Dorian Gray
The protagonist. He starts as a passive, beautiful young man and becomes a murderer who has outsourced his conscience to a painting. His arc shows what happens when someone chooses pleasure and self-preservation over every other value.
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Characters
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Contents
Characters
Who matters and what they help you prove.
Lord Henry Wotton
The novel's most dangerous character. He never commits a crime, but his ideas drive Dorian's corruption. He treats people as entertainment and philosophy as a game. His wit makes him charming and his detachment makes him destructive.
Basil Hallward
The painter who creates the portrait and genuinely loves Dorian. He represents sincerity and moral concern in a novel full of performance and irony. Dorian kills him when Basil gets too close to the truth, which removes the one person who might have saved him.
Sybil Vane
An actress who falls in love with Dorian. Her death is the first major consequence of Dorian's corruption and the moment he chooses to stop feeling guilty. She matters to the plot because her brother James spends the rest of the novel trying to avenge her.
James Vane
Sybil's brother. He functions as a slow-moving threat throughout the second half of the novel. His pursuit of Dorian represents the idea that consequences eventually catch up, even if they are deflected or delayed.
Alan Campbell
A former friend of Dorian's who is blackmailed into disposing of Basil's body. He later kills himself. His fate shows the damage Dorian leaves behind even in people who are not his primary targets.
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