Oscar Wilde utilizes Lord Henry as the catalyst of Dorian’s awakening of his true self, while the film adaptation portrays Dorian as the physical manifestation of Lord Henry’s evil inner soul. As a result of the different roles Lord Henry plays, the novel and the film portray Dorian’s true self in opposing ways. On one hand, the novel focuses on the influence Lord Henry has on Dorian Gray upon meeting him. Lord Henry stirs a change in Dorian’s perspective of the world and awakens Dorian’s evil intentions and soul. On the other hand, the film adaptation characterizes Dorian as the physical form of Lord Henry inner corrupted soul. In the novel, Dorian’s motives are his own, simply having been inspired by Lord Henry’s theories. However, in the film we see Dorian’s motives are Lord Henry’s. Lord Henry …show more content…
After hearing Henry discuss pleasure and sins, Dorian begins to feel a change deep within as he finds himself seeing the world differently and agreeing more and more with Lord Henry. For example, Wilde writes: “But he felt afraid of him, and ashamed of being afraid. Why had it been left for a stranger to reveal him to himself? He had known Basil Hallward for months, but the friendship between then had never altered him. Suddenly there had come some one across his life who seemed to have disclosed to him life’s mystery” (Wilde 23) Dorian already feels the influence of Lord Henry’s intellect and has already begun to feel that Lord Henry “revealed” his own soul to himself. Dorian feels that Lord Henry disclosed a secret or mystery that he himself had missed before. By saying that Lord Henry revealed Dorian’s true self to Dorian himself, Wilde illustrates how Lord Henry dominating theories strike a chord with Dorian who is exposed to his true nature and overwhelmed with an understanding about the purpose of life. Furthermore, Dorian