Monday, February 9, 2015
Dorian Gray chapters 8-14 Whitney Kerr
In chapters 8-14 of Oscar Wilde's "Dorian Gray" Dorian becomes even more enthralled with himself and his level of detachment from his peers and reality increases. With Dorian's foul conduct there is a grim reality check that follows. Dorian realizes that there is a direct correlation between his actions and the way the portrait changes. This frightens Dorian because unlike looking in a mirror the portrait shows the inside of Dorian, who he is a person and not who he is physically. Eventually Dorian decides to cover the portrait and hides it in an unused room where nobody will see it. This idea of Dorian hiding the portrait shows how insecure he is and how he is aware of who he is and is ashamed of it, yet he can convince himself that his actions are just through the help of Lord Henry's influences.
There is an interesting internal struggle going on with Dorian and how he is aware of his negative actions but chooses to ignore them. Dorian also realizes that the more he continues living a self loathing life the more the portrait deteriorates yet this also satisfies him because it serves as a reminder of his preserved facial features. This makes me think that Dorian may actually be crazy.
Dorian murders Basil after revealing the portrait to him which was basically like telling someone all of your deepest and darkest secrets. This part marked a turning point in Dorian's level of commitment to his lifestyle of self loathing.
Do you think Dorian was always a sociopath or did Lord Henry's influences or Basil's portrait cause him to become so self absorbed?
What caused Dorian to become so violent?
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In my personal opinion, I think Dorian became the way he was through Henry constant influence. Not saying that Henry shaped those tendencies in him, I believe Dorian had to have had that peronality from the very start. But the conversation between Henry and Dorian in the garden sort of unlocked the flood gates and opened his eyes to the world of superficiality and hedonistic practices. He became spoiled and arrogant. I don't see Dorian as a sociopath, he does feel emotion. Dorian is often conflicted and Basil and Henry are like the angel and devil upon his shoulder. Except Basil appear way too late and before he can persuade Dorian, Dorian has already fallen under Henry's influence. Because, I can't remember what chapter it was, but after he learned of Sybil's death, and Basil came to talk to him, he thought of how Basil's love could save him from Henry's influences, but he decided it was too late. So he has the ability to make the right decisions, and even after he killed Basil he felt terror, sadness, and pity, which sociopaths wouldn't feel. But he has also become selfish, deranged, his narcissism and hedonistic pursuits have driven him mad.
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ReplyDeleteno i do not think that Dorian just became a sociopath over night because it seems that Lord Henry has had influence over him based on how easily he was able to manipulate Dorian to feel nothing over the loss of his fieance therefore making him loose all of his emotions. Dorian sees things in the painting and maybe the painting was just a physical way for him to see the flaws in himself as a reminder to him that he is not always so perfect since he did see flaws in the portrait. i think that he became violent because he just lost control and everything seemed to be build up and that he just let the wrong person (Lord Henry) guide him.
ReplyDeleteLet us go back to the beginning. Dorian lost his mother, the only woman and loving figure in his life growing up at a young age. He then was raised by "tyrant of a man". This stemmed the hazed Dorian's sense of direction. Once Basil and Lord Henry gave him directions, he chose what he was familiar with, the belligerent ways of Lord Henry over the timid, compassionate ways of Basil.
ReplyDeleteThe main argument was life as the inspiration for art (Basil) versus art as the inspiration for life (Lord Henry). The main example of this and really the "nail in the coffin" for Dorian's thought process is with Sibyl. The next and only other woman to love Dorian unconditionally is dumped by him for his realization the he was in love with her as an idea of art and not her as a person. Once Sibyl commits suicide, Basil is even shocked with Dorian's lack of emotion for her death. He chooses instead to have the cold ideal that her death was somehow honorable, or even artful philosophies of Lord Henry, rather than mourning her. The idea of emotion and sympathy is the only thing that keeps us humane.
A lot of Dorian issues came from Lord Henry's influence. I feel he majority lost a lot of connection with himself and his emotions after finding out about Sibly. I want to say he turntable into a sociapth without any feelings but, he did have a few late ones from killing Basil. I take it ashe did not just up and become violent it was inside of him the whole time, it just slowly showed up. My interpretation is that with so many loses and dreads within his life he probably lost a bit of himself with it.
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