Ten Witticisms

1) Even when there is no hope for victory, there is always an opportunity to be a hero.

2) Love makes you think in a circle, you are always the same distance away from the point, and you end up right where you started.

3) There is no such thing as destiny, people choose their own fate.

4) The worst kind of pain occurs when you lose something that you love more than yourself.

5) Movies, poems, and songs are representations of what we would like the world to be.

6) Only after you lose something, can you truly feel how important it was to you.

7) Love impairs right judgement, and it blinds us from what we do not wish to see. 

8) In the end, the only thing that matters is the influence you had on others, it is not about yourself, its about the people by your side.

9) It is better to die standing up than it is to live kneeling down.

10) Dreams have meanings only when you want them too.

Dorian Gray Chapters 15 and 16

1) “It was some consolation that Harry was to be there, and when the door opened and he had heard his slow musical voice lending charm to some insincere apology, he ceased to feel bored” (180).

 

            When Dorian sees Henry for the first time after he commits murder, he feels somewhat comforted by his presence. Eventually he becomes alarmed because Harry is suspicious and inquisitive of Dorian. Dorian notes that Henry’s apology is insincere, and the other characters at the lunch also wonder if what Henry says is true. This shows that Lord Henry has not changed at all in the past years. He is still influencing others by saying outlandish things, whether he belies in them or not. This trait has rubbed of on Dorian. When Lord Henry walks into the room Dorian is immediate captivated, and this shows Lord Henry’s dominance over him.

 

2) “One's days were too brief to take the burden of another's errors on one's shoulders. Each man lived his own life, and paid his own price for living it” (194).

 

This what is running through Dorian’s mind after he meets with Adrian Singleton. He remembers what Basil said when he confronted him on the night that Dorian murdered him. Basil was troubled by the fact that all of Dorian’s friends had become corrupted because of his influence. After seeing Adrian in an opium den Dorian realizes that Basil’s statement may have had some truth to it. Dorian feels slightly sorry for what he had done to Adrian. Dorian tries to forget what he done to Basil through the use of opium. He tries to simply remove his sins from his memory by sinning more. Dorian will not be able to be redeemed because he is not dealing with his sins at all, in contrast to other characters we have seen like Hester, Dimmesdale, and Proctor.

 

Definitions:

1) “If you want any corroborative evidence on the subject you can ask him”(186).

            corroborative: adjective- confirming or asserting

2) “Oh! She is audacious enough for anything, my dear” (182).

            audacious: adjective- extremely bold or daring

Dorian Gray Chapter 14

1) “A faint smile passed across his lips, as though he had been lost in some delightful dream. Yet he had not dreamed at all. His night had been untroubled by any images of pleasure or of pain. But youth smiles without any reason. It is one of its chiefest charms” (166).

 

            Even after murdering Basil, Dorian is able to sleep peacefully through the night and awake with a smile upon his face. This is very hard to relate to because almost always after a man takes the life of another person, he feels regret. An average man would not be able to sleep through the night because remorse would overwhelm him. But Dorian is no average man. The portrait will once again take the fall for Dorian. This is in complete contrast to other character we have seen. Hester was forced to bear her sin on her chest and through Pearl. The pain she felt from this helped her to be redeemed. Dimmesdale was not able to show his sin, and it tortured his soul. But Dorian does not have to bear his sins whatsoever. The painting will show Dorian’s conscience but he always has the choice to not look at it, unlike Hester or Dimmesdale.

 

2) “Your life? Good heavens! what a life that is! You have gone from corruption to corruption, and now you have culminated in crime. In doing what I am going to do, what you force me to do, it is not of your life that I am thinking” (176).

 

            This is Alan’s response to when Dorian says Alan is saving his life. Alan and Dorian were once good friends. Alan says that Dorian has become corrupt, and this is probably why he stopped speaking to Dorian. Since Alan now hates Dorian fro who he is, Dorian is forced into blackmailing him. Since Dorian is so corrupted he has no problem blackmailing an old friend. Alan says that he will do what is asked of him not because he is doing it for Dorian’s sake, but rather that he is a victim of Dorian’s blackmail. This shows how evil Dorian is because after committing the sinister act of murder, he tries to get Alan to help him. Alan, knowing the evil in Dorian, refuses, so Dorian commits another sin by blackmailing his friend. He has no morality left whatsoever. He has been completely twisted into a beast who others cannot relate to.

Definitions:

1) “As he did so he saw the face of his portrait leering in the sunlight” (177).

            leer: verb- to look with a sideways or oblique glance

2) “In a few moments, Alan Campbell walked in, looking very stern and rather pale, his pallor being intensified by his coal-black hair and dark eyebrows” (171).

            pallor: noun- unusual or extreme paleness, as from fear, ill health, or death

Dorian Grey Chapters 12 and 13

1) “One has a right to judge a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours seem to lose all sense of honour, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure. They have gone down into the depths. You led them there” (155).

            After hearing terrible things about Dorian, Basil feels that he must find out what is going on. Basil judges Dorian based upon what has become of Dorian’s friends, who had awful things happen to them. Basil blames Dorian’s changed behavior as the reason for the decent of his friends into suffering. Basil is utterly concerned for Dorian, and he knows that Dorian’s downfall is partially his own fault for letting Lord Henry influence Dorian. Dorian is now dangerous to everyone around him in the same way that Lord Henry was dangerous to Dorian. He can now influence people with corrupt ideas that he has learned from the book and from Lord Henry. Basil unsuccessfully tries to intervene with Dorian’s new life.

2) “Dorian Grey glanced at the picture, and suddenly an uncontrollable feeling of hatred for Basil Hallward came over him, as though it had been suggested to him by the image on the canvas, whispered into his ear by those grinning lips. The mad passions of a hunted animal stirred within him, and he loathed the man who was seated at the table, more than in his whole life he had ever loathed anything” (162).

            After Basil begs for Dorian to repent for his sins, and calls the portrait accursed, feelings of uncontrollable hate consume Dorian, and he murders Basil. Dorian said earlier that he thinks it is foolish to be a part of any religion. When Basil asks him to pray, it angers him because he does not believe in religion. Basil also calls the portrait accursed and hideous, and this means that he is calling Dorian’s soul accursed and hideous because the portrait is Dorian’s soul. After hearing Basil insult his soul, Dorian is overwhelmed with rage and must act. He kills Basil, and does not seem to feel much remorse for it. This is because the portrait will bear his guilt for him. He able to look at the murder as if it were nothing

Definitions:

1) “Did I teach the one his vice and the other his debauchery” (155).

            debauchery: noun- excessive indulgence in sensual pleasure

2) “You should not have made his sister's name a byword” (155).

            byword: noun- a person or thing cited as a notorious and outstanding example

Dorian Grey Chapter 11

1) “He was almost saddened by the reflection of the ruin that time brought on beautiful and wonderful things. He, at any rate, had escaped that” (141).

This is an idea from Lord Henry that has grown inside Dorian's head. Lord Henry was the first person to tell Dorian that beauty was the only thing that mattered in life. Henry said that it was a shame that beauty is inevitably lost because of time. He told Dorian that he would be meaningless without his youth because his beauty would fade. Now that Dorian is immune to aging he finds it depressing when time passes and beautiful things lose their beauty. This is a direct result of the influence he received from Lord Henry, which is now manifested in the book that Lord Henry gave Dorian. Dorian is being poisoned by the book, and the fact that the portrait will take the fall for all of his sins.

2) “It was remarked, however, that some of those who had been most intimate with him appeared, after a time, to shun him. Women who had wildly adored him, and for his sake had braved all social censure and set convention at defiance, were seen to grow pallid with shame or horror if Dorian Gray entered the room” (145).

This quote shows that even though he is not physically changing he has changed greatly on the inside. At the beginning of the novel Dorian was described as extremely popular, and everyone would say good things about him whenever they heard his name. But now he has changed, even if it does not appear so on the outside. Dorian's ability to be eternally young and unscarred by sin changes his personality. Dorian's desire to indulge every pleasure will not win him many friends, and now he will gain a bad reputation, similar to that of Lord Henry. Most other characters do not like listening to what Lord Henry has to say, and now Dorian is the physical embodiment of all of Lord Henry's ideas. Since they did not like hearing what Henry had to say, they will now surely come to dislike Dorian, who is living the life that Lord Henry spoke of.

Definitions:

1) “They wondered how one so charming and graceful as he was could have escaped the stain of an age that was at once sordid and sensual” (131).

sordid: adjective- involving ignoble actions or motives 

2) “Had the lover of Giovanna of Naples bequeathed him some inheritance of sin and shame?” (147).

bequeathed: verb- to leave or give (personal property) by will

Dorian Grey Chapters 9 and 10

1) “Something has changed you completely. You look exactly wonderful boy who, day after day, used to come down to my studio to sit for his picture. But you were simple, natural, and affectionate then. You were the most unspoiled creature in the whole world. Now, I don’t know what has come over you. You talk as is you had no heart, no pity in you. It is all Harry’s influence” (112).

This is what Basil says after Dorian shows no sympathy for Sibyl. He realizes that Dorian's ideas about life have changed, but he looks exactly the same as he did on the day that the portrait was painted. Basil realizes that Lord Henry has changed Dorian for the worse. Basil knew all along that this would happen. He was dominated by everything that Dorian was, but now he has changed, and it seems that their friendship will end. He says that Dorian has no heart and no pity, this may be because the painting has already begun to change how Dorian behaves. The portrait will remove the need for Dorian to feel guilt or remorse. He no longer has to feel these emotions, and he will have no sense of consequence for his sins. This will allow him to live evilly, and with no regret. Without regret there will be nothing to stop him from being evil.

2) “Yet he could not help feeling infinite pity for the painter who had made this strange ’ confession to him, and wondered if he himself would ever be so dominated by the personality of a friend. Lord Henry had the charm of being very dangerous. But that was all” (119).

This is what is running through Dorian's mind after Basil has explained to him why he did not want to exhibit the painting at first. Dorian wonders if anyone will ever dominate him in the way that he has dominated Basil. He thinks of Lord Henry, but decides that he is too strange to be dominated by him. What Dorian does not realize is that he is already been dominated. Lord Henry gave him all of his ideas and principles that he now uses. He has become very similar to the theories that Lord Henry preaches. Lord Henry's next step in controlling Dorian was giving him a book. This book was described to be poisonous, and it enthralled Dorian from the moment he began to read it. This book may be where Lord Henry got all of his theories from. Now that Dorian can read the theories in a book, he may start living these theories more fully then if he just heard them from Lord Henry.

Definitions:

1)“She lingered for a few moments, and was garrulous over some detail of the household” (122).

garrulous: adjective- excessively talkative

2)“The lad was actually pallid with rage”(115).

pallid: adjective- faint or deficient in color

Dorian Grey Chapter 8

1) “There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has the right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution. When Dorian Grey had finished the letter, he felt that he had been forgiven” (100).

After seeing the portrait as a visible sign of what he had done to Sibyl, Dorian feels guilty about how he has treated her. The portrait helps show him what he has done so that he can know to fix it. Dorian uses the portrait's ability for good. After writing a long love letter he feels that he is forgiven, but he does not know the bad news that he is about to receive. When Dorian hears the news that Sibyl has killed herself he, at first feels terrible, but after talking to Lord Henry his feelings change. Lord Henry is able to make Dorian realize that his is not as tragic as it may seem, and he is able to influence Dorian because Sibyl is no longer present. For some reason Dorian says that he is not feeling as much pain as he would have expected. This may be because the portrait will take the fall instead of himself, or it may be because Lord Henry is changing his mind.

2) “He felt that the time had really come for making his choice. Or had his choice already been made? Yes, life had decided that for him–life, and his own infinite curiosity about life. Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secret, wild joys and wilder sins–he was to have all these things. The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame; that was all” (109).

This is when Dorian decides what to use the portrait for. At first, he planned to use it as a visible symbol of his conscience, and a reminder not to sin. It was going to be a positive influence on his morality, but now he has made a new realization. After he learns that his love, Sibyl, has killed herself, he decides that he can use the picture as his free pass to sin. The portrait will take the fall that every sin he commits, and he does not need to worry about losing his youth. It is Lord Henry who gave him this idea about the necessity of youth, and he also inspired Dorian to live immorally. Now Dorian will is able to do whatever he wishes, and he will be free of the consequences. He can now follow the teachings of Lord Henry without resisting them. He said that Sibyl made him forget all about what Lord Henry said, but now that she is gone he again has control of Dorian.

Definitions:

1) “Did it merely take cognizance of what passed within the soul?”(109).

cognizance: noun- awareness, realization, or knowledge

2) “Was there some subtle affinity between the chemical atoms, that shaped themselves into form and color on the canvas, and the soul that was within him?” (99).

affinity: noun- a natural liking for or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc.

Dorian Grey Chapter 7

1) “So what does it matter if she plays Juliet like a wooden doll? She is very lovely, and if she knows as little about life as she does about acting, she will be a delightful experience. There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating­­­­­–people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing” (89).

When Dorian brings Basil and Henry to see Sibyl act, she performs terribly, and Dorian feels embarrassed and heartbroken. Lord Henry then says this quote, and it only makes Basil tell Henry to leave. Dorian cannot bear to hear Henry's theories about the girl that he loved. From what he says it is obvious that Henry does not think much of marriage. He thinks that all Sibyl needs is to be beautiful, and if she knows nothing, it makes her all the more fascinating. Dorian loved Sibyl mostly because she was such a talented actress, but now that she has lost that quality he falls out of love. This is ironic because it is Dorian's love for her that makes her act poorly. So it is his love for her that breaks his heart. He confesses to Sibyl that he no longer loves her, but at the end of the chapter he decides to make amends with her. It seems that this relationship will be much more complex then Dorian originally thought.

2) “For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its fairness. But he would not sin. The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience. He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more–would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle, poisonous theories” (96).

This is Dorian's reaction to the portrait's ability to change. Dorian saw that when he was cruel to Sibyl the portrait had a cruel expression. Dorian then realizes that what he had wished at Basil's house was coming true. The portrait would show all of his sins and changes, while he will remain young. Dorian decides that he will use the portrait as a symbol of his conscience, thus preventing him from committing sin, and reminding him to resist temptation. He then resolves to stay away from Lord Henry, or at least avoid living by Lord Henry's theories. He decides this because he believes it is Lord Henry's fault that he made this wish for eternal youthfulness. Dorian now seems to recognize the influence that Lord Henry has on him. Will the portrait really be a reminder for Dorian to avoid sin? It may become a scapegoat for Dorian's mistakes. This will Dorian to live his life very differently if he finds out that the painting will take the fall for anything that he does. Dorian may live as if he was immortal because of this phenomenon, and as a result he may become immoral.

Definitions:

1) “The air was heavy with the perfume of the flowers, and their beauty seemed to bring him an anodyne for his pain” (93). 

anodyne: noun- a medicine that relieves pain

2) “Yet she was curiously listless” (87).

listless: adjective- having or showing little or no interest in anything

Dorian Grey Chapters 5 and 6

1) “When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me. I become different from what you have known me to be. I am changed, and the mere touch of Sibyl Vane’s hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories” (82).

It is obvious that Lord Henry is a bad influence on Dorian, but Dorian is now able to free himself of this influence. He is able to do this because of Sibyl, who makes him forget all about what Lord Henry has told him. Sibyl may be the opposite influence of Lord Henry, in that she may make Dorian similar to the way he was before he met Lord Henry. After Dorian says this Lord Henry responds by asking what his theories are on. Dorian mentions some of his theories are about pleasure, and then Lord Henry says that pleasure is the only thing worth having. Lord Henry was able to change the subject and instill yet another strange theory into the head of Dorian. Lord Henry is very skillful with his words, and will most likely win this battle of influencing Dorian.

2) “A strange sense of loss came over him. He felt that Dorian Grey would never again be to him all that he had been in the past. Life had come between them” (84).

This is what is running through Basil's mind after Dorian, Basil, and Lord Henry are on their way to meet Sibyl at the theater. When Basil first herd about the marriage he was shocked. He then asks Lord Henry if he approves of the marriage. Lord Henry, being the master of words that he is, says that he never approves or disapproves of anything. Basil then says, as he usually does, that Henry does not mean a word that he says. Basil is searching for disapproval in Lord Henry because that is what he internally feels. He is looking to feel the pain of this with someone else. Basil seemed to be jealous of Henry  when he stole Dorian from him, and now Sibyl will do the same. Lord Henry and Sibyl came between Basil and Dorian and it seems that the friendship between them will end. Dorian has been corrupted by Lord Henry, and entranced by Sibyl Vane.

Definitions: 

1) “You are quite incorrigible, Harry; but I don't mind” (81).

incorrigible: adjective- not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed

2) “As for the lives of one's neighbors, if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern” (82).

prig: noun- a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if superior to others