Dorian Gray’s characterization illustrates the theme throughout the story. At the beginning he is a charming, innocent young man who does not care so much about his looks. He then meets Lord Henry Wotton who severely influences his views and outlook on life. Lord Henry explains to Dorian that his looks are everything. Once he loses them, he will be and have nothing. Lord Henry tells him to live life to its fullest now and do things that pleasure him because once he has lost his looks, he will no longer have the opportunity. As Dorian examines the finished portrait of himself he realizes that Lord Henry is right about his looks and becomes resentful of the painting, angry that it will continue to look youthful while he slowly deteriorates. He pledges to sell his soul in order to stay beautiful while the painting takes on his altering features. Dorian then begins to…
In chapter fourteen lt. Henry's relationship with Mrs. Gage proves that Henry doesn't love Catherine, but is lustful for what she is capable of sexually, and nurturingly, and believes this to be love. Within the first paragraph Lt. Henry recalls looking at a woman , mrs. gage, and although he does claim that she is "not so pretty" by drawing his attention to her looks in the first place, involved with Catherine or not, one can note that he is on the prawl for something he does not recieve in his relationship wih Catherine. While peering into the conversational difference in the dialogue between Lt. Henry and mrs gage, and lt Henry and Catherine,…
youthfulness, naivety, and lack of experience. Dorian Gray listens to Lord Henry due to the lack of a…
Throughout Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the sinful actions of Dorian cause Dorian himself as well as the portrait of Dorian to diminish. The portrait Basil paints of Dorian depicts an innocent, beautiful young boy who has yet to be corrupted by the influence of the world. However, as Dorian grows older he becomes debased by the thoughts of others and his own experiences. As the novel progresses, the reader loses sight of the innocent, pure Dorian and sees the cruel, corrupted Dorian. After Sibyl killed herself Dorian illustrates his corruption by claiming, “when she played so badly, and my heart almost broke. She explained it all to me. It was terribly pathetic. But I was not moved a bit. I thought her shallow” (96). Dorian no…
Henry seems to be a lot like myself, and I identify with him through his steering clear of confrontations by using compliments and jokes. Palmerino states that “The initial dialogue between Henry and Elisa sets the tone for subsequent encounters and reveals the couple’s fundamental problem: they do not know how to fight” (165). Steinbeck shows that Henry is avoiding getting into an argument with his wife when he says, “Well, it sure works with flowers”…
Lord Henry Wotton doesn’t really change at all throughout the novel, where Basil and Dorian almost change completely. Dorian goes from having such innocence and beauty to almost being lost in the idea of maintaining his youth an beauty. When Dorian does commit a lot of the evil things he does, the question is did Lord Henry actually tell Dorian to do them? A lot of Lord Henry’s words are open for interpretation and almost contradict each other. Therefore, Dorian who interpreted them that way doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s what Lord Henry had in mind.…
Elisa had a passion for planting chrysanthemums; her husband didn’t have this same passion. Elisa and her husband were conversing amongst themselves, “You’ve got a gift with things,” Henry observed. “Some of those yellow chrysanthemums you had this year were ten inches across. I wish you’d work out in the orchard and raise some apples that big.” Her reaction was then, “Her eyes sharped.” That portrays that she was unhappy with the way that conversation was going. Elisa could not even be acknowledged by her husband. He felt as if she should do more which shows just how women could not have their own individual ideas. Just a few moments they found themselves conversating about Henry’s accomplishments, “Why sure that’s what I came to tell you. They were from the Western Meat Company. I sold those thirty head of three-year-old steers. Got nearly my own price, too.” Elisa did not criticize her husband because married women did not have that position. She congratulated him; she did not say how he should pick work in another field. That’s the first glance of how Elisa was unsatisfied with her…
Sibyl has inner beauty and Basil realizes that, but Lord Henry and Dorian only see the physical or symbolic beauty of her form. This is contrary to the reoccurring idea that beauty is only skin deep like Dorian for example he is beautiful on the outside but horrible on the inside.…
Henry-What matters most to Dorian, Lord Henry, and the polite company they keep is not whether a man is good at heart but rather whether he is handsome.In this novel, Lord Henry Wotton creates a conflict with the naïve and innocent Dorian Gray by influencing and mentally corrupting him. Under this influence, Dorian becomes a hedonist, constantly pursuing pleasure and everlasting beauty. This one-way conflict, where Lord Henry almost completely controls Dorian's emotions, is the cause for Dorian's downfall and death.…
When her husband Henry concludes his business with the cattle buyers, Elisa immediately wants to know who the men were and what they wanted. Henry pays her a compliment about her “strong new crop” of chrysanthemums. She is smug and pleased with his masculine choice of words, but then he immediately invites her to dinner in town. She seems to deflate at his statement, as if his invitation reminded her of her femininity. She then goes back to her masculine role of working with the…
Wilde’s description of Sibyl Vane as a caged bird invokes the thought that Dorian’s love for Sibyl has trapped her. There are two instances where the imagery of her entrapment is brought up, “the joy of a caged bird in her voice” and “in her prison of passion” are both statements where the common entity is a sort of cell like set-up for Sibyl. The use of these metaphors is a representation of the confinement Sibyl is in in this relationship, where to keep Dorian’s interest she must act as a character in a play and not as herself. It is evidence that Dorian only has a superficial interest in her and also can be linked to aestheticism because Dorian only looks at her outside beauty and talent and not into the meaning of the girl inside. By using a metaphor such as “joy of a caged bird” Wilde is able to conjure the image of Sibyl as the bird trapped in a cage, purely for the enjoyment of an onlooker such as Dorian, the cage is her stage for her to please her master. This is significant in understanding why their relationship breaks down after her dismal performance in the theatre. A caged bird that is not entertaining to watch is not worth keeping as is shown by Dorian who immediately ends all affiliation between them as he would rather the Sibyl who is an actress and knows nothing of love than the new Sibyl who is in a “prison of…
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde constructs a tale in which Dorian Gray’s desire to stay young forever becomes a Faustian pact. His journey begins when Basil insists on painting him even though Dorian resists this. It is possible he protests too much, but it is also possible he feels a bit embarrassed as well as flattered with the attention. One might consider this the gate into the garden (of Eden) where Sir Henry plays the part of the devil tempting Dorian to take youth and beauty serious when he says:…
Sibyl Vane is a character of great importance in The Picture Of Dorian Gray. However, she is also a symbol. A symbol of the Dorian Gray of old, the way he was before succumbing to a mind numbing world of guilty pleasures and debauchery. Sibyl also represents the beginning of Dorian Grays’ descent into this dark world. A “love” interest of the young Dorian Gray, Sibyl represents what Dorian wished to be; young, pure, and innocent, and perhaps naïve of the world around her. Dorian first lays his eyes on Sibyl Vane when he enters an old, decrepit theatre and witnesses her prowess in the arts, especially in the art of acting. While Dorian claims to be in love with Sibyl, what he has truly fallen for is her acting prowess. (Wilde p. 55) Dorian soon meets the young Sibyl face to face and begins wooing her. (Wilde p. 57) Sibyl, being young and impressionable, falls for the charming young man and truly believes he loves her (Wilde p. 65) Dorian is so enthralled with the acting prowess of the young woman that he invites his companions to bear witness for themselves. Unfortunately, her performance is lacking tremendously. The acting talent Dorian had fallen in love with seemed to have disappeared entirely and without explanation. This coupled with the fact that his friends also bore witness to the “talents” of young Sibyl Vane, sends Dorian into a fit of rage. Without hesitation he storms into Sibyls dressing room and proceeds to end their relationship, showing no mercy. This crushes poor Sibyls heart. She tries to explain that she is now unable to feign love on the stage, now that she has truly fallen in love in reality, but to no avail, for as previously stated, Dorian had far more interest in the acting talents of Sibyl Vane than anything else. This heart wrenching chain of events will lead to the tragic suicide of this poor girl, overcome with loss. After learning of Sibyls suicide Dorian is initially wracked with guilt. However,…
Mr. Gray allowed mere words to drain him. He let Henry's outlook on life and society affect who he was. In youth Henry glamorized Dorian; Dorian felt as though nothing would stand in his way. If Dorian fancied for anything he would complete any number of task to peruse what he desired. These…
My roommate had a dilemma in the evening before he left the dormitory to catch a morning flight: whether to wash and then pack clean bed sheets, but not sleep comfortably on his own bed; or not launder them, sleep well, and stuff the dirty bedclothes into a box and store it over the vacation. Our female friend heard us trying to find a solution to the dilemma and suggested that we could share my bed for one night, and the problem would, thus, be solved. Surprised by her queer suggestion, we were able to immediately rule out it from the set of possible solutions. “Guys just cannot share a bed,” was the obvious reason for the elimination of our friend’s suggestion. This paper tries to find an explanation why and since when males have not been…