First Dorian Gray Discussion
For those of you who did not have a chance to share your thoughts about the first two chapters of Dorian Gray, now's your chance. Let the blogging begin! Even if you did engage in today's discussion, feel free to share additional insights on this post.
posted by mferrill | 11:53 AM
6 Comments:
I thought that the character Lord Henry was the most interesting and yet the most confusing character in the first few chapters of Dorian Gray. I agree with the people in class who said they thought that Lord Henry knew what he was doing when he opened Dorian Gray’s thoughts. I think Lord Henry sometimes puts out ideas that he doesn’t necessarily believe but that are interesting questions or ideas to see how others react. I think he may be the most confused of everyone because I don’t think he knows what he truly believes but he finds it amusing to toy with other’s emotions and thoughts. I also agree that he knows he can’t influence Basil directly so when he learns of Dorian Gray, he sees his opportunity to use Dorian’s thoughts and innocence to influence and take advantage of Basil.
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As we left the discussion, the idea of Oscar Wilde's identity was being tossed around. Most people who made their opinions known agreed that Lord Henry most likely concealed Oscar's personality; it makes sense as Henry is flamboyant and witty, but I disagreed. Nathan was the first person to suggest that Basil was really Oscar Wilde, as he sees himself as an artist who loves aesthetic value. I also thought Basil was the most likely representation of Wilde, but I was reading some information on his life and my view was changed. I was reading information on Wilde's sexual orientation when the article was discussing how he became aware of his orientation (whether bisexual or homosexual). It was mentioned that Robert Ross, a fan of his poetry, "enlightened" Oscar, so to speak, of his orientation. This caused me to believe that perhaps neither Basil nor Lord Henry represents Wilde. Most everyone thought that Dorian could definitely not be Wilde because of his naïveté. Although it is probably too early in the book to tell, I now believe Dorian to be the character that represents Wilde. Perhaps Lord Henry will somehow teach Dorian something that will completely change his life.
At one point in the discussion I heard Michael say that Dorian was a blank slate being painted on by Henry. I completely agree with this. Dorian has no thoughts of his own. He is ignorant and naive. Henry jumps at the chance to use this and influence Dorian, as Henry does with many of his friends. Henry begins to preach about aspects of life Dorian can relate too. He fills Gray's brain with his own thoughts so as he can be in total control of Dorian. On page 20 Henry states, "There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral". Henry fully understands what he's intending to do to Dorian. Dorian will have no individuality, no thoughts of his own, just what Henry intended. Dorian is being molded from Henry like a piece of clay rather than taking a stand and believing in something original. However, we do not know if what he is preaching to Dorian is actually what he believes. He may just direct his subject of conversation towards his audience. I also wonder why Henry wants to influence Dorian so much? Could it be for power over him or maybe he simply takes pleasure in having someone swallow up every word he speaks.
I think that Lord Henry is purely evil, and is discovering his power with each day. He has an intense influence over Dorian and Basil, but Basil also goes with what he says just to get him to stop. I would like to talk about Lord Henry's motives. Is he trying to hurt them or is he just enjoying being a puppet master? I believe it started as a master but lead to his enjoy in others pain. He says to Basil that the only thing worst than being talked about, is not being talked about. He just wants to be known and be "exceptable" in society.
Dorian on the other hand is an unpainted miral. It is immature and nieve of him to be so upset over the painting. His lack of growing will be his downfall if Henry gets to him.
Throughout the discussion I believe we focused far too much on the character of Lord Henry. I agree with others that he is very influential in the book and aims to manipulate, however I feel that we did not focus on the other aspects of the beginning chapters. Not only did we not touch on the subject of Basil’s fascination with Dorian, we also did not discuss the “pact” that Dorian makes in any detail. I am lead to believe that the majority of this book will end up being about obsessions with others. As Basil started the trend by having fierce intrigue in Dorian, Dorian in turn has the same burning interest in Lord Henry. The pattern appears significant. Not only this but the rage that Dorian had about the painting seemed odd and out of place. His statement about giving his soul to not grow old and have the painting do it instead struck me as odd. Lord Henry, who placed this new obsession with beauty into Dorian’s mind, was described very devil like. Has he sold himself without knowing it? I know we touched on it a little in class but the events all seemed fairly significant and yet unmentioned.
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