Dorian Gray context

Question 1

The ‘Hellenistic ideal’

Answer 1

The Ancient greek appreciation of beauty and its connection to morality

Question 2

Narcissus

Answer 2

two stories - either he fell in love with his reflection and died OR his identical twin sister died

Question 3

Marxist theory

Answer 3

Henry implies that the bourgeoise give back to the poor not out of goodwill, but to increase their status as a wealthy person and display how much power they have over the proletariat

Question 4

Yellow book

Answer 4

Contextually, based on French novel meaning ‘against nature’. ‘A Rebours’ by Huysmans= list of material goods creating almost fetishistic desire to possess and experience.
Yellow associated with decadence

Question 5

Setting

Answer 5

Explores divides within Victorian society through contrast between wealthy Mayfair housing and the crowded poverty of London’s East End

Question 6

dandyism

Answer 6

During 1800s; style of dress for men and a lifestyle that celebrated elegance and refinement; straight posture, well-fitting clothes, and accessories (top hats, tailcoats, white gloves)

Question 7

Aestheticism

Answer 7

reverence for beauty; movement that held beautiful form is to be valued more than instructive content

Question 8

London

Answer 8

Victorian fears about mass urbanisation

Question 9

hedonism

Answer 9

pursuit of pleasure, especially of the senses

Question 10

The Uncanny

Answer 10

uncomfortably familiar- Dorian’s face
Almost normal but not quite, such as Dorian and his immortality

Question 11

The unheimlich

Answer 11

Step mum theory

Question 12

Oscar Wilde

Answer 12

• homosexual- served two years of hard labour for gross indecency
• keen aesthetic
• Had to revise book after it was deemed ‘immoral’ which he addresses in the preface

Question 13

Victorian class

Answer 13

Victorian class anxiety about immigration and social structure. Rigid class and social system - very ‘proper’ society.

Question 14

Victorian anxieties

Answer 14

Were concerned with degeneracy and transgression, and disliked moral transgression (sin). Anxieties about moral transgression extended to homosexuality - Wilde was imprisoned for it. Darwinian theory of regression was the idea that society would go backwards.

Question 15

Gothic Tropes- Fin de siecle

Answer 15

Gothic novels take place in significant or clashing time periods. Dorian Gray takes place at the fin de siecle (end of the century). It implies the end of the old order and the adoption of new radical ideas, and was applied often to the 1890s Aesthetic and Decadent movements. At the fin de siecle there was a focus on the human body as a sight for Gothic tropes and exploration.

Question 16

Dr Faustus

Answer 16

Idea of the ‘faustian pact’ used heavily in Dorian Gray - Dorian effectively trades his soul for immortality. The consequences of Faustus and Dorian are similar - they both die for their actions.

Question 17

Gothic Tropes- the revenant

Answer 17

Return of the unwanted or repressed. A figure come to seek retribution (James Vane).

Question 18

Freud

Answer 18

Id, Ego, and Superego. Mind structured like an iceberg - we only ever reveal 10% of ourselves. Id is Lord Henry, he embraces and is driven by desires (impulsive). Ego is Dorian, he is concerned with what the world thinks of him and his appearance. Superego is Basil, rational thought and concerned with morality and culture. Dorian represents Basil’s transgressive desires (his id).

Question 19

Seven Deadly Sins

Answer 19

1. ENVY/JEALOUSY - Dorian is jealous of the painting and Henry is jealous of Dorian’s beauty and youth.
2. GLUTTONY - excess consumption, the rich are always having opium and dinner parties.
3. SLOTH - upper classes never have anything to do, everyone does everything for them, so they’re always bored.
4. LUST - homosexual lust and lust for the life Henry describes and for eternal youth.
5. WRATH - Dorian takes his anger out on Basil and ends up killing him.
6. GREED - Dorian wants to stay young forever.
7. PRIDE - Dorian and Henry are both prideful.

Question 20

Achilles

Answer 20

‘flinging the mirror on the floor crushed it into silver splinters with his heel.’ Reference to Achilles in scene 9 ‘When they reached the Achilles fountain’. Achilles heel= downfall, Dorian beauty= downfall

Question 21

Walter Pater

Answer 21

• Wilde’s tutor- heavily influenced him.
• emphasized ‘art for arts sake’

Question 22

Lord Henry and Wilde

Answer 22

Lond Henry makes comments Wilde has already made, Wilde makes himself a main character. ‘Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be like’

Question 23

Morality of Literature

Answer 23

debate about the morality of literature reemerged in the 19th century eg 1850s Newgate novels which glamorised the exploits of criminals eg Dick Turpin, whereas Dorian/Wilde argued ‘art has no influence upon action’.

Question 24

Wilde’s trial

Answer 24

Dorian Gray used as evidence against him- society’s refusal to seperate art and morality

Question 25

Thomas de Quincey

Answer 25

- wrote a scandalous essay saying artists would be the best murderers, called 'on murder'. Wainwright famous artist/murderer, Wilde wrote 'pen, pencil, poison'.

Question 26

Sexual crimes

Answer 26

sexual crimes ( including homosexuality) seen as going hand in hand with the decadent movement

Question 27

Dorian as a flaneur

Answer 27

- inspired by Charles Baudelaire, Dorian walking around the city is a flaneur (a wanderer in the city- spectating society). - further Gothicizes London. -Wilde himself became a wanderer- his uncle Charles Maturin wrote Melmouth the wanderer (A gothic novel about undead morality) and once he was released from prison he changed his name to Sebastian Melmouth.