Basil Hallward

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Basil Hallward is one of the leading characters in Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Friend to Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Basil is a talented artist, with particular romantic ideals. His art requires a motive, and the personality and good looks of Dorian Gray appear to satisfy it.

Here Wilde plays imaginatively with the artists inspiration and makes Dorian the very soul of Basil's work. It is this transmigration of personality and soul onto the canvas that seems to bring such fateful results. The portrait incites Dorian to wish that he would remain forever youthful, and that the work of art age in his place . . .

Basil Hallward is also a close friend of Lord Henry Wotton.

Basil is eventually murdered by Dorian when he discovers that his painting is the curse of Dorian's eternal youth. And for each and every horrible moment of Dorian's life, the portrait remains a living record of his sins.

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