One of the Themes in Dorian Gray

     One of the central themes in The Picture of Dorian Gray is vanity and its consequences.  Dorian's life unraveled before him because of Lord Henry, Basil Hallward, and, most of all, Dorian himself.  Each of them did something to encourage his shameful way of life.
     Lord Henry played a major role in the preparation of Dorian's new life.  He planted the seed of conceitedness when he told him that, "...youth is the one thing worth having"(32).  He goes on to tell him that, "we will never get back our youth"(33) and, "when your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you..."(32).  These statements stirred within Dorian's mind.
     Basil Hallward encouraged Dorian's vain ways as well.  He lavishly complimented Dorian's beauty.  He worshipped him.  He commented that, "what the invention of oil-painting was to the Venetians, the face of Antinous was to late Greek sculpture, and the face of Dorian Gray will someday be to me"(20).  Basil also said that, "...without intending it, I have put into it [the painting] some expression of all this curious artistic idolatry..."(21).  All of Basil's compliments to Dorian "seemed to him to be merely the charming exaggeration of friendship"(35).  The compliments would take on a new meaning after the painting was revealed.
     After the revealing of the painting, all that Lord Henry and Basil said to Dorian came to life.  "The sense of beauty came on him like a revelation"(35).  Beauty was everything to him now.  His epiphany would change his life for the worse.
     Dorian's vanity led to other bad traits.  He became very shallow.  When Sybil Vane decided to stop acting, Dorian decided not to love her.  He loved her because she "had genius and intellect"(102) and because she "gave shape and substance to the shadows of art"(102).  He told her that "without your art, you are nothing"(102).  Dorian also became consumed in revenge.  When he saw Basil Hallward again, he decided to show him the grotesque picture.  Basil, who was absolutely horrified, saw how Dorian was driven to a mad state.  He tried to get him to repent, but was killed with a knife instead.
     Vanity is the root of other bad qualities.  Dorian's vanity was later accompanied by cruelty, hypocrisy, revenge, selfishness, pride, depression, and near, if not, insanity.  He was so absorbed in himself that he did anything that would please him, no matter what effect it had on others.  The push he received from Basil Hallward and Lord Henry was all he needed to live a self-centered, destructive life.