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StoryPDFThe Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

Complete text
NovelEnglish

When Basil Hallward paints Dorian Gray, the young man's beauty becomes the center of competing ideas about art and life. Lord Henry's conversation encourages Dorian to prize youth and sensation, while the portrait introduces an unsettling separation between outward appearance and moral consequence.

21 sections79,088 wordsAbout 5 h 59 min
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About The Picture of Dorian Gray

Wilde gives seductive arguments the brilliance that makes them dangerous, allowing dialogue to compete with the evidence of conduct. The relationship between a person and an image opens questions about spectatorship, secrecy, and accountability. Read the polished remarks alongside the treatment of less powerful characters, where the cost of aesthetic self-absorption becomes harder to ignore.

Reading focus

Explore a Gothic portrait story where beautiful surfaces and dazzling conversation complicate the relationship between pleasure, influence, and responsibility.

This reading edition contains 79,088 words in 21 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Oscar Wilde. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.

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Contents

All sections
  1. THE PREFACE2 min
  2. CHAPTER I.23 min
  3. CHAPTER II.26 min
  4. CHAPTER III.21 min
  5. CHAPTER IV.26 min
  6. CHAPTER V.20 min
  7. CHAPTER VI.13 min
  8. CHAPTER VII.21 min
  9. CHAPTER VIII.25 min
  10. CHAPTER IX.18 min
  11. CHAPTER X.15 min
  12. CHAPTER XI.34 min
  13. CHAPTER XII.13 min
  14. CHAPTER XIII.12 min
  15. CHAPTER XIV.21 min
  16. CHAPTER XV.15 min
  17. CHAPTER XVI.15 min
  18. CHAPTER XVII.9 min
  19. CHAPTER XVIII.16 min
  20. CHAPTER XIX.17 min
  21. CHAPTER XX.9 min

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Is this the complete The Picture of Dorian Gray?

This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 21 sections and 79,088 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

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