The Picture Of Dorian Grey

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

The Picture Of Dorian Grey

Content

Homework disussion
Oscar Wilde
Plot and characters
Literary devices
Themes
Asignment 

Homework

• How did you feel about the text fragment?

Would you trade your soul for eternal youth?

Oscar Wilde

• Constance LLoyd
• Robert Ross 
• Lipincotts Monthly Magazine
• Lord Alfred Douglas
• Trials

"If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly will see its moral lesson.”

"If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly will see its moral lesson.”

"If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly will see its moral lesson.”

"Dorian, from the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me"

"Dorian from the moment I met you... it is quite true that I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man usually gives to a friend."

"Dorian, from the moment I met you, your personality

had the most extraordinary influence over me."

Oscar Wilde

• Constance LLoyd
• Robert Ross 
• Lipincotts Monthly Magazine
• Lord Alfred Douglas
• Trials

“The painter was silent and preoccupied.
There was a gloom over him. He could not bear this marriage, and yet it seemed to him to be better than many other things that might have happened.”

Plot

•   The start
•     Basil      
• Painting  

Plot

• Henry   
• Beauty
• Oxford

Plot

• Dorian Gray
•  Innocent
• Beauty
• Henry's danger

Plot

• The worth of beauty
• A wish
• Theater

Plot

• Engagement
•  James's oath
• Bad performance
• Break up
• Suicide

Is Dorian already starting to lose his innocence according to you?

Plot

• Henry's influence
• Castaway
• More sins

Plot

• James Vane
• Meeting Basil
• Train to Paris
• Chemistry

Plot

• James Ambush
• Shot 
• Confronting his sins

Do you think that Dorian can atone for his sins? How can he do this?

Plot

• The painting
• Stabbing
• Decay and restore

To summarize 

• Trades soul
• Gets influenced
• Commits sins
• Feels remorse
• Stabs painting 

Literary Devices

- Existentialism

- Narrator

- Antagonist

What do you think existentialism focuses on?

1. The setting of a novel
2. One's experiences, thoughts and views
3. The universal human experience
4. The backstory of the novel's author

What is existentialism?

Existentialism focuses on the experience of an individual person and the way that he or she understands the world.

• Conscious
• Responsible for self
• Own views
• Characters in the novel

He was conscious - and the thought brought a gleam of pleasure into his brown agate eyes. [ ] To a large extent, he was his own creation. 

Narrator

- Implied speaker
 - anonymous and     omniscient 
- 3rd person

On his return he would sit in front of the picture, sometimes loathing it and himself, but filled, at other times, with that pride of individualism that is half the fascination of sin, and smiling, with secret pleasure, at the misshapen shadow that had to bear the burden that should have been his own.

What is a narrator?

1. The villain in a fictional work
2. The main character in a fictional work
3. The voice and implied speaker of a fictional work
4. The voice of reason in a fictional work

• Conflict
• Different believes
• Negative

Lord Henry Wotton

• Provokes Dorian
• Goes against Basil
• Tends to look negatively 

Antagonist

After hearing about the plot, what themes do you think this novel is about?

Themes

Youth and its worth

Influence

Beauty

Art and its purpose

Innocence and corruption

Friendship

Superficiality and status

Morals and philosophy of life

Art and its purpose

It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors."

• Purpose of art debated
• Big part of life

• Preface
• Spectators of art
• Artist's purpose

"You are nothing without your art."

Life has its eleborate masterpieces, just as poetry has, or sculpture, or painting

Superficiality and status

Superficiality is the fact or quality of being concerned only with what is obvious, external, or on the surface.

• Concerned with status, youth and beauty
• Not bothered by internal qualities

Closely interwoven with the themes of beauty and youth

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

Influence

Closely interwoven with innocence and corruption.

"Because to influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him."

• Encouraging to 'make the most of your youth'
• Henry's influence is describes as poisonous.

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”

Assignment

• Discuss with your neighbour(s): do you think that Dorian became an antagonist? Why or why not?
• Good luck :)