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