[HPforGrownups] LV - Dorian Grey??

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 167767

Tonks:
Hum? for those of you who
know the story, do you think that this book may have had an influence
on Rowling? And if so does it tell us anything about the possible
outcome of the books? It talks of a panting and the man?Ts soul trapped
in it that makes his immorality. Just wondering if there is any clue in
this work that may help us understand Rowling. What do you think?

Magpie:
Not much, I don't think. Dorian Gray gets his pointed painted while he's 
young. As he gets older and falls further into evil, no sign of it shows on 
him. However, the portrait shows all the signs of his debauched life, 
getting older and looking evil.

STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS FOR THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY.

In the end Dorian, having murdered again, tries to go back to the time of 
his life when he was innocent, and he stabs the portrait. Later people find 
the portrait looking young and beautiful and Dorian an old, wrinkled corpse 
with the knife in his heart.

I would say that Voldemort is obviously the opposite, if we're talking about 
influence. The signs of his evil show on himself, turning him into a 
monster. The portrait in Dorian Gray has magical properties, but it's not 
alive like JKR's portraits. It just looks different, as if it's a regular 
portrait of what Dorian "really" looks like.

-m