13. The Picture of Dorian Gray & "Forever Young"

About the book:

Oscar Wilde's only novelThe Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) is a classic instance of the aestheticism of the late 19th century's English literature. The maxim of aestheticism "art for art's sake" is reflected in the opening of the novel, which specifies art's aim to "reveal the art and conceal the artist."

For greater emphasis, Wilde defines the artist as free of ethical sympathies and morbidity. Even books are seen as only "well written" or "badly written" and not as moral or amoral. Following this prelude on art and beauty, Wilde weaves a plot that explores the issue to its core.

The plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray, if seen apart from the wit and epigrams of Lord Henry is serious and, at times, even somber. Dorian Gray is a young and handsome man whose well-off friend Lord Henry takes him to an art-loving painter, Basil Hallward. The painter makes a picture of Dorian Gray, a fascinating piece that makes Dorian wish to stop aging. His wish is fulfilled and the picture starts aging instead of young Dorian. The consequence is disaster. Oscar Wilde has created an amusing tale that does not end very happily but ends beautifully with our easy-going Lord Henry still chirping.

The link with the song:

As we can see in Oscar Wilde's work, the main character, a young and handsome man, wishes to be beautiful and young forever. This fact is also mentioned in Alphaville's song Forever Young, which has in its title the relation with Wilde's book.

Activity in class:

We can use the song as a soundtrack of the book. The teacher can introduce the book to the students, showing movies and adapted versions of the work, so the students can know a little bit of the story. Then, the students can work in group making comparisons between facts that occur along the book with parts of the song.

Forever Young - Alphaville

Written by: Bob Dylan

Year: 1984

Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while
Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you going to drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music's for the sad men

Can you imagine when this race is won
Turn our golden faces into the sun
Praising our leaders we're getting in tune
The music's played by the mad men

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, or never
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever young

Some are like water, some are like the heat
Some are a melody and some are the beat
Sooner or later they all will be gone
Why don't they stay young

It's so hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fading horse
Youth's like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever

So many adventures couldn't happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams swinging out of the blue
We let them come true

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, or never
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, or never

Forever young, I wanna be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?