Seth’s Reviews > The Picture of Dorian Gray > Status Update

Dorian Gray is the paragon of innocence. Henry, the snake in the garden, convinces Dorian that, because his youth is fleeting, he should not waste his best years living for others; he should give in to hedonism and "realize his own nature" which is apparently one of selfishness.

Henry claims to Dorian that beauty is better than genius. However, earlier he said to Basil that genius lasts longer than beauty. Is Henry being disingenuous/deceitful here or does he believe both to be true?

When Dorian sees the portrait, he becomes aware of his own beauty, and perhaps its own fleeting nature (Genesis 3:7?). He offers his soul to reverse the roles. The devil has him in his clutches!

Chapter 3: Henry finds out about Dorian's parents. He attends lunch with Dorian and company, ensnaring them with his words and convincing them to sin. More seeming paradoxes: he insults reason yet praises science, takes pleasure in the influence he has on Dorian (despite earlier claiming influence to be immoral). What a snake!

Chapter 4

Dorian has begun to give in to sin, ensnared by Henry's words. So far this entails...watching Shakespeare plays produced by a Jew and falling in love with a commoner actress? Hmm. Definitely a much bigger deal in aristocratic London than today. More than this though. "I want to make Romeo jealous." He wants his love to incite envy! In fact, Henry is jealous of no longer being the sole object of Dorian's adoration.

Dorian's aristocratic mom fell in love with a common soldier. Now, Dorian falls in love with a common actress.

Henry ponders the idea that certain aspects of the human experience must be felt directly and cannot be studied from a distance or analyzed dispassionately. Mary's Room? Kinda feels like the devil taking human form to fully understand human depravity. I really don't know where this is leading.

More on art vs. artist. According to Henry, good artists make boring people because all of their interesting aspects get poured into their work. This is how he sees Basil? Are we meant to sympathize with this perspective? Preface makes me think yes

Chapter 5

Not much to this chapter. Very obvious setup for Jim ultimately killing Dorian out of vengeance.

Chapter 6

Basil learns of Dorian's engagement. He realizes that Dorian has slipped away from him.

Henry repeats his ethos about selfishness as a virtue. Good = giving in to one's nature. Basil argues that this results in deeper evils, the "consciousness of depravity".

Dorian rejects Henry's teachings when he is around Sybil. Will Henry pull them apart, resulting in Jim's wrath?

Chapter 7

After falling in love with Dorian, Sybil can no longer act; with the reality of love revealed, she can no longer fake it. Dorian is disgusted by this. Is this a commentary on Dorian's own vanity? It was cruel of him to love her only for her talents. Or is this a critique of Sybil? As discussed in the preface and by Henry, did the artist pour too much of herself into her art? The greatest actress is a boring person-- all intrigue went into the art

Dorian notices that the portrait has changed-- it is crueler! He resolves not to sin, to make things up with Sybil. Surely he will fail.

Chapter 8

Sybil dead! Dorian gives in fully to Henry.

Chapter 9

Basil is shocked that Dorian has gotten over Sybil so quickly. Will this callousness by reflected in the portrait? Dorian is sounding more and more like Henry.

Basil admits his obsession to Dorian. Will this fuel Dorian's descent?

Basil takes back his early claim-- he no longer feels that the portrait reflects him as the artist

Chapter 10

Dorian has given in to the inevitability of the future in a ludicrous, paradoxical, Henry-esque manner

Dorian hides the portrait. He hides it in his childhood playroom, full of reminders of the innocence of his youth.

He becomes obsessed with a book sent by Henry that details the adventures of a man determined to experience the full range of human vice and virtue. Identical to Henry's earlier descriptions. This is the book mentioned in Ch 2 or 3.

Chapter 11

This is the best and also the worst chapter yet.

Dorian has pretty privelege. Is the book a serious critique of the vanity of aristocratic society or only in passing?

Chapter 12

Dorian's greatest sin seems to be the manner in which he flip-flops between desires and interests. God forbid men have hobbies. Is it really so bad to spend a summer obsessed with jewels? Yes, because this seems to reflect a deeper unwillingness to commit to a singular ethos or philosophical outlook

Growing up necessitates a sorrowful loss of innocence, but it also enables a pursuit of knowledge, an ability to "play gracefully with ideas" as one comes to understand the world for themselves and move beyond the instructions of their parents and guardians. Dorian's great sin seems to be an ultimate refusal to *commit* to any single ethos, which is presumably the true mark of maturity and self-assuredness. Dorian will never "accept any theory that would involve the sacrifice of any mode of passionate experience"

Don't we all just want to give up and start over sometimes? Great paragraph on pg7. Flippy floppy.

Mentalism prevails over physicalism. Dorian is convinced that direct experience is key to understanding. He seeks the connection between physical and mental

Dorian grows "enamoured of his own beauty" but also more obsessed and paranoid about the discovery of the portrait

Basil desires a new art form. Dorian "sought to elaborate some new scheme of life". Also in this chapter, "life itself was the first, the greatest, of the arts." Much discussion of the connection between art and life but i don't totally get it

Chapter 13

SPICY!!! Bye bye Basil!!

Dorian's sins are beginning to catch up to him...his reputation is being spoiled, his companions are being shunned from civil society, and now he has committed the ultimate sin.

Chapter 14

Delightfully devilish! I would love to see this as a stage play. What are the orchids for?

Chapter 15

Boring-ass chapter until the end. What is he cooking with his paste?? And the river??

Chapter 16

Dorian goes to the opium den to forget his sins. He wants the senses to cleanse the soul. Possible?

The chase is on. James Vane has seen his face! Do we know the woman who revealed him?

Chapter 17

Clever but inconsequential(?) verbal fencing between Henry and Lady Monmouth. Dorian realizes he is being stalked by James

Chapter 18

Dorian gets paranoid, then talks himself out of it. His friend accidentally shoots James while hunting. Dorian is safe. Even when there is truly nobody to hold him accountable for his sins, will he still succumb?

Chapter 19

Dorian chooses not to deflower a girl. Henry says it was a bad (sinful) decision. Dorian tries to confess Basil's murder, Henry will not hear it. Is he toying with him? His attempts to unveil the ugliness of his soul are ignored but people are still talking

"What does it profit a man if he gais the whole world but lose his own soul?"

pg10 another mention of life being art

Henry claims "art has no influence upon action"

Chapter 20

Dorian envies Hetty's innocence

"But for his youth and beauty, he might have been free from sin" what a foolish proposition!

He realizes that his one good deed towards Hetty was not done out of virtue; the portrait has not improve. Interesting. Could it be in his head? He does the right thing for the wrong reason? Has the portrait convinced him to see good as evil, flip flopping like Henry?

Maybe that is the point. A lack of ethical foundation will result in self destructive paradoxes

He stabs the portrait and they switch places. What a visual! I'd love to see the stage adaption