Dorian Gray’s Portrait: Key Events & Character Arcs

Posted on Aug 2, 2025 in English

Chapter 1: The Portrait’s Influence

  1. The young man in the picture is handsome, with his dark, curly hair and bright blue eyes.
  2. Basil didn’t look happy because Lord Henry wanted to meet Dorian.
  3. Basil was afraid that Lord Henry had a bad influence on Dorian.
  4. Lord Henry told Dorian about his journeys, his experiences, and his cynical philosophy of life. Dorian listened carefully.

Chapter 2: The Shifting Image

    1. Dorian felt very sad about the portrait, because he would always be young and handsome, but in real life he would become old and ugly.
    2. Basil was shocked because he heard these words.
  2. He turned quickly towards the portrait.
  3. He was worried about his young friend’s future.
  4. She fell in love with a poor, young man. He was a soldier. Her family was angry, so she left home and married the young man secretly. He died a year later in a duel, and Lady Margaret died a few months after him.
  5. Dorian went with his grandfather to a country estate.

Chapter 3: Sibyl Vane’s Introduction

  1. Dorian met her in an old theatre.
  2. She lived in a modest house with her mother and her brother, James.
  3. She described a very special man.
  4. James was going to Australia to earn money.

Chapter 4: A Broken Engagement

  1. The actress isn’t an appropriate wife for Dorian.
  2. They kissed.
  3. He thought that her voice was weak and unnatural.
  4. Dorian went to Sibyl’s dressing room and he said she isn’t a great actress and she is ordinary.
  5. Sibyl isn’t a great actress.
  6. She was very unhappy.

Chapter 5: The Portrait’s Transformation

  1. He saw lines in the portrait, but he went to the mirror and there weren’t any lines around him.
  2. The portrait is changing him.
  3. It was ugly and it made him sad, so he took a big cloth and put it on the portrait.
  4. The picture was the same as the night before.

Chapter 6: Sibyl’s Tragic End

  1. Sometimes his letters were cruel.
  2. Sibyl was dead.
  3. She took some poison.
  4. Dorian didn’t like being unhappy, so he decided to go with Lord Henry.

Chapter 7: Hiding the Portrait

  1. Dorian said that he went to the theatre with Henry yesterday evening.
  2. There’s going to be an exhibition of his picture and he wanted to take his portrait.
  3. In his old study. He didn’t use it now, and nobody ever went in there.
  4. He mustn’t see the man carrying the picture to his old study.
  5. The workmen were arriving at the house with wood for the fire.

Chapter 8: A Sinister Encounter

  1. He passed a man, Basil, but he didn’t want to speak to him.
  2. Everyone here in London was talking about him and terrible things.
  3. He saw a tired, ugly face with evil eyes.
  4. He cleaned the knife, put it on the desk, and left the study silently.
  5. His personal servant was in the kitchen.

Chapter 9: Concealing the Evidence

  1. Dorian saw Basil’s coat; he thought that he’d burn it later.
  2. No.
  3. Dorian said that the man died by accident.
  4. Dorian went upstairs to the old study, opened the door, and looked inside.

Chapter 10: James Vane’s Pursuit

  1. The man was wearing blue clothes and he had tattoos on his arms. He looked like a sailor.
  2. He was looking for him and he heard an old woman say his name. He was going to kill him.
  3. He said that it was 18 years ago; he was a small child.
  4. He would be blamed for killing an innocent man.
  5. He’ll kill him.

Chapter 11: The Hunting Accident

  1. Dorian saw James Vane. James would kill him.
  2. They were enjoying their sport.
  3. The man was hiding behind the trees, and Dorian’s friend tried to shoot him.
  4. He looked like a sailor.
  5. The dead man was James Vane. Dorian can have a normal life again.

Chapter 12: The Final Act

  1. He wasn’t a nice person.
  2. He committed suicide.
  3. No.
  4. The face was as ugly as before, and the evil eyes were exactly the same.
  5. They saw a dead man with a knife in his heart.
  6. They saw a ring on his fingers.