gave rise
37:19to such strange conjecture
37:21among those who were his friends,
37:23he would creep upstairs
37:25to the locked room,
37:26open the door
37:27with the key
37:28that never left him now,
37:29and stand
37:30with a mirror
37:32in front of the portrait
37:34that Basil Hallward
37:35had painted of him.
37:36looking now
37:37at the evil
37:39and ageing face
37:40on the canvas
37:42and now at the fair
37:43young face
37:44that laughed back at him
37:45from the polished glass.
37:48He grew more and more
37:50enamoured of his own beauty,
37:53more and more interested
37:55in the corruption
37:56of his own soul.
37:58And yet he was afraid.
38:01What if it should be stolen?
38:04The mere thought
38:04made him cold with horror.
38:07Surely the world
38:08would know his secret then.
38:12Perhaps the world
38:12already suspected it.
38:23It was on the 9th of November,
38:26the eve of his own 38th birthday,
38:29as he often remembered afterwards.
38:31He was walking home
38:32about 11 o'clock
38:33from Lord Henry's,
38:34where he'd been dining,
38:35and was wrapped
38:36in heavy furs
38:37as the night was cold
38:38and foggy.
38:39A man passed him
38:40in the mist,
38:41walking very fast
38:42and with the collar
38:43of his grey ulster
38:44turned up.
38:45Dorian recognised him
38:46and felt a strange terror.
38:48It was Basil Hallward.
38:51Dorian!
38:52What an extraordinary
38:54piece of luck!
38:55I've been waiting for you
38:57in your library
38:57ever since 9 o'clock.
38:59I am off to Paris
39:00by the midnight train
39:01and I particularly
39:02wanted to see you
39:03before I left.
39:05I thought it was you,
39:07or rather your fur coat
39:08as you passed me,
39:08but I wasn't quite sure.
39:11Didn't you recognise me?
39:13In this fog,
39:14my dear Basil.
39:15Why, I can't even recognise
39:16Grosvenor Square.
39:17They entered Dorian's house.
39:19There was a bright wood fire
39:21blazing in the large
39:22open hearth.
39:24And now,
39:25my dear fellow,
39:26said the painter,
39:28taking his cap and coat off,
39:29I want to speak to you
39:31seriously.
39:33What is it all about?
39:35cried Dorian
39:36in his petulant way,
39:37flinging himself down
39:38on the sofa.
39:39I hope it is not about myself.
39:41I'm tired of myself tonight.
39:44It is about yourself,
39:47answered Hallward
39:48in his grave, deep voice.
39:50I think it right
39:52that you should know
39:53that the most dreadful things
39:55are being said
39:56against you in London.
39:58I don't wish to know
39:59anything about them.
40:00But they must interest you,
40:04Dorian.
40:05Every gentleman
40:06is interested
40:07in his good name.
40:08You don't want people
40:10to talk of you
40:11as something vile
40:12and degraded.
40:17Why is it, Dorian,
40:18that a man like
40:19the Duke of Berwick
40:20leaves the room
40:22of a club
40:22when you enter it?
40:24Why is your friendship
40:26so fatal to young men?
40:28There was that wretched boy
40:30in the guards
40:30who committed suicide.
40:32Stop!
40:33Basil,
40:35you are talking about
40:36things of which
40:36you know nothing,
40:37said Dorian Gray,
40:39biting his lip
40:40and with a note
40:41of infinite contempt
40:42in his voice.
40:44Dorian,
40:45cried Hallward,
40:46one has a right
40:47to judge of a man
40:48by the effect
40:49he has over his friends.
40:52Yours seem to lose
40:53all sense of honour,
40:54of goodness,
40:56of purity.
40:58Take care, Basil.
41:00You go too far.
41:03I must speak
41:04and you must listen.
41:06There are other stories,
41:08stories that you have been seen
41:09creeping at dawn
41:10out of dreadful houses.
41:12Are they true?
41:14When I first heard them,
41:15I laughed.
41:16I hear them now
41:17and they make me shudder.
41:20I wonder,
41:21do I know you?
41:23Before I can answer that,
41:25I should have to see your soul.
41:28To see
41:30my soul,
41:32muttered Dorian Gray,
41:33starting up from the sofa
41:34and turning almost white
41:36from fear.
41:38Yes,
41:40answered Hallward gravely
41:41and with deep-toned sorrow
41:43in his voice.
41:44To see
41:45your soul.
41:47But only God
41:49can do that.
41:51A bitter laugh
41:52of mockery
41:52broke from the lips
41:53of the younger man.
41:56You shall see it yourself.
41:58Tonight,
41:59he cried,
42:00seizing a lamp
42:00from the table.
42:01Come.
42:02It is your own handiwork.
42:04When they reached
42:05the top landing,
42:06Dorian took out the key,
42:08turning it in the lock.
42:10You insist on knowing,
42:12Basil?
42:13He asked in a low voice.
42:16Yes.
42:17You think that it is
42:18only God
42:19who sees the soul,
42:21Basil?
42:21Said the young man
42:23and he tore the curtain
42:24from the painting.
42:25An exclamation of horror
42:27broke from the painter's lips
42:28as he saw
42:29in the dim light
42:30the hideous face
42:31on the canvas
42:32grinning at him.
42:35Good heavens.
42:36He seized the lighted candle
42:38and held it to the picture.
42:39In the left-hand corner
42:40was his own name,
42:41traced in long letters
42:42of bright vermilion.
42:44His own picture.
42:47What did it mean?
42:49Why had it altered?
42:51He turned and looked
42:53at Dorian Gray
42:53with the eyes
42:54of a sick man.
42:55His mouth twitched
42:57and his parched tongue
42:58seemed unable
42:59to articulate.
43:02What does this mean?
43:04cried Hallward at last.
43:06His own voice
43:07sounded shrill
43:08and curious
43:09in his ears.
43:11Years ago
43:12when I was a boy
43:14said Dorian Gray
43:15you introduced me
43:16to a friend of yours
43:18who explained to me
43:19the wonder of youth
43:20and you finished
43:21a portrait of me
43:22that revealed to me
43:24the wonder of beauty.
43:27In a mad moment
43:28that even now
43:28I don't know
43:29whether I regret
43:30or not
43:30I made a wish
43:33perhaps you'd call it
43:34a prayer.
43:35Basil's hand shook
43:37and the candle
43:37fell from its socket
43:38on the floor
43:39and lay there
43:40sputtering.
43:42Pray Dorian
43:44pray
43:45he murmured
43:47what is it
43:48that one was taught
43:49to say in one's boyhood
43:50lead us not
43:51into temptation
43:52forgive us
43:53our sins
43:54let us say that together.
43:56Dorian Gray
43:57turned slowly around
43:58and looked at him
43:58with tear dimmed eyes.
44:00It is too late
44:02Basil
44:02he faltered.
44:05Hush
44:06don't say that
44:07you have done
44:08enough evil
44:09in your life
44:10my god
44:11don't you see
44:12that accursed thing
44:12leering at us.
44:14Dorian Gray
44:15glanced at the picture
44:16and suddenly
44:17an uncontrollable
44:18feeling of hatred
44:19for Basil Hallward
44:21came over him
44:21as though it had been
44:22suggested to him
44:23by the image
44:24and the canvas
44:24whispered into his ears
44:26by those grinning lips.
44:27He glanced
44:28wildly around
44:29something glimmered
44:30on the top
44:30of the painted chest
44:31that faced him.
44:32He knew what it was
44:33he moved slowly
44:34towards it
44:34passing Hallward
44:35as he did so.
44:36As soon as he got
44:37behind him
44:38he seized the knife
44:38and dug it
44:39into the great vein
44:40that is behind the ear
44:41crushing the man's head
44:43down on the table
44:44and stabbing
44:45again
44:46and again
44:47then he threw the knife
44:49on the table
44:50and listened.
44:54He could hear nothing
44:56but the drip
44:58drip
44:58on the threadbare carpet.
45:02He looked up
45:03at the fatal canvas
45:05and was about to rush forward
45:07to hide it
45:08when he drew back
45:09with a shudder.
45:13What was that loathsome
45:15red dew
45:16that gleamed
45:18wet and glistening
45:19on one of the hands
45:20as though the canvas
45:21had sweated blood?
45:24How horrible it was.
45:27More horrible
45:28it seemed to him
45:29for the moment
45:29than the silent thing
45:31that he knew
45:32was stretched
45:33across the table.
45:34The thing
45:34whose grotesque
45:35misshapen shadow
45:37on the spotted carpet
45:38showed him
45:39that it had not stirred
45:41but was still there.
45:45He heaved a deep breath
45:47and with half-closed eyes
45:49and averted head
45:49flung the golden purple
45:51hanging over the picture.
45:52He opened the door
45:53and went out onto the landing.
45:57The house was absolutely quiet.
46:00When he reached the library
46:01he sat down
46:03and began to think.
46:05Every year
46:06every month almost
46:08men were strangled
46:09in England
46:09for what he had done
46:11and yet
46:12what evidence
46:13was there against him?
46:15Basil Hallward
46:16had left the house
46:17at eleven
46:18and no one
46:18had seen him
46:19come in again.
46:24As two in the morning
46:25struck its bronze blows
46:27upon the dusky air
46:28Dorian Gray
46:29crept quietly
46:31out of his house.
46:33Lying back
46:34in a handsome
46:34Dorian watched
46:36with listless eyes
46:37the sordid shame
46:39of the great city
46:40and now and then
46:41he repeated to himself
46:42the words
46:42that Lord Henry
46:43had said to him
46:44on the first day
46:45they had met
46:45to cure the soul
46:47by means of the senses.
46:49and the senses
46:50by means of the soul.
46:53There were opium dens
46:55where one could
46:56buy oblivion.
46:58Dens of horror
47:00where the memory
47:01of old sins
47:02could be destroyed
47:02by the madness
47:04of sins
47:05that were new.
47:06The door Dorian
47:08sought opened quietly
47:09and he went in
47:11without saying a word.
47:12He entered
47:13a long low room
47:14which looked as if
47:15it had once been
47:16a third rate
47:17dancing saloon.
47:18In one corner
47:20a sailor
47:21sprawled over a table
47:22and by the
47:23tawdryly painted bars
47:24stood two
47:25haggard women.
47:26A hideous laugh
47:28broke from the
47:29painted lips
47:29of one of the women.
47:31There goes
47:32the devil's bargain
47:33she hiccuped
47:34in a hoarse voice.
47:35Curse you
47:36he answered.
47:37Don't call me that.
47:38She snapped her fingers.
47:40Prince Charming
47:41that's what you like
47:42to be called
47:42ain't it?
47:43She yelled at him
47:44as he fled the den.
47:47The drowsy sailor
47:48leapt to his feet
47:49as she spoke
47:50and looked wildly around.
47:53The sound of the
47:54shutting of the hall door
47:55fell on his ear.
47:56He rushed out
47:57as if in pursuit.
47:58Dorian Gray
47:59hurried along the quay
48:00through the drizzling rain.
48:01As he darted aside
48:03into a dim archway
48:04he felt himself
48:04suddenly seized
48:05from behind
48:06and before he had time
48:07to defend himself
48:07he was thrust
48:08back against the wall.
48:09He struggled
48:10madly for life.
48:11In a second
48:12he heard the click
48:13of a revolver
48:14and saw the gleam
48:15of a polished barrel
48:16pointing straight
48:17at his head
48:17and the dusky form
48:18of a short
48:19thick-set man
48:20facing him.
48:22It was the sailor
48:23from the opium den.
48:25What do you want?
48:26He gasped.
48:28You wrecked the life
48:30of Sibyl Vane
48:31was the answer
48:32and Sibyl Vane
48:34was my sister.
48:37She killed herself.
48:38I swore
48:39I would kill you
48:40in return
48:42for years
48:42I've sought you
48:43I knew nothing
48:44of you
48:45but the pet name
48:45she used to call you
48:46I heard it tonight
48:48by chance.
48:49Dorian Gray
48:49grew sick with fear.
48:51I never knew her
48:52he stammered.
48:53I never heard of her
48:54you're mad
48:55you'd better
48:56confess your sin
48:57for as sure
48:58as I'm James Vane
49:00you're gonna die.
49:02Suddenly a wild hope
49:03flashed across Dorian's brain.
49:05Stop!
49:06he cried.
49:07How long ago
49:08is it since your sister died?
49:09Quick tell me
49:1218 years
49:13said the man
49:14Why do you ask me?
49:15What do years matter?
49:1718 years
49:19laughed Dorian Gray
49:20with a touch of triumph
49:21in his voice.
49:22Set me under the lamp
49:23and look at my face.
49:25James Vane
49:26hesitated for a moment
49:27not understanding
49:28what was meant
49:29then he seized
49:30Dorian Gray
49:30and dragged him
49:31from the archway.
49:32Dim and wavering
49:34as was the windblown light
49:35yet it served
49:36to show him
49:37the hideous error
49:38as it seemed
49:39into which he had fallen
49:40for the face of the man
49:41he had sought to kill
49:42had all the bloom
49:43of boyhood
49:44or the unstained purity
49:46of youth.
49:48He loosened his hold
49:49and reeled back.
49:50My God
49:51my God
49:52he cried
49:53and I would have murdered you.
50:07It was not till the third day
50:08that he ventured to go out.
50:11There was something
50:12in the clear
50:15pine-scented air
50:16of that winter morning
50:17that seemed to bring him back
50:19his joyousness
50:20and his ardour
50:21for life.
50:24There is no use
50:25your telling me
50:26that you are going
50:27to be good
50:28cried Lord Henry
50:30dipping his white fingers
50:31into a red copper bowl
50:33filled with rose water
50:34which he kept
50:35in his study.
50:37You are quite perfect.
50:39Pray
50:39don't change.
50:42Dorian Gray
50:42shook his head.
50:43No
50:43Harry
50:45I have done
50:46too many dreadful
50:47things
50:48in my life.
50:49I'm not going
50:51to do any more
50:53I want
50:53to be better
50:55I'm going
50:56to be better
50:56but tell me
50:57something about yourself
50:58what is going on
50:59in town
50:59I've not been
51:00to the club
51:00for days
51:02well the people
51:03are still
51:03discussing
51:04poor Basil's
51:05disappearance
51:08I was very fond
51:10of Basil
51:11said Dorian
51:13with a note
51:13of sadness
51:14in his voice
51:16but
51:18don't people
51:19say
51:19that he was
51:21murdered?
51:22Oh
51:22some of the papers
51:23do
51:24it does not
51:25seem to me
51:26to be
51:27at all
51:27probable
51:28by the way
51:29what has become
51:31of that wonderful
51:32portrait
51:32he did
51:33of you
51:34I forget
51:35said Dorian
51:36but
51:38I never
51:39re-liked it
51:39I'm sorry
51:40I sat for it
51:40why do you
51:41talk of it
51:43it used to
51:44remind me
51:44of those
51:45curious lines
51:46in some play
51:46Hamlet
51:47I think
51:48how do they
51:49run
51:51like the
51:52painting
51:52of the sorrow
51:54a face
51:55without a heart
51:56yes
51:58that is what
51:58it was like
51:59Lord Henry
52:00laughed
52:01if a man
52:02treats life
52:03artistically
52:06his brain
52:07is his heart
52:08he answered
52:10sinking into
52:11an armchair
52:12Dorian Gray
52:13shook his head
52:14and struck
52:15some soft chords
52:16on the piano
52:17like the painting
52:18of a sorrow
52:19he repeated
52:21a face
52:23without a heart
52:25the elder man
52:27lay back
52:27and looked at him
52:28with half-closed eyes
52:31by the way
52:32Dorian
52:32he said
52:34after a pause
52:35what does it
52:36profit a man
52:37if he gain
52:38the whole world
52:40and lose
52:42how does the quotation
52:43run
52:43his own soul
52:47the music
52:48jarred
52:48and Dorian Gray
52:50started
52:50and stared
52:51at his friend
52:54why'd you ask
52:55me that
52:56Harry
52:58my dear fellow
53:00said Lord Henry
53:01elevating his eyebrows
53:03in surprise
53:03I asked you
53:05because I thought
53:05you might be able
53:06to give me an answer
53:07that is all
53:10don't
53:11Harry
53:13the soul
53:14is a terrible reality
53:17it can be bought
53:18and sold
53:20and bartered away
53:21it can be poisoned
53:22or made perfect
53:24there is a soul
53:25in each one of us
53:27I know it
53:29hmm
53:29you feel quite sure
53:32of that
53:32Dorian
53:34quite sure
53:35ah
53:37then it must be
53:38an illusion
53:38the things
53:40one feels
53:41absolutely
53:42certain about
53:43are never true
53:45Dorian rose up
53:46from the piano
53:47and passed his hand
53:48through his hair
53:49yes
53:51life has been
53:52exquisite
53:52he murmured
53:54but I'm not going
53:55to have the same
53:55life Harry
53:57I'm tired tonight
53:58good night
54:00as he reached
54:01the door
54:01he hesitated
54:02for a moment
54:03as if he had
54:04something more
54:04to say
54:06then he sighed
54:07and went out
54:09it was a lovely
54:10night
54:10so warm
54:12that he threw
54:12his coat
54:13over his arm
54:13and did not even
54:14put his silk scarf
54:15round his throat
54:17when he reached home
54:18he threw himself
54:20down on the sofa
54:20in the library
54:21and began to think
54:22over some of the things
54:23that Lord Henry
54:24had said to him
54:28a new life
54:30that was what he wanted
54:33he began to wonder
54:34if the portrait
54:35in the locked room
54:35had changed
54:39surely it would not
54:40still be so horrible
54:41as it had been
54:42perhaps if his life
54:44became pure
54:45he would be able
54:46to expel
54:47every sign of evil
54:48passion from the face
54:49perhaps the signs
54:50of evil had already
54:51gone away
54:52he would go and look
54:54he took the lamp
54:55from the table
54:56and crept upstairs
54:57as he unbarred the door
54:59a smile of joy
55:00flitted across
55:01his strangely
55:02young looking face
55:04and lingered
55:05for a moment
55:06about his lips
55:07yes
55:09he would be good
55:11and the hideous thing
55:13that he had hidden away
55:14would no longer
55:15be a terror to him
55:17he felt as if the load
55:18had been lifted
55:19from him already
55:21he went in
55:22quietly
55:23locking the door
55:24behind him
55:25as was his custom
55:26and dragged the purple
55:28hanging from the portrait
55:31a cry of pain
55:33and indignation
55:34broke from him
55:36he could see
55:37no change
55:38save that in the eyes
55:41there was a look
55:42of cunning
55:43and in the mouth
55:44the curved wrinkle
55:46of the hypocrite
55:48the thing was still
55:50loathsome
55:51more loathsome
55:53if possible
55:53than before
55:54and the scarlet dew
55:55that spotted the hand
55:56seemed brighter
55:57and more like
55:59blood newly spilled
56:01this murder
56:03was it to dog him
56:04all his life
56:06was he always
56:07to be burdened
56:08by his past
56:09was he really
56:10to confess
56:11never
56:13there was only
56:13one bit of evidence
56:14left against him
56:16the picture
56:17itself
56:17that was evidence
56:20he would destroy it
56:22why had he kept
56:23it so long
56:24once it had given
56:25him pleasure
56:26to watch it changing
56:27and growing old
56:28of late
56:28he had felt
56:29no such pleasure
56:31it had been like
56:32conscience to him
56:34yes
56:35it had been conscience
56:38he would destroy it
56:41he looked around
56:42and saw the knife
56:43that had stabbed
56:43Basil Hallward
56:44as it had killed
56:45the painter
56:46so it would kill
56:47the painter's work
56:47and all that that meant
56:48he seized the thing
56:49and stabbed the picture
56:50with it
56:51there was a cry
56:52heard
56:54and a crash
56:56the cry
56:57was so horrible
56:59in its agony
57:02but the frightened servants
57:04woke and crept out
57:05of their rooms
57:07they knocked
57:08but there was no reply
57:10they called out
57:13everything was still
57:16finally
57:17after vainly trying
57:19to force the door
57:20they got on the roof
57:22and dropped down
57:23onto the balcony
57:25the windows yielded easily
57:26their bolts were old
57:27when they entered
57:29they found
57:30hanging upon the wall
57:34a splendid portrait
57:36of their master
57:36as they had last seen him
57:39in all the wonder
57:41of his exquisite youth
57:43and beauty
57:47lying on the floor
57:48was a dead man
57:50in evening dress
57:50with a knife
57:51in his heart
57:53he was withered
57:56wrinkled
57:56and loathsome
57:58of visage
58:02it was not
58:03till they had examined
58:04the rings
58:04on his fingers
58:06that they recognised
58:07who it was
58:10and went to the
58:10of the
58:10was
58:11and
58:32I
58:32she
58:32are
58:32I
58:32I
58:32I
58:32I
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