Class notes on English Literature from the beginning of the 20th century to the present
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English Literature
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English Literature
Dive into the English literary heritage with our written document, notes on "English Literature from the beginning of the 20th century to the present".
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
OSCAR WILDE/ published in 1890 and then in book form in 1891
moral fantasy novel
CHARACTERS: The three main characters are the title character (a beautiful young man), Basil Hallward
(a painter), and Lord Henry Wotton (Basil Hallward’s friend), Sibyl Vane (the seventeen-year-old actress
adores "Prince Charming" and eventually commits suicide because of him), James Vane (Sibyl's brother),
Mrs. Vane (a woman with a secret past)…
SUMMARY: The story rotates around a portrait of Dorian Gray, painted by Basil Hallward, who is
obsessed with his beauty. Through Basil, he meets a man named Lord Henry Wotton and he is soon
captivated by the aristocrat's hedonistic worldview: that beauty and sensual fulfillment are the only things
worth pursuing in life. Understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian sells his soul, in an updated version
of the Faust story. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied amoral experiences
while staying young and beautiful, but his portrait ages and visually records every sin of Dorian's. Not
managing to make the portrait beautiful again, Dorian stabs it, thereby killing himself, his body becoming
aged and the portrait returning to the way it looks when it was first painted.
SOURCES: the Faust legend, the Narcissus myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
STRUCTURE: 2 sections- the first 10 chapters portray Lord Henry’s influence on Dorian and the last 10
chapters portray Dorian’s life as an adult. Each section begins with an expository chapter.
THEMES: the Faust legend, the balance of body and soul, the dual nature of man, self-discovery,
narcissism, friendship, the fall of man, sin and redemption, the dangers of personal influence or
manipulation, the purpose of art, the supremacy of youth and beauty, the superficial nature of society.
SYMBOLS: the portrait, the yellow book, the theater run by Mr. Isaacs, the white narcissus, Lord Henry
plays Dorian like a violin, the opera is the essence of Aestheticism, Daly's opium den (the depths of
depravity and excess).
QUOTES: We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind,
and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. . . . Resist
it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its
monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take
place in the brain. It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also - Lord
Henry begins his seduction of Dorian’s mind with these words, he beliefs that the present mode of living is
marked by a morality that demands self-denial. The outcome of denial, he goes on to say, is only a stronger
desire for that which has been denied. According to this line of thinking, Dorian’s tragedy, then, is that he
is unable to purge his “monstrous and unlawful” acts from his conscience.
“To be good is to be in harmony with one’s self”, he replied, touching the thin stem of his glass
with his pale, fine-pointed fingers. “Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others. One’s own life—
that is the important thing. As for the lives of one’s neighbours, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one
can flaunt one’s moral views about them, but they are not one’s concern. Besides, Individualism has really
the higher aim. Modern morality consists in accepting the standard of one’s age. I consider that for any man
, of culture to accept the standard of his age is a form of the grossest immorality” - Lord Henry explains on
the virtues of individualism, which dictate that one develop according to one’s own standards. His outlook
relies on Darwinism, a fashionable theory at the time that asserted that an organism’s development would
be altered or impaired if it were made to adjust to the standards of another organism. Lord Henry fancies
that he and Dorian are creatures that require different standards than the masses in order to develop fully.
Thus, he readily rejects modern morality, which governs the many, in favor of a self-determined morality
that applies only to himself.
Yes: there was to be, as Lord Henry had prophesied, a new Hedonism that was to re-create life, and
to save it from that harsh, uncomely puritanism that is having, in our own day, its curious revival. It was to
have its service of the intellect, certainly; yet it was never to accept any theory or system that would involve
the sacrifice of any mode of passionate experience. Its aim, indeed, was to be experience itself, and not the
fruits of experience, sweet or bitter as they might be. Of the asceticism that deadens the senses, as of the
vulgar profligacy that dulls them, it was to know nothing. But it was to teach man to concentrate himself
upon the moments of a life that is itself but a moment - this passage describes how Dorian devotes himself
to acquiring as many experiences as possible. This “new Hedonism” is a form of resistance against the
conventional morality that Lord Henry spends so much of his time criticizing.
Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those
who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals,
and, in its opinion, the highest respectability is of much less value than the possession of a good chef. And,
after all, it is a very poor consolation to be told that the man who has given one a bad dinner, or poor wine,
is irreproachable in his private life. Even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for half-cold entrées, as Lord
Henry remarked once, in a discussion on the subject; and there is possibly a good deal to be said for his
view. For the canons of good society are, or should be, the same as the canons of art. Form is absolutely
essential to it. It should have the dignity of a ceremony, as well as its unreality, and should combine the
insincere character of a romantic play with the wit and beauty that make such plays delightful to us. Is
insincerity such a terrible thing? I think not. It is merely a method by which we can multiply our
personalities - This passage contains the novel’s only lapse into first-person narration. Here, Wilde appears
from behind the scenes to comment on civilized society. He asks the reader if the insincerity necessary to
conduct oneself in polite society is “such a terrible thing” and admits that it is not. The Picture of Dorian
Gray fully supports the observations that Wilde makes in this paragraph. Despite the corrupt nature of
Dorian’s soul and despite his utter lack of an acceptable moral code, he continues to be welcomed into
society merely because he looks good.
“[Y]ou poisoned me with a book once. I should not forgive that. Harry, promise me that you will
never lend that book to anyone. It does harm.” “My dear boy, you are really beginning to moralize. You
will soon be going about like the converted, and the revivalist, warning people against all the sins of which
you have grown tired. You are much too delightful to do that.... As for being poisoned by a book, there is
no such thing as that. Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile.
The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” - This exchange
between Dorian and Lord Henry. Dorian criticizes the yellow book that, years before, had such a profound
influence over him, claiming that this book did him great harm. This accusation is, of course, alien to
Wilde’s philosophy of aestheticism, which holds that art cannot be either moral or immoral. Lord Henry
says as much, refusing to believe that a book could have such power. At this point, Lord Henry’s praising
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