More than 136 years after it was first revealed, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray stays as beguiling and as related as ever.
The late-Victorian gothic examines society’s obsession with youth and sweetness by the eponymous anti-hero, who turns into consumed along with his personal picture after posing for a portrait.
After making a Faustian pact to stay as he is depicted within the paintings – whereas it decays in his place – Dorian is pushed mad by its deterioration, which displays his personal ethical failings and cruelty.
Already the topic of many an adaptation, Wilde’s solely revealed novel is being revisited for the BBC, with a new studying narrated by Bridgerton star Luke Thompson.
The actor spoke solely to Radio Times about what first attracted him to the textual content and whether or not he noticed any parallels between Dorian and Benedict Bridgerton.
What drew you to The Picture of Dorian Gray for The Read?
Luke: I’ve all the time been interested in why tales stick round. I’d heard about this guide, and 140 years later, it’s nonetheless provocative and unsettling, and nonetheless thrills individuals. And if the web page appears unappealing, having somebody converse it to you possibly can assist carry the story to life. It takes us again to being a child someway, I feel.
Would you ever need to star in an adaptation of the novel?
Luke: Well, I simply have! This job wasn’t a practise spherical for one thing else, I’d hate to look at somebody simply warming up..
Why do you suppose The Picture of Dorian Gray remains to be so vital and what do you suppose it will possibly say about our society at present?
Luke: We appear to dwell in a moralising world the place everybody could be very eager on deciding what’s good and unhealthy. We wish to suppose now we have moved on from the Victorians, however possibly we’ve simply dressed up our moralising in a different way. This story asks: what if what’s ethical isn’t as vital as what’s stunning. It’s a fairly wild thought to entertain, once we are so obsessive about justifying what’s proper, incorrect, productive, wholesome or helpful, and we’re not snug with magnificence simply for the hell of it. We say it’s superficial . Part of us can’t stand that magnificence doesn’t want explaining, that it’s profound, possibly extra profound than morals. This thriller takes that concept to its craziest restrict.
With Bridgerton sequence 4 popping out just lately, did you notice any parallels between the present and Dorian Gray, notably in relation to Benedict?
Luke: Well they’re very completely different worlds and characters, however I assume Benedict is by nature is unsure, fairly open to affect, and appears in his personal light solution to have been pushed extra by magnificence than by ethical codes.
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Read with Luke Thompson will air on BBC Four and iPlayer at 9pm on Sunday 22 March.
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