Last week Dorian Gray

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 5

Last week Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Themes & 

Background

What is the
aesthetic movement?

character overview

Who wrote The picture of Dorian Gray?

What do you know about the Victorian age?

Five stages of a story

Introduction

Rising action

Climax

Falling Action

Resolution

Who is Prince Charming?

Themes explained

• Aesthetic Movement:  Victorians believed art had to have a clear objective: educate masses, distinguish good from bad, be beautiful. The aim of art was to have no aims = Art for Art's sake.
• Hedonism: the theory that pleasure (the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and aim of human life. 

Themes explained

• Theme of Faust: sell soul to devil in return for beauty, wisdom and pleasure. In the end nothing is gained. 
• immortal beauty of youth opposed to becoming older, uglier and meaner
• appearances are deceptive

Background:

• commotion after publication: homosexuality and mistresses. The novel was used as evidence in a lawsuit in 1895 against Wilde, tried and convicted on charges of homosexuality.    

• Wilde's response: “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. " "Book are well written, or badly written."

• The novel could be read as a profoundly moral book, even a cautionary tale against the dangers of immorality. 
  

Noem een thema wat je in het verhaal terug zag komen, bijvoorbeeld "Liefde".

Symbolen

Het portret in het verhaal is een sterk symbool. Het weerspiegelt hoe iemands ziel vervuilt kan raken. In dit geval door het najagen van genot en plezier ten koste van anderen.

Het portret laat telkens zien hoe de ziel van Dorian er eigenlijk uit ziet. 

Discuss the symbolism in the story and how it contributes to the overall meaning of the text. Provide examples from the text.

How it all starts......

The story begins in the art studio of Basil Hallward who has painted a portrait of a beautiful young man (Dorian Gray).

 Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil,  believes that the portrait should be displayed, but Basil disagrees because he is affraid that this could show an obsession with Dorian Gray. 

the inciting moment

Dorian then arrives and is fascinated by the portrait. Basil decides to give the portrait to Dorian.  Henry explains that one should give into impulses in life and that beauty and youth are fleeting. Dorian then declares that he would give his soul if the portrait were to grow old and he would remain young and beautiful. 

rising action start

Henry makes it his goal to try to mold Dorian's personality.  Dorian tells Henry that he has fallen in love with an actress called Sibyl Vane. Chapter 4 ends with Dorian letting Henry know he's going to marry her via a telegram.

the inciting moment

Dorian then arrives and is fascinated by the portrait. Basil decides to give the portrait to Dorian.  Henry explains that one should give into impulses in life and that beauty and youth are fleeting. Dorian then declares that he would give his soul if the portrait were to grow old and he would remain young and beautiful. 

rising action: the heartbreak

Henry makes it his goal to try to mold Dorian's personality.  Dorian tells Henry that he has fallen in love with an actress called Sibyl Vane. He attends a performance of Sibyl together with Henry and Basil. Sybil declares her love for Dorian, she cannot pretend to be in love on stage anymore now that she knows what real love is. Dorian is repulsed by this. 

rising action: a changing portrait

When Dorian arrives home, a cruel expression has appeared on the portrait's face. He decides to ask forgiveness of Sybil, but the next day Henry tells him that she has committed suicide and that Dorian should not feel bad about it. 

climax: to repent or not to repent?  

Dorian moves the portrait to the attic and receives a book from Henry which influences him to become more and more extravagant and evil while the portrait continues to age. 

Basil confronts Dorian on his excesses and destroying lives.

Dorian shows Basil the horrifying portrait. Basil tells Dorian that if this is a reflection of his soul that he should repent. Dorian kills Basil in a rage. 

Falling action

Dorian and James Vane (Sybil's brother) meet in a opium den where James wants to kill Dorian, but he changes his mind since Dorian appears to be very young. Later on, James is accidentally killed during a hunting party. 

The resolution

Dorian tells Henry that he has become virtuous and that he has decided to not take advantage of a young girl who fell in love with him. Dorian then wants to see whether the portrait has changed due to his honourable act. The man in the portrait now has a sly look in his eyes. Dorian decides to attack the portrait with a knife. The servants hear a scream and find a dead old man on the floor with a knife in his chest and the portrait is a beautiful young man again.