The Picture of Dorian Gray — Chapter 20 in Spanish
By Oscar Wilde
Era una hermosa noche, tan cálida que se echó el abrigo sobre el brazo y ni siquiera se puso la bufanda de seda alrededor del cuello. It was a lovely night, so warm that he threw his coat over his arm and did not even put his silk scarf round his throat. Mientras se dirigía a casa fumando su cigarrillo, dos jóvenes hombres vestidos de noche lo pasaron. As he strolled home, smoking his cigarette, two young men in evening dress passed him. Escuchó a uno de ellos susurrar al otro, 'Ese es Dorian Gray'. He heard one of them whisper to the other, "That is Dorian Gray." Recordó lo complacido que solía sentirse cuando lo señalaban, lo miraban o hablaban de él. He remembered how pleased he used to be when he was pointed out, or stared at, or talked about. Ahora estaba cansado de escuchar su propio nombre. He was tired of hearing his own name now. La mitad del encanto del pequeño pueblo donde había estado tan a menudo últimamente era que nadie sabía quién era. Half the charm of the little village where he had been so often lately was that no one knew who he was. A menudo le había dicho a la muchacha a quien había seducido para que lo amara que era pobre, y ella lo había creído. He had often told the girl whom he had lured to love him that he was poor, and she had believed him. Una vez le había dicho que era malvado, y ella se rió de él y respondió que la gente malvada siempre era muy vieja y muy fea. He had told her once that he was wicked, and she had laughed at him and answered that wicked people were always very old and very ugly. ¡Qué risa tenía! —como un tordo cantando. What a laugh she had!--just like a thrush singing. ¡Y qué bonita había sido con sus vestidos de algodón y sus grandes sombreros! And how pretty she had been in her cotton dresses and her large hats! No sabía nada, pero tenía todo lo que él había perdido. She knew nothing, but she had everything that he had lost.
Cuando llegó a casa, encontró a su criado esperándolo despierto. When he reached home, he found his servant waiting up for him. Lo mandó a la cama y se tiró sobre el sofá en la biblioteca, y comenzó a pensar en algunas de las cosas que Lord Henry le había dicho. He sent him to bed, and threw himself down on the sofa in the library, and began to think over some of the things that Lord Henry had said to him.
¿Era realmente cierto que nunca se podía cambiar? Was it really true that one could never change? Sintió un ardiente anhelo por la pureza sin mancha de su infancia — su infancia blanca como una rosa, como Lord Henry la había llamado una vez. He felt a wild longing for the unstained purity of his boyhood--his rose-white boyhood, as Lord Henry had once called it. Sabía que se había mancillado a sí mismo, llenado su mente de corrupción y dado horror a su fantasía; que había sido una influencia malvada para otros, y había experimentado una alegría terrible al serlo; y que de las vidas que habían cruzado la suya, la más hermosa y la más llena de promesa era aquella a la que había traído la vergüenza. He knew that he had tarnished himself, filled his mind with corruption and given horror to his fancy; that he had been an evil influence to others, and had experienced a terrible joy in being so; and that of the lives that had crossed his own, it had been the fairest and the most full of promise that he had brought to shame. Pero ¿era todo irremediable? But was it all irretrievable? ¿No había esperanza para él? Was there no hope for him?
¡Ah! Ah! ¡En qué momento monstruoso de orgullo y pasión había rezado para que el retrato llevara la carga de sus días, y él conservara el esplendor impoluto de la eterna juventud! in what a monstrous moment of pride and passion he had prayed that the portrait should bear the burden of his days, and he keep the unsullied splendour of eternal youth! Todo su fracaso se había debido a eso. All his failure had been due to that. Mejor hubiera sido para él que cada pecado de su vida hubiera traído consigo su segura y rápida pena. Better for him that each sin of his life had brought its sure swift penalty along with it. Había purificación en el castigo. There was purification in punishment. No 'Perdónanos nuestros pecados' sino 'Castíganos por nuestras iniquidades' debería ser la oración del hombre a un Dios muy justo. Not "Forgive us our sins" but "Smite us for our iniquities" should be the prayer of man to a most just God.