In his article "The Gay Artist as Tragic Hero The Picture of Dorian Gray" Henry M. Alley discs the central artistic figure Osr Wil's novel, Basil Hallward. As the novel's tragic protagonist, he mands the most py and fear and serv as the most dynamic member of the dramatis personae. Alley ntextualiz his discsn wh Aristotle's Poetics, ntemporary cricism, as well as Wil's own ments. In addn, Alley looks at Hallward's attempt to hi or censor his gay feelgs as parallel to Wil's stggle wh the var versns of the novel. Neverthels, the characterizatn of Hallward celebrat the possible harmony between moral and athetic bety, and, further, to affirm gay love, such as Wil also saw the liv of Shakpeare and Michelangelo. As other crics have poted out, The Picture of Dorian Gray anticipat the tragic end of Osr Wil's own life. Neverthels not enough strs has been placed on the sympathy eliced by the two dramas. Yet, both the artistic tale and the bgraphy, a gay man to a tragic end bee of an admirable attachment to a beg who neverthels would or uld not return the sacred "love that dare not speak s name."
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A NEW DORIAN GRAY WEB SERI WANTS TO MAKE GAY MEDIA A LTLE LS WHE
A new edn of The Picture of Dorian Gray, featurg handwrten notatn om Osr Wil, reveals the extent to which the wrer grappled wh how much homoerotic ntent he should clu his is the first time the origal mancript Wil’s own wrg has been published and monstrat how he self-censored some of the most romantic paragraphs. He ton down the more overt referenc to the homoerotic nature of Basil Hallward’s relatnship wh Dorian, crossg out his nfsn that “the world be young to me when I hold his hand” the mancript also clus passag – later removed om the novel we know today – that show how Wil wanted to shock his Victorian rears by openly wrg about homosexual feelgs. Dorian Gray is not about homosexualy.
(I say same-sex stead of homosexual as is hard to tell whether some characters may be gay or bisexual. ) This is important bee may mean that Dorian Gray is a better ditor of how 19th century society viewed homosexualy than Monsir Ven was of how 19th century society viewed transgenr inti.
To put more simply, Dorian Gray is different than Monsir Ven bee Dorian Gray is an si job; was wrten by a gay thor, for a gay dience.