The Picture of Dorian Gray #7: Dorian’s Deceit

            Dorian has done some questionable things in his life including his treatment of Sibyl Vane and the savage murder of Basil Hallward.  His actions have led to unflattering rumors being spread about him and people forming opinions of him that are not ideal.  To cope with the consequences of his actions Dorian has had to become quite cunning; he knows that if people find out the truth about what he has done his reputation and life will be destroyed.  After killing Basil, Dorian knew that he could not let people tie him to the murder; one of the first things he did was establish a rock-solid alibi for himself.  Dorian knew that there was no evidence against him because “Basil Hallward had left the house at eleven.  No one had seen him come in again.  Most of the servants were at Selby Royal.  His valet had gone to bed” (Wilde 164).  He then proceeded to leave and re-enter the house by waking up his valet and creating the story that he forgot his key.  Dorian knows that if he can deceive the public with a solid alibi and destroy the evidence there will be know way to tie him to the murder, and his life and what is left of his reputation will be saved. 

            The other example of Dorian’s cunningness comes when James Vane confronts him in an alley in the middle of the night.  James, Sibyl’s brother, has made Dorian from the nickname, Prince Charming.  James knew nothing about Dorian except this nickname but he knew that he vowed to kill this man since it was Dorian’s fault that Sibyl is dead.  Dorian certainly would have been murdered if it wasn’t for his quick thinking that made James believe that he had the wrong man. Dorian asks James, “How long ago is it since your sister did” (195) to make James realize that there is no way that Dorian could be Sibyl’s Prince Charming because he looks to young.  Dorian’s deceit has saved him on multiple occasions; without it he would most certainly be dead if he was not in prison.

The Picture of Dorian Gray #5: Basil and Dorian’s Relationship

            In the fifth reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray, the reader sees a progression in Basil and Dorian’s relationship.  Basil’s dedication and love towards Dorian have been shown quite often in the first four nights readings but those feelings have been fairly unreciprocated.  The fifth reading is one of the first times that Basil’s feelings towards Dorian are reciprocated, even if only slightly.  The reader has begun to see that Basil’s relationship to Dorian is synonymous to that of a parent to child.  In many parent to child relationships the child refuses to listen to the parents, who tend to have the best interests of the child in mind.  Throughout the book Dorian has refused to spend time with Basil, who has Dorian’s best interests in mind, and instead chooses to spend his time with Lord Henry, who corrupts Dorian and destroys his defining characteristics.  The reader has been lead to believe that Dorian does not want to spend any time with Basil at all and that Dorian would always run to Lord Henry with his problems.  However, Dorian says: “I don’t think I would go to Harry if I were in trouble.  I would sooner go to you, Basil” (Wilde 120).  By stating that he would run to Basil if he were in trouble rather than to Lord Henry, Dorian acknowledges the fact that Basil has a parental influence on him and for one of the first times reciprocates some of Basil’s feelings.  Although Dorian says this as he is breaking Basil’s heart by telling him that he will never sit for another portrait, Basil does not become angry.  Basil is quite content with playing the role of parent because he cares so much about Dorian’s happiness and wellbeing that he is willing to lessen his own happiness.  Basil establishes himself as the picture-perfect parent figure in that he selflessly cares only about what Dorian wants and what makes Dorian happy.

“The Rhodora” vs. “Design”

Thesis: Emerson’s “The Rhodora” and Frost’s “Design” both address the question of why things exist and they have a similar first half, but the second halves of the poems highlight the contrasting views of the two speakers.

Imagery

            “The Rhodora”

“I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, / Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook” (2-3).

            “Design”

“I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, / On a while heal-all, holding up a moth” (1-2).

In both of the above quotations the speaker is describing something that they see in nature.  In “The Rhodora” the speaker is describing where he sees the flower and what it is doing.  In “Design” the speaker is describing the location of the spider, heal-all, and moth in relation to each other.  Each of the quotations above are just one example the the extensive imagery used throughout the first eight lines of each poem describing the complexities of each scene.

Shift

            “The Rhodora”

“Rhodora! if the sage’s ask thee why” (9).

The shift occurs in the audience.  The audience during the first eight lines of the poem doesn’t play a major role; the scene is just being described.  However, in the second half of the poem the audience shifts to become the rhodora.  The apostrophe shows a respect for the flower and it humanizes the flower to an extent, adding to the idea displayed in the end of the poem.

            “Design”

                        “What had that flower to do with being white” (9).

The shift in this poem occurs in the content of what the speaker is saying.  In the first eight lines the speaker describes what he sees.  In the second half of the poem the speaker is questioning why what he saw exists.  The speaker asks a series of questions relating directly to what he observed in the first half.  These questions then lead the speaker to his final conclusion of why these things exist.

Contrasting Ideas

            “The Rhodora”

                        “The self-same Power that brought me there brought you” (16).

The capitalization of “Power” is meant to indicate that the power is God because whenever God is referenced the word being used is capitalized because it is acting as a proper noun.  With the power being God, it can be concluded that the speaker believes that the same God who brought him to Earth brought the Rhodora.   This speaker believes that God creates things having a well-intentioned purpose in mind; he believes that beauty itself is a good enough reason for existence. 

            “Design”

“What but design of darkness to appall? - / If design govern in a thing so small (13-14).

The speaker claims that the designer, God, has only created the situation with the spider, moth and heal-all to appall.  This idea goes against the more commonly accepted idea that God creates things for good.  The speaker believes that things only exist because God makes them, but he also thinks that the small and insignificant things are made to be bad.

The Picture of Dorian Gray #4; Dorian’s ‘Progression’

            In the latest reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian undergoes more changes.  Dorian’s biggest change so far in the novel has been his adaption of hedonism because of Lord Henry’s influence.  This change is not portrayed in a positive light and the reader is led to believe that hedonism is bad for Dorian.  This hedonism is highlighted when Dorian is talking with Sibyl after her awful performance; Dorian tells Sibyl that her acting was horrible “‘It was dreadful.  Are you ill?  You have no idea what it was.  You have no idea what I suffered’…‘My friends were bored.  I was bored’” (Wilde 89-90).  Dorian is being extremely selfish and rude to Sibyl because all he cares about is that he is happy and when Sibyl performs poorly in front of his friends he becomes unhappy.  Dorian becomes so unhappy when watching the performance and talking with Sibyl that he tells her, “‘You have killed my love!...You are nothing to me now.  I will never think of you.  I will never mention your name’” (91).  The new Dorian, created by Lord Henry is highlighted here as Dorian only cares about how Sibyl can please him.  When that aspect of her disappears he immediately loses his interest in her because he no longer feels any pleasure in her presence.  

            After Dorian escapes his confrontation with Sibyl and returns home he starts to feel regret for how he treated her.  Dorian is portrayed to be once again undergoing a change.  This time however, the reader is led to believe it is a positive change.  Dorian realizes how awfully he treated Sibyl the night before and he blames his actions on Lord Henry’s influence.  Once he realizes how Lord Henry’s influence has affected him, he vows that “He would not see Lord Henry any more – would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle, poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward’s garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things.  He would go back to Sibyl Vane, make her amends, marry her, try to lover her again” (96).  Dorian shifts away from hedonism back into the Dorian that Basil knows, the Dorian that cares about other people.  Dorian wants to set right what he did to Sibyl and part of that is to eliminate his hedonism and Lord Henry.  However, Lord Henry is not absent from Dorian’s life for long.

            On the same day that Dorian vows never to speak to Lord Henry, Lord Henry inputs more of his philosophies on Dorian and they make plans to go see the opera.  Dorian fully embraces Lord Henry again and it seems as if he has fallen back into Lord Henry’s influence.  All progress that Dorian had made towards bettering himself disappears when he tells Lord Henry, “‘I am awfully obliged to you for all that you have said to me.  You are certainly my best friend.  No one has ever understood me as you have’” (108).  Once again, Dorian falls into Lord Henry’s influential trap.  The relationship between Dorian and Lord Henry is similar to an abusive relationship; the tension building stage would be when Lord Henry preaches his philosophy’s to Dorian, the explosion would be when a situation like the one with Sibyl happens and Dorian blames Lord Henry for his own wrongdoing, and the honeymoon period would be the current stage where they embrace ach other and become best friends again.  No matter what he does it seems that Dorian cannot escape the grasp of Lord Henry.