Literature 1.1 Introduction

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Literature 1

Lesson goal

At the end of this class you can will of heard of some literary aspects.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray

What do you know about this book?

Would you trade your soul for eternal youth?

During reading

Pay attention to:

1. the five stages of a story

2. Narrator

3. Characters

4. Setting

5. Literary language

6. Explicit and implicit meaning

Five stages of a story

Introduction

Rising action

Climax

Falling Action

Resolution

Narrator

Part of the story or not?

Tense

First, second, third person

What perspective does the narrator provide?

Characters

Protagonist

Antagonist

Roles of other characters

Expectations 

Setting

Where and when does the story take place?

Is there more than one context in the story?

Is the story linear or are there flash backs and flash forwards?

Literary language

Style: simple or complex language?

Figures of speech, symbols

Tone or mood in the story 

Meaning

Explicit meaning:

the meaning of the story as you read it on the page, the litteral meaning.

Implicit meaning:

the meaning that is implied and not stated directly, the 'message between the lines'. 

Periods of British Literature

Renaissance = also called 'Early Modern Period'

character overview

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: 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. 

Literary Devices

- Existentialism

- Narrator

- Antagonist

Victorian period 1837-1901/1914

true change into industrialised society

large factories and automatisation 

lack of raw material in Britain > trade internationally in British Empire

economic growth meant both great fortune and poverty:

factory owners and entrepreneurs were wealthy: new aristocracy (bourgeoisie) and traditional upper class became less important

many people moved to cities: overcrowded and lack of housing with miserable working conditions. Depopulation of rural areas meant food shortages.

Peak was Great Exhibition in 1851

showing off with capabilities of human spirit and creative thinking

uprise of socialistic movement: power for the workers

start of Labour Party 1893

major discussion: Darwin’s evolution theory

conflict between science and religion

plaatjes laten zien

Ook stripjes over aotmatisation

Misschien film? Charlie Chapplin The Kid/ iets met die frabriek? Of Buster Keaton die in zo'n grote machine iets doet?

Victorian Literature

emotions made way for more rational style, innovative works

novel became most popular form

made available for large parts of society in serial form: cheap and accessible

reasons why it became more popular:

novel intended for middle class > picked up and approved by Victorian bourgeoisie

no tradition yet, so could be adapted to Victorian age

allow to escape reality, perfect for chaotic society

relatable for people: real life situations

proposed solutions to complex issues

Victorian Novels

Characteristics of novels:

standard middle class behaviours and habits > relatable

popular topic: adaptation of individual to society

emphasis on character development, including climbing social ladder

principle character shows weakness, but still decent and reasonable Victorian

Victorian novels now can be big, but were not like that then due to serialisation

serialisation meant constant excitement and suspense

nostalgia (because present day was bad..)

Famous novelists:

Charles Dickens (Bleak House is first detective novel, Hard Times about factory life)

George Eliot (woman writer, Middlemarch)

Thomas Hardy (Jude the Obscure)

Oscar Wilde (dandy, shocking, The Picture of Dorian Gray)

Age of Reason:

all about rational and knowledge

often satirical or moralistic

start of novel with still stock characters and logical plots

truthful, hardly fantasy

already more about normal people

Victorian age:

questioning religion (Darwin)

social turmoil

feminism and realism

individualistic change and character development

serial novels, mainly about middle class

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.”