Modern Representations of Love & Friendship in Classic Literature
The painter considered for a few moments. “He likes me,” he answered after a pause; “I know he likes me. Of course I flatter him dreadfully. I find a strange pleasure in saying things to him that I know I shall be sorry for having said. As a rule, he is charming to me, and we sit in the studio and talk of a thousand things. Now and then, however, he is horribly thoughtless, and seems to take a real delight in giving me pain. Then I feel that I have given away my whole soul to some one who treats it as if it were a flower to put in his coat, a bit of decoration to charm his vanity, an ornament for a summer’s day.”
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
[The biggest transformation here is Basil Hallward, presented as a photographer in this modern setting. The use of an art studio for the location, instead of a photography studio, is a nod to the painter in the orignal novel.]
