Dorian ideas

Question 1

Sybil and Dorian feminity

Answer 1

Similarly to Freud, Wilde equates the human condition of women as mirroring that of men, describing the feminine Oedipus attitude which later became the Electra complex; this can be seen most pointedly in the physical parallels of Dorian Gray and Sybil Vane: Dorian having ‘finely curved scarlet lips’ and Sybil’s being ‘like the petals of a rose’ , his having ‘the air of a young greek martyr’ and her having ‘a small greek head.’. Both are described as beautiful ideals, the semantic field of passion - ‘scarlet’ ‘rose’ - insinuating a likeness and ‘purity’ which encapsulates them both.

Question 2

ekphrastic

Answer 2

Meaning it contains description of a work of art and yet the portrait itself is hardly described at all. ‘Picture’ draws emphasis to ekphrasis.

Question 3

Sybil

Answer 3

• Has no experience of life, brought together by roles she plays, an anthology of Shakespearean characters.
• Artificial- Dorian glorifies her death ‘If I had read all this in a book, Harry, I think I would have wept over it’.

Question 4

Morality

Answer 4

decent morality of characters eg Basil and Sybil shown to be too frail.

Question 5

Homoeroticism

Answer 5

Lord Henry has photos of Dorian, Dorian adores Sybil when she is dressed as a boy

Question 6

Sexism

Answer 6

• Very misogynistic novel
• Wilde presents women as being empty-headed, shallow, uncultured and unintellectual objects ‘women are a decorative sex’
• exclusiveness of male society

Question 7

Power of Words/Literature

Answer 7

Reoccurring idea that is one describes a thing it creates a reality eg Dorian doesn’t acknowledge the deaths of Sybil or Basil ‘he felt that the secret of the whole thing was not to realize the situation.’

Question 8

Vampiric imagery

Answer 8

• builds up supernatural, Gothic element of the novel.
• Dorian vampiric in terms of being an arch consumer, who exoticism of the consumption of commodities contributes.
• Art itself as vampiric, feeding off the viewer as Walter Pater the aesthetic critic would suggest.
  Dorian himself built around an image of an aristocratic vampire who feeds off others.
• reflects Victorian fascination of uncanny doubles.