The Shadows of Art


"The painted scenes were my world. I knew nothing but shadows,
and I thought them real'" (84).
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)



Points for Reflection

O. Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) chps. 7-14

  1. whose perspective on love, women, and marriage carries the most authority within this novel?  Can anyone’s ideas be dismissed as invalid because misogynistic or romantic, sexist or naïve?  Consider the ideas of Lord Henry Wotton, Basil Hallward, Dorian Gray, Sybil Vane, and the narrator.
  2. why is Sybil unable to act well anymore?  What do her words suggest about the relationship between Art and love?
  3. does the atmospheric beauty characterizing Wilde’s description of London in early morning (86-87) prepare us, tonally, for the revelation that confronts Dorian when he turns into bedroom?
  4. what about Dorian’s current lifestyle—his living quarters—bears witness to the influence of Lord Henry on his life?
  5. trace the fluctuation of Dorian’s emotions across chapter eight, with close attention to the verbs used by the narrator to describe Dorian’s changing affect—both at the intersections of Dorian’s dialogue with Lord Henry, and during the interior monologues that precede and follow Lord Henry’s visit (92-103).  What force ultimately has the strongest influences on Dorian’s state of mind and heart?
  6. do you find Lord Henry’s continuous animadversions against women to be misogynistic and sexist, or comic?
  7. does Wilde configure the soul on a relatively static quantity akin to one's personality, or as a malleable substance that both circumstances and free will can alter?'identify those moments where Dorian utters sentiments that sound like they came straight out of Lord Henry’s mouth.
  8. in what other guises did Basil paint Dorian, prior to the painting which he finishes at the open of the novel?
  9. until today's reading, we had learned very little of Dorian's history (22); does our growing knowledge of Dorian's past across chapter ten temper our judgment of his actions with pity?
  10. what signs do we find in today’s reading of Dorian’s growing paranoia?
  11. what is the one factor that Dorian believes could save him from the life of sin and pleasure which he has chosen for himself?
  12. does the narrative appear conflicted about the concept of morality? Is the reader encouraged to apply such a concept to the life of Dorian Gray? To what end does the novel employ words like “sin,” “evil,” and “soul"?
  13. at what points does the narrator's own voice and perspective appear to emerge?
  14. why does Wilde identify Dorian's reveries (daydreams) as a kind of malady (disease or ailment)?


young women descending stairs looks into a closet filled with bright clothing
The Property Room (1879)
Arthur Hughes

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu