THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY EXPLAINED - and the powerful book behind it.

Comments · 149

• TR

  @tristanandtheclassics6538 · 7 months ago · pinned

  If this &apos;reckoning&apos; with Dorian Gray opened your eyes to something new today, the best way to support the channel is simply to share this video. This kind of deep-dive research—finding the &apos;purple thread&apos; between 19th-century philosophy and our 2026 digital lives—takes an immense amount of time. If you’d like to help me keep the library lights on and the coffee flowing, you can leave a small £3 donation here: ☕ <a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/tristanclassics">https://buymeacoffee.com/tristanclassics</a>

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• RI

  @rivka_ih · 6 months ago

  &quot;In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.&quot;

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• VI

  @victoria9663 · 6 months ago

  I read Dorian a couple years ago and just thought it was meh. &nbsp;I read it with no context, no wider understanding of the philosophy behind it - I just read it as a short piece of magical realism. &nbsp;After watching this video tho I feel like I missed 80% of the book. &nbsp;I&apos;m going to re purchase a copy and read it more slowly. &nbsp;Thank you for the time it took to research and share this!

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• SU

  @Suyaneh67 · 6 months ago

  Thank you for your incredible insights on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Your exploration of Wilde, Pater, and the interplay of aestheticism, morality, and individualism has given me a deeper understanding of both the book and its relevance today. I especially appreciated your reflections on experience, beauty, and the consequences of hyper-subjective living. Truly thought-provoking and inspiring, gratitude for sharing your research and perspective. You are truly a rare gem here on YouTube.

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• AN

  @aniflowers_75 · 5 months ago (edited)

  Brilliant! This was a masterclass! You don&apos;t find this level of excellence in a youtube video very often. Loved every second of it. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 <br><br>Greetings, from Argentina. ❤

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• SA

  @sabinabecker9024 · 2 months ago

  yes, social media has intensified narcissism to an extreme way beyond Wilde&apos;s era

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• KI

  @kimberly5411 · 7 months ago

  Excellent commentary on allowing ourselves to have everything we want. It doesn’t lead to fullness but emptiness.

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• TE

  @tessaoshea5697 · 6 months ago

  When Dorian first sees the tiny change in the portrait he has a choice. &nbsp;Recognize that his actions are not just an isolated pulse of experience or accept that they have real effects on him. He chooses to take advantage of this freak of fate- his tragedy.

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• ME

  @melenatorr · 7 months ago

  It&apos;s been ages since I&apos;ve read &quot;Dorian Gray&quot;, and I&apos;m loving your essay on this. &nbsp;I remember clearly how little I liked Lord Henry, and, from the start, gravitated toward Basil, even though his character is, well, sort of leaden. &nbsp;As I listen to this essay, &nbsp;found myself thinking that Lord Henry espouses these ideas as a man of leisure. &nbsp;Basil opposes them. &nbsp;And Basil is an artist: &nbsp;he does the work of creation, dealing with the paints, the mess, and the labor of creating the thing that Lord Henry (and Pater?) claim to wish to experience for the experience alone. &nbsp;Could Lord Henry get his hands dirty with what goes into actual creation? &nbsp;I bet he couldn&apos;t.

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• TE

  @tessaoshea5697 · 6 months ago

  We put our &apos;Dorians&apos; out into the world in the fake world of social media and we keep our true portraits at home in our own bodies.

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• HE

  @herculesrockefeller8969 · 3 weeks ago

  &quot;Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself is the end.&quot; Sounds like something Huysman&apos;s Des Esseintes would say.

• CA

  @carolynspring6399 · 7 months ago

  I just discovered your channel this past week after just getting back into reading classic literature. I&apos;m so glad this channel exists and I really appreciate your overviews and book suggestions. Whittling my way through your videos while doing house chores has been such a joy. Thank you Tristan for making classics feel even more enjoyable.

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