The Picture of Dorian Gray: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

In the morning, Dorian is sleeping like a baby when the servant comes in to wake him. He wakes pleasantly, smiling as if from a lovely dream. But soon, the night’s bloody events come back to him. Dorian sickens and feels again the loathing for Basil that had caused him to strike. How strange it is, he considers, to have a corpse laying up there in the daytime. He feels that the memory must be driven out to stop him from going totally mad.

Dorian dresses carefully, and breakfasts, taking time over everything. He reads his mail, one letter seemingly from one of his wronged women. He writes a letter to Alan Campbell and sends it away with his servant. He spends some time sketching, but soon the drawings start to resemble Basil Hallward. Determined to distract himself, Dorian goes to the bookshelf and picks an ornately bound volume of poetry. He reads one about Venice, and it transports him to the canals perfectly. He remembers with pleasure the romance of the city, but then it occurs to him that Basil had been his travelling partner.

Eventually, after much nervous waiting by Dorian, Alan Campbell arrives. Alan was a science scholar and a musician, and he and Dorian had spent over a year in close company, but now Alan, like many others, avoids Dorian. Alan has a pale, dejected appearance. He tells Dorian that he never wanted to come to this address again, but that he’d been told it was an emergency. Dorian tells Alan about the body, claiming it was a suicide, and asks him to take it away, to treat it as just another of his experiments. Alan refuses, calling it “devil’s work”. Dorian then tells him the truth. He begs Alan to pity him and remember the intimacy they used to share. But Alan is unmoved, even when Dorian says he will be hanged for the crime.

Dorian then writes something on a piece of paper and shows it to Alan. Alan falls back on his chair. His whole demeanor changes. Dorian shows him a letter he has already written which would realize the threatened action. Alan can’t refuse now. Dorian reminds Alan that he has used him badly in the past and now it is time for Dorian to be in control. Pained and sickened, Alan begins to think of the practicalities of getting rid of the body. He sends Dorian’s servant away for the necessary equipment from his lab.

Dorian has tears in his eyes and tells Alan that he has saved his life, but Alan feels no pity, only anger. The servant soon arrives with the materials and Dorian and Alan the two climb the stairs to the schoolroom. At the door, Dorian loses courage. Alan tells him he can manage alone. But as the door is opened, Dorian catches a glimpse of the portrait, and its gory colors seem even worse to him than those of Basil’s body. Dorian goes in and covers the painting, and leaves Alan Campbell to his work. Over five hours later Alan emerges, his task completed. As he leaves, he says he hopes to never see Dorian again.