Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Choose a
couple of these prompts and write freely in response to them. As comments come up on the blog, engage with
one another.
Doing this assignment will earn you bonus points that I can use to supplement other grades.
1)
The
Picture of Dorian Gray is full of symbols.
The ambience of the opening is enhanced, for example, by the view Lord
Henry has of “the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a
laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a
beauty so flame-like as theirs …” (43).
A laburnum is a poisonous tree of the pea family. The live object of beauty here that casts its shadow over Lord Henry—just as Dorian does. Like the tree, Dorian turns out to be poisonous to be many characters in the book even as his beauty is untainted. Like the tree, Dorian also has difficulty bearing the “burden” of a “flame-like” beauty.
A laburnum is a poisonous tree of the pea family. The live object of beauty here that casts its shadow over Lord Henry—just as Dorian does. Like the tree, Dorian turns out to be poisonous to be many characters in the book even as his beauty is untainted. Like the tree, Dorian also has difficulty bearing the “burden” of a “flame-like” beauty.
à Look carefully through some of your favorite passages in the book. What other symbols can you see? Can you spell out their significance to the themes and/or the dilemma of the main characters—Lord Henry, Basil, Dorian.
2)
What
is the function of Sybil Vane in the book?
What does she tell us about Dorian?
What is her relation to the theme of art’s impact of life and life’s
impact on art? Focus on the detail given
(or not given—that is also significant) and write a couple of paragraphs about
her significance.
3)
Read
closely pp. 62-70 (for those of you with texts other than the Broadview one
this is the second part of Ch 2 from when Lord Henry says “Because you have the
most marvelous youth, and youth is the one thing worth having” onwards—to the
end). This is the “temptation” scene and
when Dorian utters the wish to trade his soul for eternal youth. Consider carefully what is going on
here. Who is to blame ultimately for
Dorian’s decline into corruption? Is it
Lord Henry, the devil figure, who tempts him?
Is it Basil who captures human beauty and idolizes it in a painting? Is it Dorian himself? Is Dorian fully enough developed as a
character in this book for us to be able to make a judgment on his own
culpability?
The corruption of Dorian was initiated by several different people and circumstances. Perhaps the most innocent of all the guilty parties was Basil. His painting was done to reflect the extravagant beauty Dorian was blessed with. When it was painted he put everything he had into making it the best piece of art he had made. By doing so, Basil created such a work of art that when Dorian observed it “the sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation” (65). Basil’s painting acted as a mirror for what Dorian was like. He also referred to the painting as being “the real Dorian” (69).
ReplyDeleteLord Henry was the instrumental figure in Dorian’s downfall. He fills Dorian’s head with the thought that beauty is all you have in this world, and when you lose it your life is over for you can never get it back. He is also the one who convinces Dorian that he is attractive. When Dorian begins to fret about growing old and ugly, Basil says it is Henry’s fault, however, Henry replies that it is just the real Dorian.
Dorian’s role in his own corruption is his blind acceptance to what Henry says. He seems to absorb everything he is told, and takes it with childlike innocence. He then takes these things and they become his own opinions that he vehemently stands by. The idea of his beauty being the only good thing in his life wasn’t his idea until he was told it was true. This leads him to uttering that he would give his soul to stay young and have his painting take on the decay of the world. It is hard to know if he would have taken this stance if he hadn’t been under the influence of Henry, and presented with his own beauty by Basil.
thanks Katelyn! Notice that during the murder scene (the Brits are still big into murder plots), Dorian blames Basil for all that has happened. As he finally exposes the portrait he says to Basil, "Come, it is your own handiwork." To what extent to can you feel the tragic machinery at work in this text? In other words, is Wilde creating a character who, like the tragic heroes, has no "out"? He keeps determining he will repent but he cannot. Do you feel there is a point at which it is "too late"?
ReplyDeleteI feel like Dorian was using Basil as a scapegoat during the end. He wished to blame his corruption on someone other than himself, and chose the man who painted the portrait. I also felt like Basil grew to regret everything that had happened with Dorian and mourned the loss of his friendship. It also seemed like even though Dorian wanted to correct his behavior, he enjoyed it too much to stop. If the only outward consequences for his choices were the painting continuing to decay, why should he stop? He will still seem good and beautiful to those around him. I think Dorian was so enamored with himself and what he could do, that he wouldn’t repent. The reason why he stabbed the portrait was to get rid of it, thus ridding himself of his guilty conscience and ultimately his life.
DeleteGood response! Let this be a challenge to the rest of the class.
ReplyDeleteSibyl Vane, on the surface, is Dorian Grey's first 'love' interest and the catalyst for his eventual descent into total corruption. Furthermore, she is not described in any specific physical detail at all; not so much as her hair color is ever disclosed. She is meant to remain a flat character, subservient to Dorian's moral transformation and Henry's interpretations of art. However, perhaps without the author's intent, she comes to embody something more than her role in the story itself. As a representation of art, she has all the things that Lord Henry idolizes; physical beauty, and a capacity for artistic genius on the stage. Had Henry encountered Sibyl rather than Dorian first, she might have suffered a similar corruption, as she shared Dorian's charms and malleable young mind. She entirely shares Dorian's disposition, except for two features; material wealth and the disposition to corruption that seemingly comes with it. In that way, she is also Dorian Grey's antithesis, suggesting that the highest forms of art and naive purity can exist even in the squalor of poverty.
ReplyDelete1. - The yellow book is a significant symbol in The Picture of Dorian Gray because the book seems to be Dorian’s unholy Bible. After Sybil Bane’s death Lord Henry gives the book to Dorian. The yellow book is described as being “poisonous” with a horrible stench emanating from it (104). The description alone should have been indicative of its dark influences, but Dorian decides to read it anyway. The affect the book has on Dorian encourages him to delve into a life of sin.
ReplyDelete2. In the book, Sybil seems to be the tool that indicates whether or not Dorian’s soul can be redeemed. Dorian’s maltreatment of Sybil once he realized she could no longer act set the path for his soul’s destruction. Dorian’s decision tells us that he rejects things that do not represent art, beauty, or youth. Dorian is not mature enough to realize that beauty does not always last, and because of his failure to recognize that, his soul is condemned. Sybil served to illustrate that when art and life exist to inspire each other, beauty is created, but once one is diminished, the other exists as a duller concept.