The Picture of Dorian Gray #3

1.) “Sibyl? Oh, she was so shy, and so gentle. There is something of a child about her. Her eyes opened wide in exquisite wonder when I told her what I thought of her performance, and she seemed quite unconscious of her power.” (57)

For the first time, Dorian Gray has fallen in love with an actress named Sibyl Vane. She and Dorian are similar in many ways. They are young, naïve, and beautiful. They were also both completely unaware of their power, until someone told them. By admiring Sibyl and having a slight obsession with her, Dorian has become more like Lord Henry. If Dorian and Sibyl’s relationship turns out like Dorian and Lord Henry’s relationship, it will not be successful. Basil warned Lord Henry not to influence Dorian, because it would be a bad. If Dorian is to become more like Lord Henry, he will have a negative impact on her. Sibyl’s last name, Vane, may have a connection to the word vain, meaning she will become conceited or arrogant. Lord Henry warned Dorian not to get married because in the end, both Dorian and Sybil will be disappointed.


2.) “Human life- that appeared to him the one thing worth investigating. Compared to it there was nothing else of any value. Compared to it there was nothing else of any value” (61).

Lord Henry gets pleasure out of investigating Dorian’s life because Dorian is not like anyone else. Dorian brings him a type of excitement Lord Henry has never felt before. Lord Henry was always interested in natural science, but ordinary science became predictable and unimportant to him. Human life is filled with new adventures, experiences, and always changing. There are no general conclusions in human life. Studying the way a person responds to tragedy offers insight to how a person lives. To Lord Henry, this is the greatest reward.


Vocabulary Words:

1.)Staccato: composed of or characterized by abruptly disconnected elements; disjointed
The same nervous staccato laugh broke from her thin lips, and her fingers began to play with a long tortoise-shell paperknife.

2.)Vivisecting: the action of cutting into or dissecting a living body
And so he had begun by vivisecting himself, as he had ended by vivisecting others.