Dorian as Faust in The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray is a rich story that can be viewed through many literary lenses and cultural. Oscar Wilde himself deliberately filled his novel with numerous direct and indirect allusions to the literary culture of his time. So it seems appropriate to look back on his story – both in the novel and the 1945 film version – in this way. , The Picture of Dorian Gray is a retelling of the story of Faust. A temptation is placed before Dorian, as with Faust, and he succumbs, offering his soul to obtain it. In fact, one of Faust's main wishes is also to stay young. Faust and Dorian also each seduce a young woman, then lead her to her death, while leading the woman's brother (Valentine in Faust and James Vale in Dorian Gray) to die while attempting revenge on his sister. It's also a Doppelganger story, like Adelbert Chamisso's "Peter Schlemihl" (in which Peter foolishly sells his shadow) and even more like Edgar A. Poe's "William Wilson" (in which the narrator is tormented by a school friend who looks and talks exactly like him, and who ends well like Dorian Gray, with its more sinister overtones Dorian Gray has the theme of eternal youth, purchased at the cost of his soul, and continued through. the destruction of others, like vampires as well. And, of course, Dorian Gray also did so in the context of Oscar Wilde's life, particularly his affair with the young aristocrat, Lord Alfred Douglas. which ultimately landed Wilde in prison for sodomy and virtually ended his career Oscar Wilde and his novel Dorian Gray can also be compared to that of Queen's rock star Freddy Mercury and their song "Bohemian Rhapsody". here Oscar Wilde, a funny, witty, cynical and decadent guy, defeated. by his homosexual affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, languishing in prison for sodomy. A few years before this sad turn of events, he wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray - about a decadent and immoral murderer, who also has homosexual relationships (with various young men who die, become drug addicts, commit suicide, etc.), and who dies a horrible, disfiguring death because of his evil ways. Now we also have Freddy Mercury, who lived a flamboyant and decadent lifestyle as a sexually ambiguous rock star..