Psychopath Case Study: Dorian Gray

Case Overview

Dorian Gray—who murdered Basil Hallward towards the end of the nineteenth century—was born in London, England, on October 16, 1870. His father was killed early on in Gray's life, and his devastated mother died soon after. He was raised by his grandfather, Lord Kelso, a wealthy and unfeeling man. Gray described his upbringing as being cold and nearly abusive. Gray did not show any behavioral problems as a youth, and in fact those who knew him described him as being delightful, innocent, and eager to please. 

 

When Gray emerged into adulthood, he befriended Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton, and soon thereafter began sexual relationships with both men, each without the other man knowing.. Hallward, a gifted artist, painted a portrait of Gray—who was, by all accounts exceptionally good looking—and declared it his magnum opus. Before his death, Gray claimed that the painting had magical properties that allowed him to preserve his youth, which he valued above all else, allowing him to do as he pleased without suffering the physical or psychological consequences of his actions. 

 

Gray often described his life as under-stimulating. He and Lord Henry Wotton spent much of their time engaging in what they called a “new hedonism,” which consisted of searching for and procuring new forms of mental, emotional, and physical stimulation, often at the expense of others. Gray cited Wotton, who believed the ephemeral pleasures of life were the most noble endeavors, as having an enormous intellectual influence on him. Wotton was reportedly pleased at being able to have influence over such a beautiful specimen as Gray. 

 

In 1890, in the midst of his relationships with Hallward and Wotton, Gray 'fell in love' with a teenaged actress named Sybil Vane, who performed at the time in a small Shakespeare Company in the (very poor) East End of London. For several weeks, he obsessively went to watch her act, and they began a short-lived relationship, in which they became swiftly engaged, and which Gray ended when she failed to impress him on stage as Shakespeare's Juliet. Vane committed suicide. According to Hallward, Gray expressed a disturbing apathy towards the news of this.

Gray proceeded to go on what may be described as a spree of sadistic sexual hedonism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfHM7mxMhGM

Footage of a party in which Gray's sexual misconduct is made clear.

He was unkind and often cruel to his sexual partners, many of whom fell in love with him due to his charm and looks. He made himself unwelcome in many establishments across London, yet avoided consequence, again by virtue of his considerable charm. Many said of Gray that it was immensely difficult to confront him for his cruelty because his face was so youthful and innocent-looking. All the while, he believed that his spiritual and physical well-being was being preserved by the 'magic' of the portrait of him painted by his friend Hallward. 

 

Gray murdered Hallward on May 22, 1899, when Hallward visited Gray to confront him about his harmful and criminal behaviors. Gray stabbed Hallward to death and blackmailed an ex-lover of his, an accomplished chemist named Alan Campbell, to dispose of the body. He then, with the same weapon used to kill Hallward, slashed the portrait and stabbed himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XTnGEUcoLE

Witness, here, footage of the murder.

The Biosocial Perspective and Primary/Secondary Psychopath Teams

Little is known of Gray's ancestry, except for his maternal grandfather—a wealthy and reportedly uncaring man—and his parents. All that is known of Gray's mother was that she was very attractive, and all that is known of his father is that he was a very poor soldier who was killed in a duel. From these meager facts, we may paint a cloudy biological picture for heritable traits of psychopathy. Gray's father chose the soldier's life, one in which killing was to be expected. There are many reasons to choose this profession. Yet for a soldier to be poor, it is likely that he was either incompetent in some way, bad with money, or both. Gray's father may have been irresponsible or impulsive, leading him either to perform badly on the battlefield, or to spend what money he earned on unhelpful expenses such as alcohol or opiates. Further speculation suggests that his death in a duel indicates aggression, either reactive or predatory. And of course, Gray's grandfather on his mother's side is said to have been emotionally unavailable and, at times, emotionally abusive to Gray, demonstrating both a heritable trait and also a domestic social precedent for the emergence of other psychopathic traits, such as shallow affect and primitive defenses.

In his book The Psychopath Inside, James Fallon describes his own realization that, neurologically speaking, he bore every characteristic present in the most dangerous primary Psychopaths—under-active pre-frontal cortex, impaired activity in the amygdala. His DNA appears to contain the “warrior gene” which leads to an under-production of the enzyme MAO-A, which regulates neurotransmitters responsible for inhibition. He then describes his family history, indicating that there are very clear narratives common to his male ancestors: aggression, impulsivity, and often murder (Fallon, Chapter 4). 
 

Reflecting on his own life, Fallon's experience with his own psychopathic traits chronologically parallels Gray's—although the actual experiences differ in certain key ways. Both Fallon and Gray, as children, not only lacked behavioral problems, but were unequivocally kind and helpful. One of the main features of Fallon's description of his childhood is an almost manic devotion to the Catholic church. But Fallon's personality, like that of Gray, made a drastic shift as he emerged into adulthood. He became callous, manipulative, impulsive, and willing to put the lives of others in danger in order to feed his need for stimulation. 
 

Yet two factors distinguish Gray's psychopathic evaluation from Fallon's, and they are both individual people. First, Gray's grandfather, whose only involvement in Gray's life were to feed his material desires and to neglect his emotional ones. This appears starkly in comparison to Fallon's reportedly loving upbringing. Second, Gray had Lord Henry Wotton's influence, right at the time where his post-adolescent neurology would have been changing according to Fallon's own model. 
 

Gray exhibits both Factor 1 and 2 traits on the Psychopathy Checklist, both of which contribute to his categorization as a Primary Psychopath. Informal analysis of his friend Lord Henry Wotton, who had a deep emotional intellectual influence on Gray's behavior in his emergence into adulthood, classifies him as a secondary Psychopath—he exhibits most of the Factor 1 traits, but few of the Factor 2 traits. That is to say, he is charming and glib, shows little empathy or remorse, rarely manifests affective depth, and has few goals. Yet his behavior rarely transgresses the law, nor does it harm those around him, with the possible exception of Gray himself. 
 

It is known that Wotton, older than Gray and in a position of wealth, high class, social status, and intellectual prowess, fed Gray many ideas that may have appealed enormously to his budding personality as a psychopath. “I believe that if one man were to live his life out fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream, --I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of mediaevalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal […] The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. We are punished for our refusals” (Wilde, Ch. 2). In these chilling words, which Wotton spoke to Gray on the day they met, one can hear echoing the essence of the psychopathic lifestyle.

Hare PCL-R Assessment of Dorian Gray

Item scores (0-2) appear in parentheses before each explication.

1. Glibness/ Superficial Charm
   (2) Gray was immensely charming and ever cognizant of the power his good-looks held over others. He used his charm not only to win people's affections but to manipulate his way out of consequences for his harmful actions.
   
   2) Grandiose Sense of Self Worth
   (2) Gray believed beauty to be the only thing worth having. He knew himself to beautiful, and therefore considered his own worth to be greater than others'. His belief in the magic of Hallward's portrait of him is an excellent example of his grandiosity, and that he believed that simply by asking for his youth to be preserved, he would of course receive it. His rationale for his unemotional response to the suicide of his fiancee, Vane, was that there was nothing to be gained by expending 'needless' energy mourning her, or feeling guilt.
   
   3) Need for Stimulation/ Proneness to Boredom
   (2) Exemplified by the “new hedonism” pursued by Gray in his relationship with Wotton.
   
   4) Pathological Lying
   (1) Gray often lied in order to produce desired outcomes, but he also often lied without knowing why he was lying. He lied about his sexual relationships, and he lied about his belief in the magical portrait—that is, he denied anyone access to the painting, without knowing why, and told lies about why they couldn't look at it.
   
   5) Conning/ Manipulative
   (2) See Item 1.
   
   6) Lack of Remorse or Guilt
   (2) Exemplified by lack of affect regarding the deaths of Vane and Hallward, and the unabashed cruelty to the many unnamed sexual partners.
   
   7) Shallow Affect
   (1) Gray was prone to acute bouts of intense delight, fury, and devastation that were often brought on by pieces of art or the words of his friend Wotton. However, his affect was rarely altered by the states and emotions of other people.
   
   8) Callous/ Lack of Empathy
   (2) See Items 6 and 7.
   
   9) Parasitic Lifestyle
   (2) Gray did not work, he was supported financially by his grandfather for the entirety of his life.
   
   10) Poor Behavioral Controls
   (2) Gray's emotional outbursts were often accompanied by actions with immense consequences, such as the murder of Hallward.
   
   11) Promiscuous Sexual Behavior
   (2) Exemplified by Gray's spree of sadistic sexual hedonism.
   
   12) Early Behavioral Problems
   (0) None.
   
   13) Lack of Realistic, Long-term Goals
   (2) Gray believed that the present was the most important consideration. He had no plans to establish romantic security, or to work (he was to inherit his grandfather's fortune).
   
   14) Impulsivity
   (2) Exemplified by Gray's murders, sexual misconduct, and his swift engagement/disengagement with Vane.
   
   15) Irresponsibility
   (2) See Items 11, 13, 14.
   
   16) Failure to Accept Responsibility for Own Actions
   (2) According to Gray and Wotton's philosophy, the pursuit of pleasure is the most noble pursuit of all. Gray used this as a justification for his crimes and cruelties.
   
   17) Many Short-Term Marital Relationships
   (1) Exemplified by Gray's brief engagement with Vane and his brief live-in relationship with Wotton.
   
   18) Juvenile Delinquency
   (0) None.
   
   19) Revocation of Conditional Release
   (X) Item omitted.
   
   20) Criminal Versatility
   (2) Gray's criminal record is unavailable, and it is unclear how many crimes he was convicted for. However, he was reported to have murdered, stolen, engaged in prostitution, and homosexuality (which, at the time, was a crime).
   Total Score: 31/38
   Evaluation: Primary Psychopath

Limitations

This evaluation of Gray's placement on the spectrum of psychopathy is, of course, flawed, and a similar assessment could not be used to formally assess a modern-day offender for the purposes of sentencing, parole consideration, or evaluating the likelihood of recidivism. The Hare Psyhopathy Check-List should be administered accompanying a full, comprehensive, in-person interview in which the offender's words, visible affect, and response to the interviewer must all be painstakingly observed and transcribed. This assessment used primarily third person accounts of Gray, from one Oscar Wilde.

In order to improve this evaluation, it may be important to contract the aid of a historical consultant, who might provide some insight into the cultural norms of the time in which Gray lived. Assessing psychopathy is in part a matter of assessing the willingness of a person to transgress cultural boundaries, and it would be irresponsible to attempt to evaluate a nineteenth century offender's proclivities for norm-transgression through a twenty-first century cultural lens.

References

Fallon, J. (2013) The Psychopath Inside. [Kindle PaperWhite Edition] Retrieved from Amazon.com

Raine, A. (2013) The Anatomy of Violence. [Kindle PaperWhite Edition] Retrieved from Amazon.com

Wilde, O. (1890). The Picture of Dorian Gray. [Kindle PaperWhite Edition] Retrieved from Amazon.com