Oscar Wilde uses several techniques to engage the audience and make the story effective while writing The Picture of Dorian Gray. One of the techniques includes mystery. This is first used towards the beginning of the book after Dorian had prayed for the portrait to suffer for his sins and aging and after he was cruel to Sibyl Vane. I was already getting a weird vibe about the picture exactly after Dorian made his plea, but the mystery definitely is brought to attention when Dorian first notices the changes. "The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth. It was certainly strange" (Wilde, page 94, paragraph 1). Another technique used was suspense. One of the very suspenseful parts of the story was after the murder of Basil Hallward. I had no idea how Dorian planned to cover this up, if Alan could be trusted, and if anyone would ever put the dots together about Basil's disappearance. One last technique used in this book is tragedy. So many tragic situations and out comes occurred in this story. One of the first tragedies is Sibyl Vane's suicide caused by Dorian. Some of the other tragedies included the whole deal with James Vane, the murder of Basil Hallward, and eventually the terrible death of Dorian Gray. All of these techniques used really keep the reader wanting more.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.
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