Kap 2 - 1. Additional text

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (excerpt)

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a British playwright and author of essays, poems and one novel, namely The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890/91). Although Oscar Wilde was married to a woman, Constance, it was no secret that Wilde had intimate relations with young men. His relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas resulted in several trials and in 1895 Wilde was found guilty of “acts of gross indecency” and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

As Oscar Wilde states in the preface of the novel, he believes that “art is quite useless” and that the artist is the creator of beautiful things. He was a proponent of aestheticism and thus opposed the Victorian belief that the purpose of art was to reflect, support and educate high morals.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a gothic melodrama which tells the story of the beautiful and young Dorian Gray - the object of the painter Basil Hallward’s picture and admiration. Lord Henry, a friend of Basil, convinces the young Dorian to sell his soul and in return keep his youth and beauty. Dorian Gray stays young and beautiful while the image of him in Basil’s picture ages. With every sin Dorian commits the image grows older.

The homoerotic relationships between the men in the story are central in the structure of the novel and also mirror Wilde’s own fascination with young, beautiful men. Several passages from The Picture of Dorian Gray were used during the trials to prove Wilde’s homosexuality.

Chapter 1 (excerpt)

The novel opens with Lord Henry and the painter Basil Hallward in Basil’s studio. The two men are talking about beauty and, more specifically, the beauty of the object in Basil’s most recent painting - Dorian Gray. Lord Henry wants Basil to explain why he does not want to exhibit the picture of Dorian Gray.

“I will tell you,” said Hallward; but an expression of perplexity came over his face.
“I am all expectation, Basil,” continued his companion, glancing at him. “Oh, there is really very little to tell, Harry,” answered the painter; “and I am afraid you will hardly understand it. Perhaps you will hardly believe it.”
Lord Henry smiled, and, leaning down, plucked a pink-petalled daisy from the grass, and examined it. “I am quite sure I shall understand it,” he replied, gazing intently at the little golden white-feathered disk, “and I can believe anything, provided that it is incredible.”
The wind shook some blossoms from the trees, and the heavy lilac blooms, with their clustering stars, moved to and fro in the languid air. A grasshopper began to chirrup in the grass, and a long thin dragon-fly floated by on its brown gauze wings. Lord Henry felt as if he could hear Basil Hallward’s heart beating, and he wondered what was coming.
“The story is simply this,” said the painter after some time “Two months ago I went to a crush at Lady Brandon’s. You know we poor painters have to show ourselves in society from time to time, just to remind the public that we are not savages. With an evening coat and a white tie, as you told me once, anybody, even a stock-broker, can gain a reputation for being civilized. Well, after I had been in the room about ten minutes, talking to huge overdressed dowagers and tedious Academicians, I suddenly became conscious that some one was looking at me. I turned half-way round, and saw Dorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious instinct of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself. I did not want any external influence in my life. You know yourself, Harry, how independent I am by nature. I have always been my own master; had at least always been so, till I met Dorian Gray. Then – but I don’t know how to explain it to you. Something seemed to tell me that I was on the verge of a terrible crisis in my life. I had a strange feeling that Fate had in store for me exquisite joys and exquisite sorrows. I knew that if I spoke to Dorian I would become absolutely devoted to him, and that I ought not to speak to him. I grew afraid, and turned to quit the room. It was not conscience that made me do so: it was cowardice. I take no credit to myself for trying to escape.”
“Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.”
“I don’t believe that, Harry. However, whatever was my motive,– and it may have been pride, for I used to be very proud,–I certainly struggled to the door. There, of course, I stumbled against Lady Brandon. ’You are not going to run away so soon, Mr. Hallward?’ she screamed out. You know her shrill horrid voice?”
“Yes; she is a peacock in everything but beauty,” said Lord Henry, pulling the daisy to bits with his long, nervous fingers.
“I could not get rid of her. She brought me up to Royalties, and people with Stars and Garters, and elderly ladies with gigantic tiaras and hooked noses. She spoke of me as her dearest friend. I had only met her once before, but she took it into her head to lionize me. I believe some picture of mine had made a great success at the time, at least had been chattered about in the penny newspapers, which is the nineteenth-century standard of immortality. Suddenly I found myself face to face with the young man whose personality had so strangely stirred me. We were quite close, almost touching. Our eyes met again. It was mad of me, but I asked Lady Brandon to introduce me to him. Perhaps it was not so mad, after all. It was simply inevitable. We would have spoken to each other without any introduction. I am sure of that. Dorian told me so afterwards. He, too, felt that we were destined to know each other.”

(...)

“…Tell me more about Dorian Gray. How often do you see him?”
“Every day. I couldn’t be happy if I didn’t see him every day. Of course sometimes it is only for a few minutes. But a few minutes with somebody one worships mean a great deal.”
“But you don’t really worship him?”
“I do.”
“How extraordinary! I thought you would never care for anything but your painting, – your art, I should say. Art sounds better, doesn’t it?”
“He is all my art to me now. I sometimes think, Harry, that there are only two eras of any importance in the history of the world. The first is the appearance of a new medium for art, and the second is the appearance of a new personality for art also. What the invention of oil-painting was to the Venetians, the face of Antinoüs was to late Greek sculpture, and the face of Dorian Gray will some day be to me. It is not merely that I paint from him, draw from him, sketch from him. Of course I have done all that. But he is much more to me than a model or a sitter. I won’t tell you that I am dissatisfied with what I have done of him, or that his beauty is such that art cannot express it. There is nothing that art cannot express, and I know that the work I have done since I met Dorian Gray is good work, is the best work of my life. But in some curious way – I wonder will you understand me? – his personality has suggested to me an entirely new manner in art, an entirely new mode of style. I see things differently, I think of them differently. I can now recreate life in a way that was hidden from me before. ’A dream of form in days of thought:’ – who is it who says that? I forget; but it is what Dorian Gray has been to me. The merely visible presence of this lad, –for he seems to me little more than a lad, though he is really over twenty, – his merely visible presence, – ah! I wonder can you realize all that that means? Unconsciously he defines for me the lines of a fresh school, a school that is to have in it all the passion of the romantic spirit, all the perfection of the spirit that is Greek. The harmony of soul and body, – how much that is! We in our madness have separated the two, and have invented a realism that is bestial, an ideality that is void. Harry! Harry! if you only knew what Dorian Gray is to me! You remember that landscape of mine, for which Agnew offered me such a huge price, but which I would not part with? It is one of the best things I have ever done. And why is it so? Because, while I was painting it, Dorian Gray sat beside me. Some subtle influence passed from him to me, and for the first time in my life I saw in the plain woodland the wonder I had always looked for, and always missed.”

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. How does Basil react the first time he sees Dorian Gray? Why does he try to escape?
2. When they finally meet, how is their first encounter described? Are there any signs of physical attraction?
3. How does Dorian Gray feel about meeting Basil?
4. What importance does Dorian Gray have in relation to Basil’s production of art?

 

Consider the following two quotations from the excerpt:

 

“What the invention of the oil-painting was to the Venetians, the face of Antinoüs was to
the Greek sculpture, and the face of Dorian Gray will some day be to me”

 

“Unconsciously he defines for me the lines of a new fresh school, a school that is to have in it
all the passion of the romantic spirit, all the perfection of the spirit that is Greek.”

 

5. What is the meaning of the metaphor used in the last lines of the excerpt: “Some subtle influence passed from him to me, and for the first time in my life I saw in the plain woodland the wonder I had always looked for, and always missed.”

 

Kap 2 - 2. Warm Up

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (1999)

Warm Up

Work in pairs

1. Explain the following words to your partner

 

Student A	Student B
Trailer	Coffee
Sink	Boil
Shuffle	Ranch
Mountain	Shadow
Meadow	Hailstorm
Silence	Tumble
Whirl	Tame
Thunder	Pickup
Pillow	Dreams

 

 

Individual writing

 

2. Write the first 7-10 lines of a short story in which you include some of the words from the task above. Consider which genre you find most suitable (realism, horror, crime, romantic…)

Kap 2 - 3. Go Discuss

GO DISCUSS

Work in pairs answering and discussing the following. Find proof (images) on the Internet to support your arguments.

• Would you say that the fashion industry generally bends or maintains the boundaries of gender?
• Can you think of any periods or trends within fashion history that either pushed or strengthened traditional gender roles?
• Do you find that e.g. the catwalk in Paris or the more arty fashion magazines can change the way we perceive boundaries of gender?
• Is it important for you that people are able to define you as clearly man or woman?

Gender bender David Bowie

During his career musician David Bowie had a big impact on changing a rather gendered fashion industry. Look for images of David Bowie in which you find that he bends the norms of gender and discuss whether his way of pushing the boundaries still provoke us today?